The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-18
SHADOW OF A NAME.
Miseries of "a Man Who Bore the Cog
nomen of "a Dickens Character.
ain, in Black and White.

Barry Pain in Black and White
:, AT o'clock on the morning of Easter
9 Pun at his home, near Malvern Well
dled Charles Chadband. With the name of
Chadband, thanks to Dickens the reading
world IS familiar. 1t is associated with oii-,
ness, hypocrisy and self-seeking. At the
very SOUND or the name the reminiscent
grim starts on all faces. He is a national
Joke. But we pay for all our laughter and
we have just paid for, the .Chadband jest.
90 not mean to say that the unhappy ac-
cldent by which Dickens selected the name
OF Chadband for his imposter was the cause
of the death of Charles Chadband 1t was
not; he died of an ordinary disease-con-
sumption, in fact. But that unhappy acct
dent did ,oyershadow the whole of Charles
taking the place and fame to which he was
justly entitled. 1t has prevented the gem
eral public from reading one single line of
his very excellent works. AS his literary
executor, have had no choice but to de-
stroy every line of his manuscript. in ac-
cordance with his orders. Not a single
of his works that his friends remember
may be committed to writing. / do not
easily believe in the existence eff genius
but | believe that Charles Chadband had
genius. Some, far more competent to Judge
than | am, thought the same. AS [ watched
the last sparks die out in the big pile of
burned paper 1t seemed a pity that SO
much work and such wonderful gifts should
be all wasted for such a stupid, ignoble
maddening reason-because the author had
inherited the name of a character in Dick
ems.
He was very sensitive. But unlike most
very sensitive men, he was not affected nor
vain. When l was first introduced to him
he said, laughing, that he was no relation
to the original Chadband. He reveled in
chadband freely. / had known i him long t,i
time before l knew that the coincidence of
the names gave him any trouble at ALL II
was long before I could make out why he
would not publish anything. He used to
give the most absurd reasons for his reti-
cence, and when driven into a corner he
w IN Itch
but not yet. One night, when / had just
finished long story of his, l implored him
d 9 let sae me whe ton bs w dong %
said; nobody would publish It," I told
him that il might be. refused by five men
out of six, but that the sixth would after
ward be proud that he had accepted it,
Then, quite Unexpectedly, the secret came
out. NO serious work, he said, could
name Of He said It w so ght
heartedly that l thought he was once more
putting me off with a wrong reason: But
l soon found that he was sincere. He i'm
agined reviewers making jests about his
name, and owned that he would not be
able to stand it. This surprised me, for he
frequently joked about his name himself,
and so did his friends. He defended him
self. That's different" he said THAT is
But I could not have some vulgar brute
who did not know me at all doing the
same thing in cold print. 1t would present
my stuff from the wrong point of view.
No, the associations of the name are too
strong. If you are called Chadband, you
are called Chadband, and there's an end of
1t; you may do what you like in private,
but you can come before the public only
as an Incorporate, hypocritical, delicious
ass and in other character whatever"
He would not hear of a pseudonym or
of anonymity. If his work succeeded the
secret would be found out and he would be
ashamed. If he did not succeed-and he
did not think he would-it was not worth
his while to add to the annual output Of
bad books. why make all this fuss about
nOthing?' I said, angry with his obstinacy.
IF you think it matters one Straw-though
it does not-change your name once for all
and be done with it," He said that it
would be sheer cowardice, and he could not
dream of it.
Very unfortunately he had private means.
Poverty might have driven him to over
come his sensitiVenesS and TO publish Had
he done so, it would have been curious to
watch the growth of entirely new set
of associations around the name Chadband.
! think he was strong enough to have re-
deemed the name.
He was unmarried-said that he did not
believe in the hereditary principles as ap-
piled to jokes. His real reason for not mar
rying was Of course, the disease Of which
he died He worked exceedingly hard, and,
as he knew, to no purpose. He would not
own that he took pleasure in his work.
NO he said tits like smoking-I get no
pleasure from it, but / should miss 1T II L
gave IL up" He took enormous pains with
his work, and finished it as thoroughly as
though it were to constitute his appeal to
the world on the following day. He kept
the final copy of everything he approved,
hut his instructions were that 1t was all to
IL burned as soon as possible after his