Richard Henry Savage(June 12, 1846 – October 11, 1903) was an American military officer and author who wrote more than 40 books of adventure and mystery stories. Savage's eloquent, witty, dashing and daring life may have been the inspiration for the pulp novel character Doc Savage. With the discovery of gold in California, Savage's father came West in 1850. Savage joined with his family in 1851, and was among the first boys to attend public school in San Francisco, along with future poet Charles Warren Stoddard and the brothers Gus, Charles and Harry de Young who would found the San Francisco Chronicle. While the younger Savage was in school, his father helped discover the rich silver deposits of the Comstock Lode.