NOVELIST’S DEBT

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 290, 2 September 1933, Page 17

NOVELIST’S DEBT

“Mystery of a Hansom Cab” FERGUS HUME’S START In . the brief controversy as to the nationality of Charles Willeby, the distinguished song writer, it was stated that Miss Mary Hume, whom Mr. Willeby married in Dunedin some forty odd years ago, was a daughter of Mr. Fergus Hume, the author of “The Mystery of a Hansom Cab,” which was subsequently successfully dramatised for the stage by the late Mr. George Darrell, who also produced and appeared in that play. That is not correct. Miss Mary Hume, who was a talented singer, was the elder sister of the novelist. Fergus Hume, as a young man, was a reporter on the staff of the Dunedin “Star.” Subsequently he migrated to Melbourne, and for a time was on the staff of the “Age” of that city. In order to be near the office he resided at the old White Hart Hotel, at the top of Bourke Street. When he got behind with his board his belongings were seized by the then proprietress, Miss Sarah Oliver, who declared her fixed intention of holding them until the debt was paid—a matter of £9 or £lO. After a few months Hume called on Miss Oliver with the request that he might get something he had left in his trunk. But Miss Oliver, evidently a woman of character, had been through the trunk, and on Hume making the request, offered to wipe off the debt and return the trunks with contents if he would give her a certain manuscript included among the papers. This was the manuscript of “The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.” Hume agreed. Miss Oliver then published the book, and made a small fortune out of it with the Australian rights. But she did not treat Hume badly. She allowed him the English rights to his own story, and paid his passage to England. There he seems to have achieved fair success, as subsequently there was published a series of novels of the lighter order, including “Madame Midas,” “A Piccadilly Puzzle,” “The Girl from Malta,” and “The White Room.” The father of Miss Mary Hume and Mr. Fergus Hume was the proprietor of Ashburn Hall, Dunedin.