The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-07-06

For sheer audacity of plot. character and
Incident THE Kidnapped Miiionaaires.' by
frederick u. Adams the Lothrop PUBLISH
ing Company, Boston,, Is SO notable as to
deserve especial mention.
And 1t Is an interesting story, too. belong
Ing in the class Of MIR. Barnes of New
York, which some Years ago uStonished
publishers. critics and other thoughtful folk
by It's bounding circulation. 1t is Il story
which you VIII certainly finish II you once
begin 1t. You may not give it distinguished
rank as EteratGre-indeed. il is certain that
you VIII not-but you will read it, And as
that is the purpose fer which 1t was writ
ten and printed il Is probable that all hands
will be satisfied at the close of the reading.
In his determine tion to write breeZiiy
absorbing story. Mr.. Adams has given his
imagination fun play, even while keeping IL
In touch with certain conditions Of the pres
ent moment. He seems 10 have oiscerned
that about the biggest sensation possible IN
this country would be the abduction of
bunch of Wall street mi:ionaires, especial-
" that wel!-known little group which holds
all the strings of American high finance In
Its fingers. Immediately he abducted them
and Il wild and wonderful romance Is that
which follows
Mr.. Adams WAS also sufficiently we'll post
ed TO know that a Wall street panic and a
tremendous display OF New York newspa-
per enterprise would follow this kidnapping
of New Works pet Midases. So he gives u
vivid picture of the former and many vital
and fascinating details of the latter. You
can fairly see the hedlam OF the New York
Stock Exchsnge when it became known that
the six biggest maapuiators of stocks had
mysteriouSly disappeared You can fairly
hear the whiz of journalistic brain mechan-
ism as the New York Record. the remark
able newspaper property of the remarkable
NJ u ~
task of solving the mystery under the di-
rection OF the remarkable managing editor,
Mr. William Chalmers. whose love affair
with the daughter of one Of the kidnapped
plutccrats furnishes the heart interest OF
the story. And from that time on things
go with rush.
One Walter b. Hestor. the greatest
American correspondent" young Million
aire who has gone into newspaper work for
pure love and affection. is responsible for
everything that happens. Away on in the
book you find out that Mir. Hestor IS mental
ly unbalanced owing to a wound i'll the
head received while he was fighting the
Chinese in his capacity as war correspond
ent for the New York Record but for q
long time you regard Mr.. Hestor as a sane
man. 1t strikes this young gentleman that
It would be an excellent thing to kidnap
these nillionaires. to maroon them on the
Mexican coast, TO there surrender them to
a discussion on the trust evil conducted by
his friend. Mr.. Sidney Hammond, and then
trust to the providence of the reckless to
save him from the consequences OF his act.
This plan is no sooner formed in Mr.. Hes
tors variegated brain that it is put into
execution. because he has unlimited money,
yacht ready to steam out to sea and an in
innate acquaintance with the mllionaires
whom he desires to kidnap. So there you
are.
Considerable humor is developed in the