The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-06

paper, ne succeeds ana tue OTuludACc becomes law. As says one reviewer: The Autocrats' is good story. There is nothing, not even war or love, to compare with a politico-financlal deal in an American city as a study Of the strong forces of human nature, ana the intricacies of this vast and dirty deal have proved ten times more ab-
 sorbing than the vapid unrealities of some of the historical trash which has
 deluged us. A man cannot write this
 sort of book without drawing from the | life and knowing something about llfe
 and consequently it gets a grip on the sympathies quite different from the sentimental tickling of an artificial TO-
 nance. The ambition of a BidWell, as
 of a Huntington or Rockefeller or a Vanderbilt is in it's essence as great as
 the ambition of Caesar or Napo-
 leon; it aspires at empire, with the
 difference that it prefers millions to ar
 mics. The same unscrupulousness, the same astuteness, the same concen-
 tration of purpose is required; and the
 writer who will tell us what he knows about the manipulation of big finan- cial swindle or a great amalgamation
 of trade may be sure of appealing to a wide public, even though his own sympathes are entirely opposed to the
 character of his heroes, We want to
 get the facts of the great conspiracies
 in this big husting country of ours; we want to get the intimate portraits Of the big conspirators who gobble us up;
 for the rest, it really doesn't matter what the author thinks of the morality of the transaction, since every reader
 has his own conception of the matter and half the fascination of this sort of
 book Is in the application of ones per sonal sympathies to the facts record- ed" There are lovers in the story, but
 the chief interest lies with men and
 money and politics, The alleged hero
 in the novel is Bannerton, young man who in the dramatic ending of the book
 turns out to be Bidwells S son by se-
 cret marriage, and who succeeds In
 thwarting Bidwell's attempt to buy up
 the independent newspaper. The best woman character in the book is brave
 and very lovable widow, who turns out to be Bidwells sisterin-law. She IS
 the real heroine of the book, and Ban
 nerton the lover of Edith, gets all his fathers property in the end and the girl of his heart and then promptly undoes all of his fathers work regarding the
 franchise which he deems wrong to
 the public MT. Lush, the books au-
 thor, is the we'll known author of 'The Federal Judge. "The Autocrats" is
 having a large sale and is receiving 1 t.1a of the country. Price $1.50; for sale at
 Judas.
 "The Mysterious Burglar written by
 George F. Walsh tells about the doings
 of a young gentleman of fine character, 1 fine position, high aspirations and
 chivalrous and handsome to boot, but who is the mysterious burglar" of the story He is an amateur burglar, but he gives points to an old and experi- enced housebreaker in the finished way in which he does his 'burgllng.
 The experienced burglar, after long re- connoitering and planning, gets into the mansion he was purposing to rob,
 but to his astonishment finds nothing of value that he can carry away. This
 surprises him exceedingly and the sur prise deepens into positive amazement when he finds himself confronted with a pistol aimed at him by very genteel and cultivated society man who has
 been over the house before him and has
 gathered together the booty,-and this same finished society man, being the devoted lover of the beautiful young | lady whose fathers house is undergo ing the robbery. The two burglars glare at each other with pistols pointed,
 but the knotty problem is quickly and smoothly solved by the gentleman bur
 glars arranging to divide the "swag"
 eouitably. The professional burglar,
 dumbfounded at his discovery, sets his
 wits to work to find out what this
 amazing mysteriou dude burglar
 means by his conduct, and next day hires himself out as q man of all work to this self same gentleman burglar, who, however proves more mysterious than ever as he coolly ignores all refer
 ence to and seems oblivious of their midnight encounter The story presents
 various other interesting surprises and
 dramatic situations, happily described,
 and the plot is finally unravelled, the
 gentleman burglar proving to be the victim of the scheme of rascally doc
 tor who hypnotizes him under the pre- tence of curing him of malady, then
 sends him out to rob houses and reaps
 the fruits of the victims burglaries.
 How the detection of the villainous doctors device to secure wealth and de-
 ceive and marry the beautiful girl is brought about and how the unhappy gentleman burglar Is cleared of the horrible suspicious which at last fall l upon him and how he awakes from hypnotic trance to find that his sweet
 heart knows all and is his, are other
 features of this interesting and we'll told story MT. Walsh is bright story
 teller. F. M. Buckles x Co.,, New York,
 are the publishers. Price S1.25; for
 sale at Judas.
 | "A State Secret and Other Stories hv R. M, Crol<er r. M. Buckles & | Co.,, New York; $1,25; for sale at Judd S. book of capital short stories with scenes of action laid in Ireland, Eng | land and India. Mrs Croker's sigma ture. either to a long or a ahort story, f has come to be generally accepted as
 good security for pleasant hour, "A | State Secret is no exception. There IS little out of the ordinary run of expe- rience in the happenings in this book.
 But whether the scene is in dingy lodE- ings in faded Dublin street among | the Munster peasantry, on Scotch ] moor. or away in an up-country 1nd1- 1 an station, we meet real people, sketch