by Thomas F. Schwartz
As noted in earlier posts, the Hoovers tended to read more of the classic British mystery novels than some of the more violent and psychological driven American writers. Two completely different approaches on the Rapidan shelves are Lynd Ward’s Mad Man’s Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts, and Horace Herbert Smith’s Crooks of the Waldorf: Being the Story of Joe Smith, Master Detective. Both books are distinctive from the other mysteries in that Ward’s book is driven entirely by the wood cuts and lacks any written words whereas Smith’s is entirely based on his experience as the house detective for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. This would have been the “old” Waldorf-Astoria, which was demolished in 1929. In 1940 Herbert and Lou Hoover rented an apartment in the “new” Waldorf-Astoria and made it their principal home from 1943 until her death in 1944 and his in 1964.
Lynd begins his pictorial novel with a slave trader in Africa who steals a drum featuring a demonic face. His fortune built upon the sale of enslaved humans allows the trader to marry and raise a family. His son is punished for playing the drum and the father insists that his son confine his attentions to books. The father presumably is lost at sea and the son turns to religion as solace only to reject it. By throwing a crucifix onto the steps of the staircase leading to his room, his mother accidently slips on it and dies falling down the steps. The son becomes a wealthy scientist, marrying and producing two daughters. His wife and daughters all die tragic deaths leaving him mad. The story ends with him playing the demon drum accompanied by a piper.
The Joe Smith book is less dark and psychologically involved but a straightforward account of the scams and hustlers who stalk unsuspected guests at luxury hotels. Pickpockets, thieves paying hotel employees to provide access to rooms, guests in compromising situations, and others claiming to have been robbed as part of a ruse are all detailed in the book. A forward by Joseph A. Faurot, New York City Deputy Police Commissioner stated: “His [Smith’s] book is of the utmost importance in our crime problem, which President Hoover has reminded us is a national problem.” Faurot’s reference to Hoover concerns both his war on organized crime profiting from violating prohibition law such as Al Capone as well as Hoover’s efforts to reform law enforcement and criminal justice nationwide.