Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-09-09

pages of "Th Black Cat itself. Each
story of the dozen is unusually banning
and mysterious until it's very end. All
except the very last story are marVels
of weirdness-they are unique. MIR. Umb-
staetter is always nStural-an unusual
characteristic in unusual ~tales-and he
is remarkably graphic, for ne simply
tells, in clever style, the facts as they
occur, in order. The Red Hot Dollar,
the first story in the book, involves a
young man on his wedding journey,
who, having alighted from the train at
a wayside station. to procure eatables,
finds the train starting off without
him. He failed to board it. 1t goes Off
with his bride. In his scramble for 1t,
he has dropped a handful of change
handed to him by the restaurateur 4
moment before. A dollar is missing.
He finds the dollar-a silver ne-be
tween two boards in the platform. A
single glance at this dollar compels him
at once to change his purse and to
travel hastily in the opposite direction
from his bride. He cannot rest until,
in a distant city, ne finds the original
owner of the coin. a postman who
picked 1t up, red hot, in the street.
You've got to read the story to find oft
h rest. 1t sufficeth to say that the
actions of the young groom turn Ut
after all, to be perfectly natural.
Why under heaven a man should
temporarily desert his bride simply be-
cause of the peculiar appearance of a
single silver dollar is a problem that
one might imagine would require a
complicated explanation. But Mr.. Umb-
staetter's art is such that a word or
two suffice, at the very end-and you
see the point at once. One of the most
striking stories in the book-and it is
reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe-is
when the Cuckoo Called" a story link
ing the Black Forest %uncannily and
tragically with a %telepathic act on the
vaudeville Suggesting forth the
weird. ghostly, one might say, ghoulish,
tricks played on a guitar in two CONT
nents by a siren-like young sylph.
Goodies Discovery" is a bully story
of a hotel man struggle with the
heightened guest, who always steals
soap-Doodle's had a wonderful soap
thief detector,'' which spotted 1911
aristocratic thieves, but ruined his
business. How Doodle's turned disaster
to account and made q quarter of a
million out of it is distinctly worth
reading. The other stofies-all spar
king and u~nique-are THE Unturned
Trump" 1.-THE Real. Thing" "One
Chance in a Million "Kootchie," Her
Eyes, Your Honor "Toodleums.' I'm
Helrs Canon Mystery of the Thirty
Millions a reminder of Jules Verne,
and ASLEEP at Lone Mountain" a
pathetic story of a diminutive and
lonely traveller on a railroad train. Mr..
Umbstaetter is to be congratulated on
the fact that there is not a love story
in the book There are no sex prob
lems-just stories. Jack London has
written an interesting introduction to
1.-THE Red Hot Dollar which introduce
ton, it is said, contains a personal in
cident referred to by him in his own
story, Martin Eden" ON page 46 of
1.-The Red Hot Dollar" Boston humor-
ously pays its compliments to England.
Mr.. Umbstaetter lands an uppercut on
London Punch. He handles the gloves
like an adept at the game.
60
AFRICA LOOMS UP WELL ON
the literary horizon. Cynthia Stockley
gave us 1.-THE Claw" a story of social
South Africa, recently reviewed in these
columns, and now Beatrice Grin1shaw,
, author of Fiji and It's Possibilities"
and New Guinea" adds a new and
stirring story. "When the Red Gods
Call" This is a stirring, thrilling
novel of British New Guinea-the saw
age part of Africa, where the white
man has a foothold but where he
holds his breath. The story is told by
Hugh Lynch. its hero.
Il am writing this in prison." he
begins. 1.-THE walls are corrugated
iron, w~hitewashed and very clean;
there is a sleeping mat on the floor and
a pillow and a o and a tin basin.
The window is an open shutter, look
ing out to sea. l could break through
it or the floor with a penknife any
night-supposing Wilks, the TALLER, had
not left the door open, as he general
ly does. Wilks is lazy and does not
much like the bother of having a
xr1t4o -rfen1nr. ha 49, 80 -. ,noroIo