| Show r Noname r Author Of Famed Nickel Novels Is Dead Luis P P. Was the 1 Crea Creator tor of Fabulous Frank Reade Jr I By ELMO ELl SCOTT WATSON I Released by Western Newspaper Union the newspapers newspapers newspapers RECENTLY pers throughout the country printed a brief i association dispatch which said 1 NEW YORK Luis Luis P. P Sen Sen- arens six seventy-six years old often called the American Jules Verne who wrote I 1500 dime novels under 27 pseudonyms between 1876 and 1910 died from heart trouble yesterday in Kings county hospital who began began began be be- gan his extraordinary career I at the age of fourteen created created created creat creat- ed the fabulous Frank Reade and forecast in fiction many manyI 1 I modern mechanical develop develop- ments Son of an immigrant Cuban 1 tobacco merchant got his inspiration as a boy from visiting the Philadelphia 1 I Centennial exposition in 1876 At sixteen he was earning 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- thou the Air was a shaped cigar-shaped balloon balloon balloon bal bal- bal 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 RI-IA RI h u w U y 7 w r Ye err I l In a j M 7 l L v y wV t ib r t L A Yar s AND HIS NEW STEAM HORSE s si i l' l w t i. i f r 3 i iI I L. L h U h 1 sands of Americans the identity identity identity iden iden- of one of their favorite authors back in the days of their youth when they tasted of forbidden fruit be revelling in the adventures of Fred Fearnot Young Wild West Old King Brady and especially especially especially espe espe- Frank Reade Jr For this brief obituary item unmasks unmasks unmasks un un- masks at last the mysterious ous tantalizing Noname whose imagination conjured up for the use of the ingenious Frank a host of mechanical marvels which seemed weirdly weirdly weirdly weird weird- ly improbable then but are commonplace enough today We are greatly impressed when modern science and inventive skill produces a mechanical man who can speak and give the correct answer to problems propounded propounded pro- pro propounded pounded to him when the right buttons are pressed But back in 1890 Frank Reade Jr had an electrical man who could do most of those things If Henry Ford Tord and the other motor car had read more of No names 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 bya a steam engine inside This animal animal animal ani ani- mal was attached to a tired solid-tired vehicle in the same same location where the automakers attached an engine engine engine en en- gine covered with a hood of steel Four years later Frank Reade was staging a race around the world for a purse of He Iwas was piloting his flying boat which is amazingly like a modern autogiro autogiro auto- auto autogiro giro and his opponent in the race was vas Jack Wright diving through the seas in his submarine which had a neat glass-enclosed glass conning conning conning con con- ning tower In fact Frank was wasa a most versatile designer of fly fly- ing machines His Monitor of r r I it 1 f S. forecast of our modern seaplanes By the next year 1895 Frank had had another idea for air travel Noname called it Frank Reade Greatest Flying Flying Flying Fly Fly- ing Machine in which he set out for a bit of Fighting the Terror of the Coast The picture on the front cover of this nickel thriller shows a large biplane v 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 landing landing landing land land- ing or taking off Perhaps the most extraordinary extraordinary nary invention of this ingenious youth was his dinner Clipper of the i t or of- of Prairie ie which 1 w was a sort of a across across 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 quarters quarters quarters was an observation platform on which were built two turrets and in front of the cabin was mounted a sized good-sized cannon If the red devils escaped destruction destruction destruction de de- de- de by the shots from this cannon they could be impaled upon a sharp ram-like ram projection from the front of the clipper This ram was also useful in in- get inget getting getting get get- ting a supply of fresh meat for Frank and his friends for the picture on the cover of this particular particular particular par par- volume indicates that it was used also for impaling buffalo buffalo buffalo falo Incidentally the clipper was propelled by steam on cater cater- tread pillar wheels which indicates indicates indicates indi indi- cates that our modern caterpillar caterpillar caterpillar cater cater- pillar tra tractors tors are old stuff According to to- Edmund Pearson in his Dime Novels or Following Following Following Follow Follow- ing an Old Trail in Popular Literature Literature Literature Liter Liter- published by Little Brown and Company in 1929 the Frank Tousey firm of which was president in addition addition addition addi addi- tion to the Frank Reade Weekly also issued Work Vork and Win Vin with its hero Fred Fearnot the Wild West Vest Weekly with Young Wild West Vest 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 theauthor theauthor theauthor author of works on numismatics and archeology Pearson does not give the authorship authorship authorship au au- au- au of the other Frank Tousey Tousey Tousey Tou Tou- sey publications but it is not unlikely unlikely unlikely un un- un- un likely that who was the Noname of the Frank Reade Jr yarns also wrote most of the others under one of the 27 pseudonyms pseudonyms mentioned in the obituary story quoted at the beginning of this article AiM i V L ju I A a 1 TRW l y r a rh IB Jf x l lt r Jr ad His Monitor t Or l I i 1 1 hi in tic i l. l. l Bv id R fe O y r. r i y w j y 4 q 0 I u Ten years ago there died in Orlando Fla a man whose writing writing writing writ writ- ing career paralleled that of ot Luis P. P and the other writers of ot the nickel libraries and boys' boys weeklies but whose literary product product product prod prod- 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 appearance appearance appearance ap ap- of oC 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 MinuteMen MinuteMen MinuteMen 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 Vis where his father and mother both New Englanders were living in in a mission He was educated in in the common schools of Appleton Wis Vis and later in the schools at Cambridge Mass where his parents parents parents par par- returned for a brief time To the Frontier When he was sixteen he persuaded persuaded persuaded per per- his father to allow him to spend his vacation in Kansas City Mo which was then a frontier frontier frontier fron fron- tier town He reached that place just as a surveying party under Gen W. W J. J Palmer was preparing to explore the vast region west of Kansas City By making himself himself himself him 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 associated associated associated with pioneers soldiers western western western west west- ern bad men and Indians He was well acquainted with Buffalo Bill Cody In Cal California ornia he found a job asa as asa asa a transit man and after he had saved sufficient money he took passage for South America where he traveled extensively before before before be be- fore returning to Cambridge 1 I 1 h l r 11 Once home he entered Harv Harvard rd 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 Vest to Kansas City but this time he was not so successful in finding work since the labor of surveying was temporarily temporarily temporarily tem tem- suspended and he came back East A Star tar Reporter Then was to occur the incident that largely determined his future career His familiarity with the Big Horn country where Custers Custer's force had just been killed gave him a chance to land a job as a reporter on the New York Sun Here he 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 him when again he was diverted into another another another an an- other field Harpers Harper's started a magazine called Harpers Harper's Young People designed for the youth of the nation na na- nation nation na tion and the editorship of this magazine was offered t to Munroe at a salary of 30 a week about third one-third of the pay he had been receiving Nevertheless he accepted accepted accepted ac ac- this offer and began his duties The magazine was immediately immediately immediately im im- mediately successful Munroe two years after he had been made editor began to write stories for boys His first book was published in 1886 From that time on his books multiplied with amazing rapidity until in all he had published 35 volumes After publishing the first few of these books Munroe gave up his editorial duties to devote devote devote de de- vote himself entirely to writing He had married Miss Mary Barr daughter of Amelia Barr the novelist novelist novelist nov nov- and anda a contributor to the magazine and together they traveled traveled traveled trav trav- extensively both for pleasure and to collect the material for stories After the death of his wife he moved to Coconut Grove Fla a suburb of Miami a place which he 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 I Coconut Grove for many years ears and in 1924 married again this time to Miss Mabel Stearns daughter of William Villiam F. F Stearns of Amherst Mass al |
