Creeper Cato, the Shadow Swamp Trailer; or, The Hunchback of Deadman’s Forest

Creeper Cato is a “dime novel,” a genre that flourished between the American Civil War and the 1930s due to the spread of literacy in American society, the rapid advances in printing and marketing, and the expansion of rail transportation. The low price of a dime or even a “half-dime” weekly publication allowed them to reach thousands of readers throughout the country.

Creeper Cato, by Frederick H. Dewey, was first published in 1873 in the series Frank Starr’s American Novels. It was reprinted by a leading dime novel publisher, Beadle and Adams (1872–1898), in their Boy’s Library of Sport, Story, and Adventure. Creeper Cato illustrates many characteristics of the genre, which made heavy use of stereotypes and sensationalism that appealed to the schoolboys who were its most important audience. Elements of the complicated plot include a romance, an abduction, a dense forest on the western bank of the Mississippi River in Arkansas, a band of robbers, and several murders. The characters are also representative of the genre: an elderly man, his daughter Katie, and her lover Walter; an old Indian fighter; a mysterious outcast; a “crafty Negro”; and a pathological criminal and his henchmen. The setting is a dense forest near the Mississippi River, where some white settlers make a living by farming and trapping. Typically for this genre, everything is abruptly resolved and there is a happy ending.

Cato, formerly enslaved, conforms to all the worst stereotypes of Black men—shambling walk, exaggerated and illiterate speech, and a lack of morals (although he has some remnants of conscience). Nevertheless, he is recognized as the best “trailer” in the community and supports himself by guiding and tracking in Dead Man’s Forest and Shadow Swamp. These grounds are widely understood to be haunted by a ghostly character, apparently a hunchbacked white man, who warns those who enter to “Go back!” Bands of robbers roam the fringes of Dead Man’s Forest across the river from Mississippi.

Cato works for the robbers, burying their victims and scouting the settlement for the leader, a villain named Downing. When Downing kidnaps Katie, the men of the settlement unite to rescue her and hire Cato to lead them to the robbers, meaning that Cato works for both the kidnapper and his victim. Walter discovers Cato’s treachery and kills him. Walter then rescues Katie and holds off the robbers with gun and knife, aided by Katie, who reloads Walter’s pistol and shoots two of them.

As usual in dime novels, the conclusion reveals all: the chief of the robber band is the villain who crippled the hunchback after murdering his father. The hunchback carries him off into the forest, and the settlers return to their homes. Walter and Katie are soon married.

For additional information:
Creeper Cato, the Shadow Swamp Trailer; or, The Hunchback of Deadman’s Forest. Edward T. Blanc Memorial Dime Novel Bibliography. https://dimenovels.org/Item/42287/Show (accessed November 20, 2024).

“Dime Novels and Popular Literature.” Falvey Library, Villanova University. https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Collection/vudl:24093 (accessed November 20, 2024).

Harvey, Charles M. “The Dime Novel in American Life.” Atlantic Monthly, July 1907, pp. 30 ff.

Ethel C. Simpson
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville