Headless Horseman (novel)

Immediately after writing the novel , Chapman & Hall publishing house He began to publish the work in a series of monthly issues. The first issue was published March 1, 1865 . A total of 12 issues were issued, six pence each.

In 1866, the publishing house of Richard Bentley the first separate edition of the Headless Horseman was released ^[1] .

In Russia, already in 1868, the St. Petersburg publishing house “Goppe and Kornfeld” translated and released the novel “The Headless Horseman” in two parts with the subtitle “The novel from the Texas desert of Captain Mayna Reed”.

The most well-known translation of the novel into Russian was the “abbreviated” (with the withdrawal of insignificant details, titles and literary processing in the interests of the general stylistics of the narrative) by A. Yu. Makarova . The best edition of this version of the translation was a book released in 1955 by the publishing house of the Central Committee of the Young Communist League of Youth “Molod” (Kiev, Ukrainian SSR), illustrated by the artist Mikhail Yakovlevich Shtaermann.

In addition to the abbreviated, Makarova also completed a complete translation of the book (with preservation of the original and author’s manners of Main Reed), available in the 6th edition of Reed and the “frame” series of adventures published in the 50s “orange” (in color of bookbinding).

The novel takes place in the fifties of the XIX century in the border areas of Texas . Rich Planter Woodley Poindexter with his family, consisting of a son, daughter and nephew, moves from Louisiana to his new home, Casa del Corvo.

Lost on a scorched plain on the way to their new hacienda , the Poindexter family meets Maurice Gerald, a mustanger who lives near military fort Inge, a native of northern Ireland . Maurice immediately makes an impression on all family members, but everyone has his own. Proud Woodley looks at the savior with respect, his son Henry feels fraternal feelings, his daughter Louise fell in love with Gerald despite his modest social status as a mustanger (wild horse hunter).

The nephew of old Poindexter, retired cavalry captain Cassius Kolhaun, an arrogant and cowardly man, hates the hero because he himself has views of Louise.

Shortly after the Poindexters settled in Casa del Corvo, the planter holds a big reception on the successful relocation and closer acquaintance with the Texas elite . At this reception, there is also Maurice Gerald, who undertook to deliver two dozen wild horses to the planter's family. In accordance with Irish custom , he gives a rare and valuable mustang to the daughter of a planter, which further inflames the love in her heart and the hatred in her cousin's soul. Now he is already firmly deciding to remove the young mustanger from his path. Having conceived the insidious plan of murder of Maurice, he decides to put it into execution the next evening, in the bar of the village, which was formed near Fort Inge. He allegedly accidentally pushed and poured the Irish, who answered him the same. The resulting quarrel ends in a duel . Kolhaun clearly underestimated his opponent, for which he paid, surviving only thanks to the generosity of Maurice. Thus, having won in this fight, the mustanger won the respect of local residents and officers of the fort, and also forced the retired captain to panicky him.

Kolhaun does not deviate from his plan to kill Maurice, but not with his own hands, but by paying another mustanger, the gangster Miguel Diaz. Diaz, having learned that the Indians went on the warpath, happily agrees to the matter.

At the same time, after Maurice's recovery, she and Louise began to secretly correspond with the help of “air mail”, and then, unable to withstand a long separation, they met in the garden of Casa del Corvo. After their last meeting, a tragic event occurred. Kolhaun finds Maurice and Louise in the garden and persuades Brother Louise to kill the mustanger. Partly thanks to the intercession of Louise, partly by Henry's prudence , Maurice manages to escape unharmed. Young Poindexter, after hearing his sister, decides that he acted unreasonably, and is going to catch up with Gerald to apologize to him. At night, he goes after the Mustanger. Following Henry, his cousin Cassius leaves, but with a different purpose: he knows that Maurice is leaving for Ireland tomorrow, and decides to kill him that night.

The next morning, having gathered for breakfast, the Poindexter family discovers that Henry, despite his habit, did not get up on time and did not come for an early breakfast. He was not in the house either. At this time, one of the slaves caught on the prairie his horse, without a rider and smeared with blood. Everyone thinks that Henry Poindexter is murdered. In search of the body and the killer, a detachment of armed planters and soldiers is equipped, who in their search achieves some success and finds evidence of the death of the young man. During the search, this squad encounters a terrible headless horseman. Unable to find a rational explanation, what could it be, the detachment goes to bed.

That same night, Diaz and his accomplices, disguised as Indians, invade Maurice’s home on Alamo with the clear intention of killing him. Not finding him there, they decide to wait for him in the hut. And soon someone arrived. But not the owner of the dwelling, but the same rider without a head. Frightened to death, the bandits quickly retreated. They were the second to see a mysterious headless horseman.

Meanwhile, Maurice’s friend Zebulon Stump, concerned about the disappearance of the Irish, was in his hut along with his servant Felim, frightened to death by Indians. They receive a note from the mustanger, delivered by his dog Tara. They go to the specified place and barely have time, killing the jaguar who attacked the guy. Maurice was very sick, because of what - is unknown. The old hunter Stump and the servant of the mustanger Phelim take the young man to his house, where he is found by a search party. Having found Henry's clothes in his hut, regulators decide to arrange a Lynch trial on the spot. But thanks to the intervention of Zeb Stumpa , as well as Native American things in the cabin of Maurice, talking about a possible invasion of the Comanches , the court can be postponed.

Meanwhile, everyone is convinced that Henry Poindexter is dead and Maurice Gerald is responsible for his death. In a state of fever, he waits for a lawful court in the guardhouse of Fort Inj. Some of the Mustanger's friends, namely the Major , the commandant of the fort, Spangler, Zeb Stump and Louise Poindexter are sure that the murder was committed not by Maurice, but by someone else. Guessing the Major’s extra three days of delayed trial, Zeb Stumpp goes to the prairie, where he is determined to find evidence of his friend’s innocence. And he finds them, and now he knows exactly who the real killer is and what the mysterious headless horseman is. He reports to the entire commandant of the fort, and everyone is awaiting trial.

Awoke from the stupefaction of his mind, Maurice testifies at the trial, which forces many to change their opinion about the guilt of the mustanger in this crime. Still more drastically changing when people see a headless horseman approaching the court.

This is where the monstrous mystery opens. All this time, the headless horseman was Henry Poindexter. And Kolhaun killed him. This became known when he managed to extract from the body of Henry a bullet marked by the initials of Cassius Kolhoun "KKK" ("Captain Cassius Kolhoun"). From the testimony of Maurice it turned out that when Henry and Maurice met, following the old Comanche custom, they exchanged clothes and hats as a sign of reconciliation. Maurice then left, and Henry stayed in that place, and after them the retired captain, who was pursuing them, arrived there. Seeing a man in Mexican clothes, he took his brother for Maurice and shot him with a gun, and then cut off the head of a corpse. Maurice, who used to live among the Comanches, became acquainted with their custom of delivering the soldiers killed in battle astride their battle horses, hoisted the body of Henry on his horse, and tied his head to the bow of the saddle. He himself mounted his horse Henry and turned him toward the terrible rider. The horse was frightened by an eerie sight and suffered. Maurice, however, hit his head on a thick branch of a tree, fell from his horse and suffered a severe concussion. This was the cause of his sudden illness. And a horse with a decapitated corpse roamed the prairies for a long time until it was at the final court.

Zebulon provided evidence that Kolhoun is guilty. The guilt was confirmed both by a marked bullet in the rider’s body and by a fragment of a letter addressed to Colhoun, which the pathfinder found near the place of the murder (Colhoun, using a gun, used a paper wad ). After that, the killer, realizing the hopelessness of his position, tries to escape, leaving the court session and rapidly running astride the prairie. However, Stumpp catches up with the fugitive and delivers him back to the court, where the murderer is sentenced to death by hanging. Kolhaun takes the last word and says that he confused Maurice with Henry because they changed their hats. At the end of the trial, Kolhaun shoots Maurice from an unknown pistol, and then shoots himself. But the bullet hits the Maurice medallion, which Louise gave him. Gerald is alive and marries Louise. The rich inheritance from Ireland makes him a wealthy person, helps to redeem the Poindexter estate and pay off all the debts of the planter’s family.

• Maurice Gerald - the main character, a poor Mustanger in the United States and a wealthy baronet in his homeland.
• Louise Poindexter - Maurice's beloved.
• Woodley Poindexter - Louise's father, planter.
• Cassius Calhoun - Woodley's nephew, a retired military with a scandalous reputation, loves Louise, shot himself at the final court.
• Henry Poindexter is Louise's brother, killed and beheaded by his cousin, who took him for Maurice, his corpse and is "Headless Horseman."
• Zeb (Zebulon) Stump is a hunter, friend of Maurice, who saved his life and proved his innocence.
• Miguel Diaz - Mexican, nicknamed "El Coyote", was executed after the murder of Isidora.
• Isidore Covarubio De Los Llanos - Passion of Diaz, the former beloved of Maurice, is killed by Diaz.
• Major Ringwood - officer, delayed the trial of Maurice for three days.
• Spangler - a tracker, participated in the search for Henry or his body, one of the first to see "Headless Horseman."
• Pluto is a servant in the Poindexter family, and later Florinda's husband.
• Florinda is Louise Poindexter’s maid, later Pluto’s wife.
• Felim O'Neill - Maurice's servant and foster brother.
• Tara - Maurice's dog, saved him several times from coyotes.
• Sam Manley - the head of the Rangers who went in search of bodies, the only one who believed in Maurice's innocence.
• Oberdofer (Old Duffer) is the owner of the tavern.

• The novel served as the basis for the film “ Headless Horseman ”, which was filmed by the Soviet director Vladimir Weinstock in 1973 .

• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• Dullahan

• Thomas Mine Reed. Literary page (the first publication on the Internet of the text "Headless Horseman")