 | #030 "The Death Giver"
Vol. 5, No. 6 Published: 05/15/33 Submitted: 10/14/32 under the same title Author: Walter Gibson Review date: Nov 03, 2001 |
THE DEATH GIVER was originally published in the May 15, 1933 issue of The Shadow Magazine. Thade is The Death Giver. And hoo-boy is he crazy! He's out to kill, kill, kill! Random strangers are put to mysterious death at his whim. And he has a variety of methods: electrocutions, poisons, gasses, explosions, and the list goes on. Only The Shadow can track him down. Only The Shadow can stop him!
What's behind it all? Thade is a mad scientist in the truest sense of the word. He's a scientist named Lucius Olney, who for years worked with poisons, lethal gasses, and methods of delivering them. His whole life was consumed with his work. Definitely a little off his rocker, already. But the thing that really sent him over the edge was when he approached the government with his work and was rejected. The ridicule sent him absolutely looney, and he swore to use his inventions to kill.
Oh, yeah, he also used his inventions to make some money, too. He'd kill a bunch of people around his upcoming victim, and then try to coherse a million dollars from them, threatening them with death as well. But if his victim balked, he didn't really care. He wasn't in it for the money; he'd much rather kill for killing's sake!
Our story opens as two successive, unexplainable murders have taken place on the Suburban Railway. Both have taken place at the same spot; both at the same hour of the day. Commissioner Weston sends Detective Joe Cardona out to investigate. But there's not a lot of clues to find; just two dead guys in car number three. And tomorrow? Sure enough, another one turns up. And poor Joe is stymied!
Of course, we know what's going on. We know that this is all just a build-up by The Death Giver, in order to convince millionaire Henry Bellew that he'll be next if he doesn't give up a million dollars. Naturally, Bellew refuses. He didn't get to be a millionaire by being a softie! He's about to phone the police when he is killed in a gruesome manner by one of The Death Giver's henchmen. And then henchman's killed, too. Thus ends the trail back to Thade, The Death Giver.
That's the way it is with all of The Death Giver's crimes. There's never a trail that leads back to the master killer. He strikes randomly, so there's no way to know where he'll strike next. It's a tough case that the police can't touch. So it's up to The Shadow to track him down. And so he does, in this excellent early Shadow mystery.
During this period in the development of the characters in the Shadow novels, Joe Cardona is still a detective, working under Inspector Timothy Klein. Commissioner Weston believes The Shadow to be a myth. And Lamont Cranston shows up only briefly. Most of the time, he appears only as The Shadow in his costume of black.
The villain of the piece is quite flamboyant. He's a wizened old coote clad in a green robe. Yellow, scrawny hands extend from baggy sleeves. Upon the breast of the robe appears a circle of black, with the design of skull and crossbones marked in white. His face is not yellow; it's green, glowing with a luminous color courtesy of some chemical compound.
He works from a den high atop a skyscraper in a lair of green. Shaggy green carpet on the floor. Deep green curtains on the walls. Green lights illuminate the room. And on the door, guarded by two giant Nubians, the glowing white skull and crossbones.
He controls his minions through fear. He sits on a dias before his subjegated henchmen as the floor in front of him slides open. Beneath the green carpet is a thick sheet of plate glass. Under it, entombed in a coffin like a mummy in a museum, is the form of a living man! A helpless, miserable being whose shroud-wrapped form is wasted with long suffering. A face with hollow, bony cheeks; its colorless eyes staring sightlessly upward; a pain-racked frame that had shrunk to the proportions of a skeleton. This was a traitor to Thade, The Death Giver. His fate is to be kept alive for months in torture, dying slowing as Thade carefully gauges the gas which enters his glass-covered coffin. Yes, this is one sick dude!
Let me mention a few other noteworthy aspects of this novel. It features a pretty neat code. Each of Thade's victims receives messages in code. It's a pretty strange code, but when once explained is quite easy to understand. I thought it was pretty cool.
In this story, The Shadow uses a strange hypnotic gas to rescue one of Thade's intended victims. Yes, The Shadow actually drugs one of the innocent victims with something that smells of exotic perfume. It's not often that you see The Shadow drug someone, and I felt it was worthwhile noting.
Also worth noting is Burbank's name. Rarely is any clue given as to his name. Is Burbank his first name or last? Judging from this story, it's his last name. And his first? It doesn't say. But the story does give the initial "L" as a clue. "L. Burbank." Hmmm... Larry? Leonard? Linus? Your guess is as good as mine. But since Harry Vincent has a business card "H. Vincent" and Burbank has a business card "L. Burbank" I think we can safely assume they weren't using aliases, and the intial "L" is a valid one.
Again in this story, The Shadow appears in public wearing his girasol ring. That's something that he rarely does, but it occurs here. He appears in daylight as a tall, hawk-nosed individual; we aren't told if it's his Cranston disguise or some other. But on his long left hand glows the strange, color-changing gem.
There were fewer agents back in these early stories. Recurring characters in this novel are Commissioner Ralph Weston and Detective Joe Cardona, Rutledge Mann, Burbank, Harry Vincent, and a brief appearance by The Shadow in his Lamont Cranston disguise.
This is one of the notable stories in the series. It was selected for reprint in the late 1960's in paperback form. Naturally, I've spurned the paperback version, and presented to you the uncut and unedited original pulp version. Yes, this story was scanned from the pulp magazine, not the paperback. So you can be assured you are reading it exactly as it was originally intended. You deserve the best!