Newspapers / The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, … / Jan. 25, 1940, edition 1 / Page 2
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'Noname,' Author Of Famed Nickel Novels, Is Dead Luis P. Senarens Was the Creator of Fabulous Frank Reade Jr. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON QUkutd by Wwlt m Newspaper Union.) RECENTLY the newspa pers throughout the country printed a brief press association dispatch which said: NEW YORK.?Luis P. Sen arens, seventy-sis years old, often called the "American Jules Verne," who wrote 1,500 dime novels under 27 pseudonyms between 1878 and 1910, died from heart trouble yesterday in Kings county hospital. Senarens, who be gan his extraordinary career at the age of fourteen, creat ed the fabulous Prank Reade and forecast in fiction many modern mechanical develop ments. Son of an immigrant Cuban tobacco merchant, Senarens got his inspiration as a boy from visiting the Philadelphia Centennial exposition in 1876. At sixteen he was earning $200 a week and at thirty he became president of the Frank Tousey Publication company, which published all his works. Thus was revealed, for the first time perhaps, to thou the Air" was a cigar-shaped bal loon that resembled a modern Zeppelin. Suspended below it by slings was the hull of a ship, complete with a rudder at the stern, and a searchlight at the bow. Thus it was a combined ship of the air and ship of the sea, or in other words a sort of driven by two propellers, below which is suspended a land-boat with a hull similar to that on the "Monitor of the Air" but equipped with four wheels on which it could "taxi" along the ground in land ing or taking off. Perhaps the most extraordi nary invention of this ingenious youth was his "Clipper of the Prairie," which was a sort of a cross between a war tank and a trailer home on Wheels and which Frank used for "Fighting the Apaches in the Far Southwest." Above the cabin, or living quar ters, was an observation platform on which were built two turrets and in front of the cabin was mounted a good-sized cannon. If the "red devils" escaped de struction by the shots from this cannon, they could be impaled upon a sharp ram-like projection from the front of the "clipper." Hiis ram Was also useful in get ting a supply of fresh meat for Frank and his friends, for the picture on the cover of this par ticular volume indicates that it was used also for impaling buf falo! Incidentally the "clipper" was propelled by steam on cater pillar-tread wheels which indi cates that our "modern" cater pillar tractors are "old stuff." According to Edmund Pearson in his "Dime Novels; or, Follow ing an Old Trail in Popular Liter ature" (published by Little, Brown and Company in 1929), the Frank Tousey firm of which Senarens was president in addi tion to the Frank Reade Weekly, also issued "Work and Win" with Ms hero, Fred Fearnot; the "Wild West Weekly" with Young Wild West and his sweetheart. Arietta; "Secret Service" with Old King Brady and Young King Brady; and "Pluck and Luck." The Old King Brady stories, he says, "are attributed to Francis Worcester Doughty, who, curiously, was the author of works on numismatics and archeology." Pearson does not give the au thorship of the other Frank Tou sey publications but it is not un likely that Senarens, who was the "Noname" of the Frank Reade Jr. yarns, also wrote most of the others under one of the 27 pseu donyms mentioned in the obituary story quoted at the beginning of this article. "*4' ~ ^ FraDR Mb. ? sands of Americans the iden tity of one of their favorite authors back in the days of their youth when they tasted of forbidden fruit be revelling hi the adventures of Fred Feaynot, Young Wild West, Old King Brady and espe cially Frank Reade Jr. for this brief obituary item un masks, at last, the mysteri ous, tantalising "Noname" whose imagination conjured up for {he use of the ingenious Frank a host of mechanical marvels which seemed weird ly itnprobable then but are commonplace enough today. We are (really impressed when modern science and inventive skill produces a "mechanical man" who can speak end give the correct answer to problems pro pounded to him when the right buttons are pressed. But back in ISM Frank Reade Jr. had an "alactrical man" who could do iqoat of thosa things. If Henry Ford and the other motor car makers had read more of "No name's" nickel novels, the course of automobile design might have been far different. For Frank Reade Jr. had a horse made of Steel with jointed legs, driven by ? Steam engine inside. This ani mal was attached to a solid-tired ' vehicle in the same location where the automakers attached an en gine covered with,a "hood" of steel. Four years later Frank Reade was staging a race around the world for a purse of $10,000 He was piloting his flying boat, which la amazingly like a modern auto giro, and his opponent in the race was Jack Wright, diving through the sees in his submarine which had a neat, glass enrtoaed coo , ning tower In fact, Frank was forecast at our modern seaplanes. By the next year, 1886, Prank had had another idea for air travel. "Noname" called it "Frank Reade Jr/s Greatest Fly ins Machine" in which he set out for a bit at "Fighting the Terror of the Coast." The picture on the front cover of this nickel thriller shows a large biplane. Frank Reade, Jr.,and His Monitor obtain ? <V. Helpinv: ? 1 Kricm in Ncod.??% | 1 Ten yean ago there died in Orlando, Fla., a man whoae writ ing career paralleled that of Luis P. Senarens and the other writers of the nickel libraries and boys' weeklies but whose literary prod uct differed greatly from theirs. He was Kirk Munroe and during the period from 1890 to 1910 one of the biggest events of the year for Young America was the ap pearance of a new book which had come from his industrious pen. Munroe was a descendant of Col. William Munroe, who was an orderly sergeant in the Minute Men of Lexington, Mass., when they fired the opening guns of the Revolution. He was born on April 15,1850, at Prairie du Chien, Wis., where his father and mother, both New Englanders, were living in a mission. He was educated in the common schools of Appleton, Wis., and later in the schools at Cambridge, Mass., where his par ents returned for a brief time. To the Frontier. When be was sixteen he per suaded his father to allow him to spend his vacation in Kansas City, Mo., which was then a fron tier town. He reached that place just as a surveying party under Gen. W. J. Palmer was preparing to explore the vast region west of Kansas City. By making him self useful about the camp of this exploring and surveying party, young Munroe secured a job as a "tape man." Thereafter, for nearly a year, the boy traveled and camped through the wilds. He saw much of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and California. He was engaged in numerous skirmishes with hostile Indians, was wounded, frequently went hungry and thirsty and suffered in the biting cold of those western plains and mountains. Once he was the guest of Kit Carson at Fort Garland, Colo. He associ ated with pioneers, soldiers, west ern bad men and Indians. He was well acquainted with Buffalo Bill Cody. In California he found a job as a transit man, and after he had saved sufficient money he took passage for South America, where he traveled extensively be fore returning to Cambrid". Km s)uu~~?* Once home he entered Harvard, taking an engineering course, but this proved rather slow and he left college at the end of his first year. He was then nineteen. Once more he went West to Kansas City, but this time he was not so successful in finding work, since the labor of surveying was tem porarily suspended, and be came back East. A Star Reporter. Then was to occur the incident that largely determined his future career. IDs familiarity with the Big Horn country, where Custer's force had just been killed, gave him a chance to land a job as a reporter on the New York Sun. Here be found a congenial field for his talents. He soon moved to the New York Times, and there he became a star reporter. A brilliant career in journalism was fairly opening before him when, again, he was diverted into an other field. Harper's started a magazine called Harper's Young People, designed for the youth of the na tion, and the editorship of this magazine was offered to Munroe at a salary of $30 a week, about one-third of the pay he had been receiving. Nevertheless, he ac cepted this offer and began his duties. The magazine was im mediately successful. Munroe, two years after he had been made editor, began to write stories for boys. His first book, "Walkulla," eras published in 1886. From that time on his books multiplied with amazing rapidity, until in all he had published 33 volumes. After publishing the first few of these books Munroe gave up his editorial duties to de vote himself entirely to writing. He had married Miss Mary Barr, daughter of Amelia Barr, the nov elist, and a contributor to the magazine, and together they trav eled extensively, both for pleasure and to collect the material for stories. After the death of his wife, he moved to Coconut Grove, Via., a suburb of Miami, a place which be had visited as a youth in a canoe and had become one of the pioneers and founders of that community before Miami was a town. He lived in seclusion in Coconut Grove for many years and in 1924 married again, this time to Miss Mabel Stearns, daughter of William F. Stearns of Amherst, Mass. * ? ? Cold Job Taking ? Alaska Census Noae-Counters Use Dog Sled And Snowshoes in Making Rounds. WASHINGTON.?They are taking the census in Alaska this winter by dog sled and on snowshoes to catch the hunters and fishermen at home. And after they get their man, "My name la Attu," the Eskimo tells the census enumerator, "but to the white man I am known as Jim Smith. Take your choice." Alaska is no longer a pioneer set tlement. In the southern part cities a* populous as Annapolis, Md., or East Aurora, N. Y., boast of fac tories and markets. Mining is large ly a company job, with big machines replacing the panning prospector. The fishing fleets and fox farms ship their products to Seattle and San Francisco. But up north men live alone or cluster together in small native set tlements, fishing and trapping. Only an occasional trader or Indian serv ice nurse brings word of the out side world. Whiter Weather Best. The census bureau says the win ter weather is better for the job in Alaska. Railroads and automobiles do not penetrate the back-country regions, but dog sleds cross frozen land that is dangerous marsh in summer, and every level snow-cov ered space is a landing field for air planes on runners. Then, too, the Indians and Eskimos stay home in wintertime, while in spring and summer they scatter along the riv ers and shallow bays to fish and hunt. Although the Alaskan census got under way in October, it will not be finished until after the returns are in for the rest of the United States next April. The easiest part of the job is on the southern strip of land that cuts between British Columbia and the Pacific ocean. There half the people live in cities like Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Sitka. But even there men will go out in boats to poll the islands of the "Inside Passage." Coast Is Problem. The long, treacherous coast from the Bering sea up to the northern most tip of land. Point Barrow, is a problem. Through much of the year this district is inaccessible except by airplane or dogaled. The interior department's supply ship Boxer car ried the census supplies along the coast to Nome. An early freeze kept the ship out of Point Barrow and an airplane had to fly the question naires there. In April, when the heavy winter snows have packed down, a rein deer agent will set out from Point Barrow with his dogs, to search out the 400 or so isolated trappers and Eskimo families who populate America's farthest-north outposts. The people living on islands like Lit tle Diomede in Bering strait?cut off from the world by the freeze-up ?have all winter to answer the gov ernment's questions. The Boxer left their questionnaires on its last trip in early fall; she will pick up the answers on the first trip next spring. Men on dog sleds and snowshoes will canvass the people living back in the Wrangell and Talkeetna mountains. And Ivan Harvard anthropology graduate, will set out from Fairbanks to look up miners who work their claims far back in the mountains. Teen Age Tipplers Become Inebriates in Later Life DWIGHT, ILL.?A survey made public here discloses that 74 per cent of a male patient group at the Keeley institute admitted drinking before they were 21. Eighteen per cent said they took their first drinks after reaching ma jority. Eight per cent did hot re member at what age they began to imbibe. Of those who began drinking as minors, 10 per cent more said they began drinking in high school. An other 21 per cent began alcoholic indulgence at the age of 12. City dwellers predominated among the chronic alcoholics, the survey showed, with M per cent reporting urban residences. Salesmen led the occupational list with 12 per cent Business execu tives scored a close second with 12 per cent Bar tenders represented only 2 per cent of the total. Of youthful drinking, Martin Nel son, secretary of the institute de clared: "Whether a predisposition to al cohol, or a constant application to the bottle over a period at years causes the adolescent drinker to be come a chronic alcoholic later on, could not be determined." Ninety per cent included in the survey were native Americans. The average age of patients studied was 40 years. Individual ages ranged all the way from 22 to 00 years. Coffee II Cents a Cap BUDAPEST.?A cup of coffee now costs from 30 to 30 cents in Buda pest cafes. The price was increased after a government order which raised the price of coffee to $3 a pound. Owns Musical Coia LOCK HAVEN, PA.?F. L. Sab bato owns a piece of money which was issued in 1815 in Connecticut to Jerry Church, founder of Lock Ha ven. Lights of New York by L. L STEVENSON Though repeal ia six years old, vivid memories ol prohibition dajrs have been revived within thelast few weeks in this vicinity. While no armed boats speed up and down the Hudson looking for law violators, there is much activity along the riv er front. The watch is not kept for rum runners, however. In this in stance, cigarette runners are the prey. Because the state and city impose taxes totaling three cents on each package of gaspers sold to the city, there is a difference of about 30 cents a carton in the New York and New Jersey price. So the city department of finance has 18 agents and six detectives on the lookout at tunnel and bridge termi nals and at ferry landings. Also the city is reported to have snoop ers over on the New Jersey side who keep vigilant lookout for pur chasers of large quantities and trail them acroas the river. ? ? ? Culprits are taken into custody on the ground that possession of cig arettes without the local tax stamps is a law violation. In the begin ning, only those who brought over cigarettes in the hope of turning a more or less honest penny were tak en into custody, fined and placed un der bail for trial under the state law. Then the city's tax-free pro hibition forces cracked down on any one they happened to catch with cartons. There were those who ar gued that such interpretation wouldn't pass a* higher court. They maintained that under it the New Jersey resident who forgot to dump his smokes when he reached the middle of the Hudson, or the mo torist who in all innocence had bought a couple of packs when he had run out, would be malefactors. But those arrested preferred to pay fines and go on their way rather than hire lawyers and stand trial. ? ? ? It was different with Kenneth C. Crain, an advertising man, how ever. When he was arrested for having to his possession three car tons, which he had imported tor use of himself and his family, instead of paying a fine, he announced that he wanted a trial. A lawyer him self, he was ready to proceed but the magistrate wasn't, so the case went over a few days. When it was called, Mr. Crain showed up I with an imposing battery of legal talent, including Mitchell B. Carroll, international tax lawyer. Mr. Crain explained that he was not attacking the tax law as a law but believed that the method of enforcement was wrong. Magistrate Richard F. Mc Kiniry, because of its importance, put the case over until January IS. ? ? ? The case of Mr. Crain, however, will not be the first to reach the appellate division of the Supreme court, though he was the first to demand a trial. Miss Ruth Ander son was arrested November 28 with 18 cartons of cigarettes and spent nine hours to prison before she was convicted and given her choice of paying $25 or spending 10 days in jail. Miss Anderson paid the fine but announced her intention of ap pealing. So her case will be the first to reach the higher courts. Mean while, the city ia still arresting cig arette bootleggers. ? ? ? While doing a bit of writing the other evening, I used a line that has a familiar ring though I could not recall where I bad read or heard it Whether it was original is be side the point But it did remind me of an experience of Ernest Hem ingway. His novel "Fifty Grand" was written five or six yean before it eras published as a serial. In the story he had the manager of a prize fighter advising his protege to watch a certain opponent because when he was to the ring he was thinking. The pug came right back with the declaration, "While he's thinking, I'll be punching." ? e e Shortly after the line had ap peared in a magazine, F. Scott Fitz gerald informed Hemingway that though he couldn't recall where he had read it he was certain he had seen somewhere exactly the same line. So Hemingway promptly cut it out of the book manuscript. Not until the book had been out some time did Hemingway remember where Fitzgerald had seen that line. Five years before it was published, he had sent the manuscript of "Fifty Grand" to Fitzgerald to read. (Ban Syndicate?WWU Stnta.1 Policeman Errs at Lack BURLINGTON, VI".?A policeman was suspended for "going out to lunch without leaving a forwarding address." Whether this meant he forgot to punch the timeclock was not recorded. . Twins Are Old Story To Father of S Pain LOGAN, W. VA.?The fifth set of twins in six years was born recently to 24-year-old Mrs. Bud Chafin and her miner-husband, 41. 'Tve gotten so I expected It," said* the husband upon hearing of the arrival of the six-pound boy and girl, Don and Lola Mae. Al together, 11 children have been born to the couple. One set of twins died, then one each from two of the other sets died. Make an Heirloom _ Crazypatch Quilt Bj BOTH WTETH SPEAB8 TPHE oldest of quilt designs is the crazypatch, yet there is something amazingly modern in its angular lines. A variety of em broidery stitches join the pieces, of plain and figured silks. Sev eral colors of silk embroidery thread are generally used. When a number of patches have been basted in place, sew them down to the foundation with the embroid u?^ggBPii ery stitches and then remove the bastings. The backing is tied to the front with silk embroidery thread as comforters are tied. Little or no padding may be used. NOTE: Mrs. Spears has pre pared patterns and directions for making three of Hfer favorite Early American Quilt Blocks which she will mail upon receipt of name and address and 10 cents- coin to cover cost. Her Sewing Booklet No. 2 contains illustrations for 42 embroidery stitches suitable for patch work quilts; also pattern with directions for making the framed picture embroidery sketched on the wall in illustration above. Also numerous gift items: mittens, neck ties; bags; table decorations; and 5 ways to repair fabrics. To get this book, send 10 cents in coin to Mrs. Spears, Drawer 10, Bedford Hills, New York. Jlsk Me JLnother 0 A General Quiz The Question* 1. Why is Arizona known as the 3-C state? 2. What is a bon mot? 3. What is a boar; a bore; a boor? 4. How many squares in one month of the calendar? 5. Whose signature is most prominent on the Declaration of Independence? 6. When water runs down a drain, does it revolve clockwise or not? 7. What domestic beast of bur den cannot reproduce its owa kind? The Answers 1. It is outstanding in the pro duction of copper, cotton and cattle. 2. A witty repartee. 3. A male swine; an uninterest ing person; a peasant or rustic, respectively. 4. Usually 35. 5. John Hancock's. 6. Usually clockwise. 7. The mule. FIBHT_COLDS rgWsal" "T" Mi*. EWMh Tickwy jf?, ' viUm: 7 mrf la c?ic* toUt ton miUy. Dr. Wrrfi Mn hfrdicat ^TT_. ? Discntry ktlprd to f"\ tormttom mm hat Mfca ^roKto.uW. mnyjSit Btrlcilti""'' fcal Ducotit W IWt wt tOJOOMI htto talmiMrbMiMiPmlrilkn. " ?1* '.' _?>??*<?? 0* Dr. IW. (Ma WNU?4 4?40 Kinrinen Done You have done a kindness, an other has received it. Why be as the foolish and hanker after some thing more?the credit for the kindness or the recompense?? Marcus Aurelius. Help Them Cleanse the Blood of Harmful Body Waste Tsar Warn sre enueUiiUj Stake sou matter from ths blood sCrasm. But kidney, sometimes tog In thstr sorb da sot set as Nature intended?(all to ra mose Imparities that. if retained. Bar K^ma" hi'7*1"*' *CM *** ^Sj^ptonssta^ bs satB^^tsskad|^ isttinf as alghta, iwelling. pagtorm under ths a J as a testing of sa loss anxiety and loss of pap and strength. Other signs of kidney or Madder dis order are sometimes horning, scanty ce too (mooent nrinatiae. There should be so dosbt that prompt treatment la star than neglect. Das Peon's fills. Pose's hays heea winning new (rlenda for mam then forty yeam. They hers n nation-wide reputation. Are recommended by gvatefolpoepta the eaontry oyer. Ash year nrigtSM I
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Jan. 25, 1940, edition 1
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