4/19/1869 Melville Davisson Post arrives

April 19, 1869. Melville Davisson Post was born on this day in West Virginia.  He is best remembered today as the author of short stories about Uncle Abner, a countryman with a love of the Bible and great skill at solving mysteries.  He also invented Randolph Mason (Perry's grandpa?), a New York lawyer as slick and amoral as Abner was honest.

2/4/1911 The Locked Bag opens

February 4, 1911.  The issue of Saturday Evening Post with this cover date featured a courtroom tale called "The Locked Bag."  Melville Davisson Post wrote a lot of fiction, and created two famous characters: a sneaky New York lawyer named Rnadolph Mason, and a rural sleuth named Uncle Abner.

This story belongs to neither series.  You can read it here.

2/15/1919 Five Thousand Dollar Reward

February 15, 1919.  The Saturday Evening Post issue with this cover date featured the short story "Five Thousand Dollar Reward," by Melville Davisson Post.  Post (the author, not the magazine) was very popular a hundred years ago, especially for his stories about backwoods sleuth, Uncle Abner.  This story, which was picked for the O. Henry collection of the best tales of the year, is about Walker of the Secret Service and his encounter with a hobo who he claimed was the best detective he ever met.  You can read the whole story here  Link fixed.