The Ventriloquist Detective

The Ventriloquist Detective: A Romance of Rogues This serialized story by Edward L. Wheeler (author of the Deadwood Dick novels) opens with a cheap excursion boat from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. A young unaccompanied woman named Madge is accosted by a drunken ruffian; a Jewish-appearing young man named Fritz Snyder intervenes and throws the attacker downstairs. Madge thanks Fritz, and they board the excursion train together. On the train, Fritz entertains himself with ventriloquism, impersonating various passengers and causing an elderly spiritualist woman to threaten a fellow passenger with a pumpkin pie. At Atlantic City, Fritz becomes suspicious of Madge's true motives. He discovers she has registered as "Miss Madge Thurston" and observes her departing with a well-dressed man of thirty-five. That evening, Fritz is summoned to an isolated ocean cave where Madge marries a man introducing himself as Major Paul Atkins in a clandestine ceremony. Fritz and an old fisherman serve as witnesses to the marriage certificate.