The Mystery of the Thirty Millions

Name: The Mystery of the Thirty Millions
Author: H.D. Umbstaetter

The Mystery of the Thirty Millions opens on March 14, when the Anglo-American liner Oklahoma leaves her dock in North River for Southampton carrying thirty million dollars in gold, the largest sum ever shipped on a single vessel. The cargo is part of a great export of gold from the United States, and her passenger list includes an English duke and his young American bride, the British ambassador, and a famous French tragedian. Business men and police officials wonder what would happen if some daring criminal tried to seize such a prize. The Oklahoma is a fast ship, and she should reach port on the sixth day. When she fails to arrive on the sixth, seventh, or later days, and a mid-ocean storm no longer explains the delay, surprise turns to anxiety and then to an international sensation. A leading New York paper then announces that "Gentleman Jim" Langwood, a noted cracksman and forger just released from Sing Sing, boarded the ship at the last minute under an assumed name. The police suspect he has smuggled aboard a couple of dozen armed desperadoes to seize the vessel and its gold. Several other former convicts are found to be missing from their East Side haunts. The story causes a panic in the British foreign office, which fears for the ambassador, Sir Gambrel Roufe, and nearly brings a declaration of war against the United States. Three British cruisers leave Portsmouth Roads, American warships get up steam at three navy yards, and newspapers charter steamers of their own to search for the missing liner. Several days pass with no trace of her on any route, and the public concludes that the robbers have won. On the eighteenth day of suspense, a message from the Union Press Association reaches Lisbon dated April 1. It says the Oklahoma is disabled at Fayal in the Azores, with a half-starved crew and passengers close to madness. On the third night out she had come under an irresistible influence that carried her south, away from her course. Compasses and wheel were useless. On the fourth day the passengers sighted a long, low whaleback vessel of shining steel about a mile ahead, moving on an identical course and showing no sign of life. The Oklahoma could not gain on her or draw a reply to her signals. When a third vessel appeared on the horizon, the steel craft turned and darted southeast, and the liner followed as though in tow. The officers concluded that the stranger was a floating loadstone, drawing the liner by magnetic force and probably meaning to seize the gold. Sails, banked fires, and finally a full reversal of the screws all failed. In the last attempt the engines gave way with a crash and both screws were left helpless. With rockets exhausted and food rationed, the six hundred and forty-three souls aboard drifted south for seven more days behind their silent pilot. On the fourteenth day a British cruiser appeared from the southwest, and the mysterious craft swerved and sped away due north. The spell was broken. The steamer Midlothian took the crippled liner in tow, and a day later she reached Fayal. The dispatch adds that the passenger taken for Langwood was in fact the Duke of Medfordshire, on his wedding trip with his young millionaire bride. Further news follows quickly. A despatch from Providence, Rhode Island, reports that Langwood and four other old offenders have been captured in the act of robbing a jewelry store. A cable from St. Petersburg, dated April 2, identifies the strange vessel as a Hypnotic Cruiser, recently completed by a Russian inventor named Slobodenski, which carries an electric apparatus able to bring any vessel under its control. It is uncertain whether the attack on the Oklahoma was a trial of power or an attempt at plunder. Naval lawyers say the invention will revolutionize naval warfare and call for stringent new laws to cover a crime for which no penalty yet exists.

By H.D. Umbstaetter · First published 1896 · Genre: Mystery fiction, Crime fiction, Science fiction · 3,644 words

First lines

At eight o'clock on the morning of March 14, the Anglo-American liner, the _Oklahoma_, left her dock in North River on her regular trip to Southampton.[1]

[Footnote 1: This story was written in collaboration with T. F. Anderson.]

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Genres

Mystery fiction — The central plot is an unexplained disappearance of a liner and its gold, with the public and officials asking how, when and where, and the answer is revealed only in the final telegram.
Crime fiction — The story is built on a notorious cracksman and forger, a gang of released convicts, a gold robbery and a suspected piratical conspiracy against a ship.
Science fiction — The mysterious whaleback craft uses an electric apparatus to draw a steamer off course, a speculative invention that the text says will revolutionize naval warfare.
Thriller — Escalating suspense drives the narrative, from the ship's disappearance to a feared war between nations, the crew's near-madness and the continuous threat of seizure.

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The Mystery of the Thirty Millions is listed on Textopian as a short story by H.D. Umbstaetter, dated 1896 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Short story
Author: H.D. Umbstaetter
Date: 1896 CE
Language: English
Genres: Mystery fiction, Crime fiction, Science fiction, Thriller, Adventure fiction
Length: 3,644 words
Structure: 1 section, 51 paragraphs
Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)

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