New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-15
FICTION.
RAIIROADING AND THE DETECTION OF
CRIME.

"Reminiscences Of Raroading in the United
States by Herbert Elliott HamDien DUO
decimo PIP. 81 The Macmillan Company
TRUE DETECTIVE STORIES From the Archives
of the Pinkertons. by Cleveland Moffctt Duo
decimo. PIP. go Doubleday Mcclure company
THE STANDARD BEARER; by s. r. Crockett
Duodecimo PIP 359. d. Appleton q Co
OVER THE HILLS. BY Mary Findlater. Duo
dccimo PIP 3Ot Dodd. Mead &c CO.
THE FREEDOM OF HENRY MEREDITH. BY
NJ Hamilton. DuoIec.'no. PIP. III! ID Appleton
& Co.
Mt Hamben's first book ION Many Seas. :"
possesses an attraction beside which the best
things in The General Managers story are
bound to pale. Sea tales are always new. RAIL
road stories are interesting and sometimes they
have streak OF novelty in them. but their
power to hold the attention is brief and Mr.
Hamblen amuses his reader without impressing
him He impressed him profoundly in the
earlier book TO which we have referred. II was
partly. as We have limited. matter Of thene'
but II must be admitted that good deal OF the
authors success was due to his SIKH in nara
tive Ccrtan, the present volume Is saved by
ITS manner The material may verge on the
commonplace The style is ingraiia'i's from
IN, very start Mr. Han,blen knows how 20 tell
a story and sometimes he has fairly remark
able viyidncss as witness his account Of the en-
descent he made from the .op of mountain to
Its base on an engine which had 10 be. IN the
first place. kept on the track. and then just far
enough ahead OF some runaway cars for
It 70 escape destruction. In episodes Ike these
Mr. Uamben has directness and a nervous
force which professional story-teleTs might
envy. These railroad stories. Of course. Ike the
forecastle yarns in "On Many Seas are drawn
<r,,, ha orthnr'c pylerIpnce.
In going for his material TO the archives NJ A
detective agency Mr. MOffett might seem 20
have been actuatcd by a taste for narratives 81
the blood and thunder sort. but his book ~
free from anything excessive. Wisely rcciting
his extraordinary events In s'raishuof"a'n'
even COMMONPLACE manner. he has thereby
heightened their effect II need hardly be added
that he has refrained from making heroes OF
his criminals the object Of the book apparently
being TO show the curious side Of their life and
the ability OF the detectives In running them
10 earth. Some OF these tales are positively
fantastic yet they calm statements Of fact
One interesting moral they all enforce No mat
ter how clever the criminal may be-and OFTEN
ne Is enormously clever-the law Is bound to
circumvent him in the end. The criminal VIII
seem to have successfully covered up all his
in what seems to him complete security. and
then through some unexpected turn Of the
wheel-usually brought about by his own care
lessness-the man Is captured. brought back to
the scene Of his crime. and. In many cases. the
money he has stolen Is recovered by the rghtful
owners 1t is all very dry. matter fact
affair but Mr. Mofett shows that 1t is often ex-
tremeiy picturesque in the aspect it turns to the
uninitiated reader.
Mr. Crocketts new romance deals with Gov
enanters and lovers in the seventeerth century.
telling the tale of Quintin Mcclellan. OF the
Kirk Of Balmaghie and Of Mary Gordon. daugh-
ter Of the Bull OF Earlsoun. who were married
in spite Of the gulf between their respective sta
lions after conquering various severe obstacles.
1t Is all in the true style Of the atter-day
novel Of adventure" and far as the general
lines OF his story are concerned Mr.. Crockett
has done well. But the sentimental tone Of his
pages is barely endurable and the diction Is. II
anything worse The tale. in short. ID en-
veoped in fustian and Is. accordingly. bore.
1t is wild night aboard emigrant ship
Just making her way in the darkness out Of an
English harbor. A fororn. unhappy man. but
newly come from prison. stares from the deck
the lights Of the town which holds the one
thing In the world he loves. That thing s
girl as far removed from him by the blows OF
fortune though the wide ocean had already
stretched between them. Yet In his dcsolation.
the first gray Of dawn CLEANS In the stormy
sky. a soft hand is laid on his arm and eyes
that are gray and az full OF hope AZ the gray
sea- look into his haggard face. 1t Is she. to
be henceforth his comforter and insprer. Dinah
s the most consistent. the most womanly. the