The Wilmington morning star., 1946-11-14
As Pegler Sees 1t
Bv WEsTBROOK PEGLER

John Row Carlson, I type him as a cops-ano-
robbers character, troubled by tear. ms pooh
is a SEQUEL to a best S ellie called uhoer
Cover which ran a score OF Ioo,ooo ~ nan
~ war and a gross sale at retail Of 81, 45O,O OO,
and was, as the author says IN the preidce
~ tho new book. prominently displayed on
Arnov library Shelves" Although he adml1s
that Carlson is his pen name and says ne
has never made a secret OF MS rea1 'foiiie'
find no mention of his name, Derouiian, any
where in Under Cover or The flotterS'
We have had this kind in the neWspapet
business here and there, fellows VINO weiT ~
lice bluffs Or fans and played detective. l re-
noenoher one whose expense account once con-
tanned the item ito DISCUSSES, $50. and SET
the citv room to kidding him about false whlsK-
ers and nose-putty. He bobbed up IN the Army
as a major, no less, doing 'iptelligence WORK
during the war, although honestly the stu11 ne
turned up by Sherlocking around WIN a can-
ing list of pickpockets and underworld gosSlps
anv city-side reporter with a reasonable per
sonal acquaintance in the ponce department
could have gathered by phone.
I don't fault our hero FOR using a monlcKer
here and there in joining a lot OF Kluxy or
carnations to get their silly secrets, out l an
begi,ning to get Just a little petulant over
the recurring suggestion that bigotry, raclal
ferocity and all the ornery traits OF humahAlhd
are found exclusively among Anglo-oaxons l
could stray of along some interesting oypa'ns
pursuing this, but let us get back to the reason
whv I think Derounian has throat trouble as
thew saw in the baseball business OF a man
who chokes up with fear in the clutches.
He saws he 'had a close call" when he
went calling on Bob Reynolds, then a Senator
from North Carolina and "a strong natlonalst
and America Firster," and l Will nave 10 IN
terrupt myself again to say that this fellow IS
dead against nationalism. He even speaks OF
49, --r,o~ ~ GO pOfOrjnIS n9f10naHSC' IN a
way to suggest that patriotism were telonlous.
This notorious nationalist was a woman en-
ployed in Reynolds outer office and our BOY
sort of hid his face and nerved out the oroeal
Of waiting. He had abused her In Onoer
Cover and was afraid she recognized nm. his
.heart sank'' when she passed a note to anotn-
err woman at a desk and he was sweating It
OUT when Reynolds came out to greet him.
"Was Mrs. Washburn,' the notorious ma
tionalist, 'waiting until I was with Reynolds
before exposing me, or were some o. ule
boys being gathered for a little reception TO
their ex-pal?' he writes.
His visit with Reynolds was untroubled, but
still ''once on the street." he says, i MADE
sure 1 wasn't followed."
Well, now, Bob Reynolds is a big fellow, to
be sure, and Derounian, 1 understand, can
make 1875. But, in the first place, Reynolds IS
strictly a gab-man, a carnival professor 10
the life, not a scrapper, and moreover, weight
and size are heavily discounted by years and
sedentary living. A fairly healthy lightweight
Of Derounian's youth probably could scratch
him up in a short scuffle and If Reynolds
had grabbed him to lean his weight on NM
there still would have been things a little
guy could do. An aggressive little squirt COM
ing at him with a glare and a roar might
take the play away from him and run him
around the room. ,.,
This is not a text on Judo or SO ways to kill
a man by hand without breaking the SKIN.
But. all factors considered. l think Derounlan
makes himself look silly unnecessarily in re-
vealing his fear of Mistah Bob. sub, and the
~tortures inflicted by his imagination as he sat
down.. And his fear of being followed on the
street confirms my belief that this fellow ought
to get out Of the young King Brady business
and take up coloring Christmas cards at nome.
have had quite a talk with twoo officials OF
E. P. Dutton and Company, the publishers OF
both of Derounian's books, John Edmondson
and Elliott MacRae, and l just cant under
stand why an old house with a nandsome
name in the publishing business would let IT.
self in for the comment Of Judge John T.
Barnes of the United States District Court, IN
Chicago, that Dutton was willing to publish
anything for money" including "onoef
Cover" by a writer of whom the judge sald'
81 wouldn't believe him on oath, now or at any
time hereafter"
I don't Del1eVe myself LldI OutIoH ioo oOhn
as low as Judge Barnes thought. But l 40
think its conduct here shows that some o. the
firm have got themselves into a mental Tx
which gave them to put the Dutton prestige
and imprimatur on books which, on almost
everv page. take liberties with the reputatlons
of others. Edmondson and MacRae certainly
aren't happy over the judges on
their firm, but they are damned careless OF
the right of other men to their good character.
This ~furtive little sneak, Derounlan' mas a
way Of lousing up a person without actually
accusing him of any wrong, just because he
doesn't like the victim or agree with his be-
liets. He speaks, of a woman with "a tnln
scrawnv face meaning no offense, maybe
your wife or mother has a thin, scrawny face.
Age will do that. He says a man IN Reynolds
office formerly had worked for another fellow
who had "a history of promotions " OF Flori-
da swamp land. Observe that he doesn't say
this guy himself promoted Florida swamps. 1t
was Just that he once had worked for a fellow
who was alleged to have done so. But Franklin
D. Roosevelt promoted German marks and
mechanical statesmen to disemploy re-
tail clerks, and a man high in the Internal
Revenue told me the other day, now that
Roosevelt couldn't crush him like a bug, that
in his professional judgment Roosevelt's part
in the gyp of John Hartford was felonious and
should have gone to a grand jury.
Carlson, or whatever you want to call him,
says Reynolds sent him a fascist tract entitled
there's how you can become a political leader
in vo11r district - Well. that certainly is sinis-