The Shadow 022 The Creeping Death

THE CREEPING DEATH was originally published in the January 15, 1933 issue of The Shadow Magazine. Counterfeit gold. Nearly undetectible, its priceless secret is guarded by horrible, sinister death! To crack the gold racket, The Shadow must face insidious doom in this tale of creeping death. 

 

I really liked this one. In addition to plenty of action, there is some clever plotting going on, here. It's a well-written story that keeps you interested from page one to the final page. Everything makes sense, all is explained and there are no loose ends. There is an amazing number of dead bodies that pile up, many due to the unerring aim of The Shadow's .45 caliber automatics. The Shadow is that ultra-mysterious figure that strikes terror into the heart of all who encounter him. It all makes for one of the most satisfying Shadow stories I've read. 

 

The plot all revolves around gold. Lucien Partridge is an eccentric old scientist who has discovered the secret of making fake gold. It's a cheap alloy, virtually undetectible from gold. He's gradually introducing it into the world's gold supply, and no one is the wiser. His ultimate plan? To take over the world! 

 

To help him with his sinister plans, he uses the creeping death - an insidious oriental powder that is transfered by touch. But the intended victim doesn't know he's infected for hours or even days. Then, his extremities start to become numb. His hands freeze, then his arms. Gradually the paralysis creeps across his whole body until he lies still, unable to even speak. Finally the light fades from his eyes as even his heart stops. It's a horrible way to die, and it's controlled by the evil Lucien Partridge. 

So basically we have a mad scientist with a deadly invention who plans to take over the world by dominating the supply of gold. If that sounds like something out of a James Bond movie, I have to admit the similarities are significant. But author Walter Gibson wrote it first. It would be twenty-six years before Ian Fleming would write "Goldfinger." 

We learn that years ago in the Orient, Lucien Partridge was nearly a victim of the creeping death. He was saved only by the quick action of his faithful Corsican servant Vignetti and his long knife blade. Partridge stole the secret of the creeping death from the Oriental assassin, and refined it. He has now perfected it so that it can be transmitted by a simple handshake. And thus, those that he wants dead will fall under the mysterious sway of the poison long after they have left the presence of their killer. 

 

Partridge has created a supply of the fine grayish powder that kills. He plans on placing it in letters and mailing them to Kings, Presidents and other world leaders that he wants to eliminate. With them out of the way, and with his ever-growing hoard of gold, he will soon be able to rule the world. It's chilling to realize that in the years since that fiction was written, such things actually do happen in the world. Letters and packages are routinely checked for poisons and explosives today. But back in the early 1930s, it was still just fiction. 

As our story opens, Harry Vincent, one of The Shadow's most trusted agents, is following Jerry Fitzroy. Fitzroy is a secret-service agent who was assigned the work of tracing counterfeit gold coins. But Fitzroy falls victim to the creeping death. He has visited Partridge's lab out in Westbrook Falls, and has stumbled upon Partridge's secret discovery. But before he can tell anyone, he is exposed to the secret death powder. 

Clifford Forster is the next victim. Forster is a wealthy mining promoter who owns the New Era Mine in California, and has been working with Professor Partridge. He has been substituting Partridge's fake gold for the real gold supposedly being mined there. But he gets too greedy, and he too falls victim to Lucien Partridge's wrath in the form of the creeping death. 

 

And the deaths don't stop there. More will die. Eventually, the creeping death will threatened Vic Marquette of the Secret Service, and even our old friend Lamont Cranston, in actuality the disguised personage of The Shadow! Can the evil be stopped? Will The Shadow fall victim to the creeping death? Can the evil genius of Lucien Partridge be overcome? All the answers will be found in this terrific story that will keep you on the edge of your seat! 

 

The familiar characters in this story are Vic Marquette of the secret service, and Lamont Cranston, wealthy world traveler. Reporter Clyde Burke is mentioned as being in California, but he doesn't actually take part in the story. Harry Vincent and Joe Cardona appear early on, but then are left behind in New York when the action moves to Westbrook Falls. That's where most of the story takes place and where the climax of the story occurs on the brink of a granite cliff overlooking the river far below. 

 

We get to see those wonderful rubber suction cups in action - those four disk-like objects - flat surfaces that bend as The Shadow twists them, attaches them to his hands and feet, and then scales the sheet granite walls of the Westbrook cliffs, his black form clinging to the sheer wall of the great gorge. Whew! That takes a lot of nerve! 

 

As far as disguises go, The Shadow does appear in one scene as the eccentric old chap Phineas Twambley. But it's brief, and he doesn't really get to do anything. He also appears as Lamont Cranston near the end of the novel, when he shows up at the gate of Lucien Partridge's heavily guarded compound, seeking admission. But just those two disguises are used. 

 

The Shadow, master of the night, is also master of many languages. In some stories we get to see him impressed us with his proficiency of some obscure dialect. Not so, here. But we see him speak Spanish flawlessly, which is still impressive. 

 

I earlier said there were no loose ends. Actually, there was one questionable end that might be loose. Near the end, The Shadow avoids the creeping death by wearing his black gloves. The dust gets on the gloves, not The Shadow's hands. It seems to me that now that the gloves are contaminated with the deadly dust, he would want to carefully dispose of them. But nothing further is said. The story's action comes fast and furious and there doesn't seem to be time to remove them. Nothing is said about removing them. But then again, nothing is said about them being left on. They are just ignored. So when The Shadow grabs Vic Marquette to pull him out of harm's way, does he contaminate the secret service man? Apparently not, since Marquette went on to appear in forty-three more Shadow magazine stories. But how hard would it have been for author Walter Gibson to toss in a sentence or two, assuring the readers that the contaminated gloves were carefully removed and discarded? Yes, I'm picky, here. But it's the only fault I could find with an otherwise fantastic Shadow story. 

So, is this the perfect Shadow mystery novel? No, but it's close to it. It's hard to find anything missing. It would have been nice to have seen The Shadow's amazing powers of disguise, other than the oh-so-brief appearance of Phineas Twambley. But I'm not sure how it could have been worked into the storyline. 

 

The story has just about all the important elements that faithful readers expect. We get to visit the sanctum. The Shadow receives his reports from Burbank and writes his notes in disappearing ink. He wears his girasol ring. His strength and stamina is amazing. His skill with his automatic is deadly. 

This may not be the best Shadow mystery ever written, but it's sure darned close to it. This is one you should read!