[The Shadow 92] • The Case of Congressman Coyd

THE CASE OF CONGRESSMAN COYD was published in the December 15, 1935 issue of The Shadow Magazine. The Honorable Layton Coyd, member of the House of Representatives, is a famed congressman of sixty. A man of great political power. A man who can change national policy and control corporate destinies. There's something strange going on with Congressman Coyd. He seems to be having a nervous breakdown. One minute he's normal, and fighting corruption. The next, he's making policies that will help the schemers and speculators. Is he in it for the money? Or does he have some ulterior motive? Is he honest? Or a grafter? To clear up the mystery, Senetor Ross Releston calls in The Shadow. Releston is chairman of various committees, and is concerned that powerful interests hidden in America will profit from the deregulations proposed by Congressman Coyd. He needs to find out what's going on. Senator Releston knows that somehow Lamont Cranston can contact that mysterious fighter who has aided the government in the past. He is sure that Cranston can bring The Shadow to Washington. First, The Shadow sends in Clyde Burke. A few years ago, Burke had opened a news bureau in Washington, DC. The National City News Association had figured in the exposure of a criminal ring in Washington (see "The Embassy Murders," January 1, 1934). Because of the success of the bureau, The New York Classic hired him back, and the bureau was closed. But now, he reopens the news bureau in order to report the doings at the Capitol to The Shadow. Next, The Shadow sends in Harry Vincent. On a previous adventure ("The Plot Master," February 1, 1935) Harry had been assigned as special secretary to Senetor Releston. And now, Releston needs him again. He is to serve as an intermediary between Releston and Congressman Coyd. Only Vincent has the intelligence and loyalty to be trusted with this assignment. Also brought into the case by The Shadow is Hawkeye. Hawkeye, the scrawny little trailer, had become an agent for The Shadow about a year earlier, in "The Chinese Disks." Before that, he had worked for Slade Farrow. He was first introduced in "The Green Box" in early 1934. Cliff Marsland is also brought into the fray. Cliff had joined The Shadow in the April 1932 story "Mobsmen on the Spot." And one of The Shadow's earliest agents, Burbank, leaves his hidden headquarters in New York to travel to Washington and assist with electronic evesdropping. Now let's look at the others in the cast of characters. There's Congressman Coyd himself. An enigma of a man. What is he really working for? And his daughter, Evelyn. She's as confused about her father's strange behavior as the others. Tyson Weed is the most persistent lobbyist in Washington. A bird that still hopes to sell the government a carload of gold bricks. He's due to get his. Dunwood Rydel, magnate of many interests - steel, coal, lumber and a dozen other things. Influential in Washington. What is his part in the mystery? And his daughter Beatrice Rydel, engaged to Montgomery Hadwil, who thinks he is the greatest character actor in the profession. Old Dunwood Rydel can't stand him, and has promised to disinherit his only daughter the moment she becomes Mrs. Montgomery Hadwil. Foster Crozan just arrived in town. He's a man with a lot of money, mostly inherited, who's gone in for politics. A friend of Releston's. Don Jurrick and Hugh Tabbert, secretaries to Congressman Coyd. Both are keeping a close eye on his beautiful daughter. Donald Lanson is secretary to Senetor Releston. Can he be trusted? Doctor Borneau, Congressman Coyd's personal physician, has a foreign accent. He happens to remain in Washington as he is preparing a series of speeches on Oriental diseases. Seems a bit sinister. And rounding out the cast are Walbert and Quidler, private investigators working for lobbyist Tyson Weed. Neither knows the other is on the case. Why is Weed keeping them seperate? It will take The Shadow to sort out the connections in this strange case. And it will take The Shadow to reveal the secrets behind the unusual behavior of Congressman Coyd. In this story, The Shadow appears in disguise as Lamont Cranston and Henry Arnaud. Cranston speaks with a slight drawl in this story. I don't remember that from any other story. Makes me wonder where Gibson was going with this. Gibson has an interesting description of Cranston turning into Arnaud. The top part of Cranston's suitcase opens. An electric light illuminates a metal mirror. Long fingers work upon his face, molding it, changing its contours, applying dabs of puttylike make-up. Soon he is Henry Arnaud. The Shadow's famous suction cups that assisted him in climbing the outside of buildings had been used frequently during the previous three years, but Walter Gibson was beginning to phase them out. In this story, The Shadow climbs the outside of the Halcyon Hotel from the eighth floor to the tenth floor, but without any assistance from those strange rubber discs. They would be used in future stories, but with less and less frequency. A couple of interesting notes about Burbank in this story. As mentioned previously, Burbank has left his hidden room and joined The Shadow in Washington in this story. He sits in an eighth floor room at the Halcyon Hotel listening to what is happening two floors above. In one scene, Burbank appears at Congressman Coyd's dressed as a workman. He surepicisously passes a note to Harry Vincent. Vincent doesn't see his face, but recognizes his voice as being that of Burbank. Apparently, Vincent has never met Burbank in person. And here, he still doesn't get to see his face. And speaking of Burbank's voice, The Shadow impersonates that voice in this story. We are told that Burbank is off duty, sleeping in another room, when the telephone buzzes. The Shadow answers it in the quiet, methodical tone that's a perfect imitation of Burbank's voice. Harry Vincent makes his report, never knowing he was giving it directly to his chief instead of Burbank. Apparently The Shadow doesn't want even his closest agents to know he occasionally answers the phone himself! One final point of interest. In this story, Cliff Marsland tries The Shadow's system of unlocking a door with a thin prying tool. We are told that his efforts are comparatively clumsy. He requires several minutes to unlock the mechanism, whereas The Shadow would only need seconds, and he chips the woodwork in the bargain. Hey, if just anybody could do it, we wouldn't need The Shadow!