Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-05-06
An Old Friend Passes On.

"A SnaQO"y nSure again passes
across the page-then silence. Nick
Carter has gone west. Memories of
that past when virtue always
triumphed. wildly are recalled. Then
virtue was. indeed. it's own reward
The shadow of a stable fragrant with
the scent of fresh-cut hay. the up
turned bucket. the printed page. the
thrill of combat and of villainy
checkmated. carry the elders back
into years that were real. Today
the newspapers of the country are
filled with editorial comment that
tells story all its own.
The various editors admit that no
body ever heard of, Frederick Van
Rensselaer, Dey. They, themselves
were, for the most part, ignorant of
his identity. But when they were
told that he was the originator. and
creator, of the greatest OF all modern
Nick courted the hand
to-hand combats Sherlock Holmes
scorned-they voiced deep personal
sorrow and regret in an unmistak-
able manner. And, by the same token.
the younger generation has failed to
weigh this man and his work with
He represented to them an incon-
gruous character similar to that they
knew during the early days of the
movies. And so they judge Nick
without personal intimate knowledge
of his lovable qualities and his
hypnotic powers.
lit is unfortunate that Dey's talent
was expended in such a medium" re-
cites the Harrisburg (PaD Patriot.
1T might have been turned into
nobler channels. into real boys liter
ature. instead of stimulant to eX-
cessive daring and other like ex
cesses.' This sentiment. however.
finds no echo in the Albany On. W
Times Union, which boldly recalls
that he created an officer of the law
with the power of deduction-of un
raveling the mystifying; of clearing
up the battling crimes and bringing
the guilty to justice. His hero char
acter appealed more to the imagina-
ton than anything else the mind in
quest of thrills of adventure had yet
had" After all. as the Newark On.
j. News points out, his place is, or
rather, used TO be. in the cache out
back of the barn or under the ticking
Of the ma ttress in fellows bed. But
if his fiction was not of high order.
and If it distorted life. it at least had
the merit always of being clean and
always painting the hideous mien of
vice. 1t scorned to give the criminal
a romantic gloss" And then, Nick
carter Lived on adventure" as the
Baltimore News very carefully points
out, bold. brave. clean adventure.
He saw the reading public turn to
other things and two years ago his
old storytelling ceased because it
no longer paid. Then came his own
here. To the older generation it was
a real one
ut is to be said for Mr.. Dey's con-
tributions to the literature of boy
hood" the New York World recalls.
that his stories were clean. The
crime in them was crime. Vice is not
embellished and virtue received it's
proper reward. Boys have had worse
things to read than the Nick Carter
SERIES" Likewise lit is pity" the
Manchester IN. H.) Union points out.
that his own story could not have
ended more happily. In letters ad-
dressed to friends he left word that
everything had gone to smash and
been before him a good many years of
himself with it, There should have
continued story writing, but even
though his labors were thus cut
short, he left a record Of volume of
output which hardly will be surpassz
ed" And in the view of the Rochester
IN. W Times Union, time has made
US realize that Nick Carter was good
reading. Virtue always triumphed and
the villain always was foiled and
punished in the Nick Carter stories.
The present generation would be bet
ter off If it read Nick Carter instead
of the namby-pamby flood of erotic
and decadent trashy sex fiction. Fare
well, Nick Carter! You were great
detective" The fact that many well
known men, such as Thomas Edison
and Woodrow Wilson have admitted
that they were readers of detective
stories Of this sort is recalled by the
that his death, after all, is "the way
of the world, and SO the passing of
the author of Nick Carter's amazing
adventures, because he feared to be
old and a burden to his friends is not
without a touch of genuine regret"
The boast of Mr.. Dey that he never
wrote an adventure OF Nick Carter
that he would have been ashamed to
read aloud in Bible class" is re-
called by the Worcester Gazette, which
concurs in the praise of the cleanli-
ness of the stories. Summing 1t all up
the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal be-
Iieyes that ait is one of the ironies
of. storydom that Nick Carter has re-
NAMED throughout under the ban of
narents. while Poe and Gaboriau and
Doyle have been exalted to the Ii
brary; but however. this may be
many "a man, reading OF Dey's de-
parture, will turn wistfuiiy back IN
memory to the days of his youth.
when he read very considerable
part. up in the haymow, of the 10000
400 words of Nick Carter. Dey is said
to have written.
Tent Cities.
81 .7a e.. 81 IN. -.