Among the accomplished writers who came from Maryland was James. M. Cain, famously the author of "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Double Indemnity" and other novels. (That's him in the photo above with actress Lana Turner in 1946 in a Hollywood restaurant.)
Now comes news from the Associated Press that a never-published Cain short story, "Blackmail," has been discovered by Andrew Gulli, literary detective and editor-in-chief of the Strand Magazine.
Cain, a native of Annapolis, spent time on newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun, before his breakout as an author of novels noir that were later made into motion pictures. "The Postman" was turned twice into film. "Double Indemnity" went Hollywood, too, and inspired several films of the hot-lovers-plotting-murder genre. "Mildred Pierce" was adapted for a film in 1945, starring Joan Crawford, and an HBO miniseries starring the great Kate Winslet in 2011.
Cain in France, 1918
Given the news about the Cain short story, I thought I would also mention this: James M. Cain first reported that Henry Gunther of Baltimore was the last man to die in World War I. The Gunther legend lives on; his death has been frequently cited on anniversaries of the end of the Great War, and I've written about it a couple of times. Gunther, a German-American whose family resided in Highlandtown, apparently was trying to prove his patriotism, his commitment to duty, when he decided to charge a German machine gun nest in France in the minute before the agreed-upon armistice: the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (11 am, Nov. 11, 1918). His death was wholly unnecessary, an apparent suicide-by-enemy-combatant.
Cain had left the Sun for the Army during the war, but one of the last stories he filed for the newspaper was about Gunther. Cain interviewed members of Gunther's regiment to determine why he had done what he did. Here is the story in full, published in the Sun on March 16, 1919:
DIED TO PROVE LOYALTY: Henry N. Gunther Felt He Was Under A Cloud; Probably Last Man Killed
This account of how Henry N. Gunther, 3011 Eastern avenue, was killed almost at the moment the "cease firing order" was given, is by Private James M. Cain, Headquarters Troop, Seventy-ninth Division, in France, who was formerly a reporter on The Sun. It corresponds in all essentials with the report brought to Gunther's parents by Chaplain George F. Jonaitis, but gives some details that Father Jonaitis probably did not know of.
By Private James M. Cain
Souilly, France (By Mail), Feb. 22.—The last man to be killed in action in the Seventy-ninth Division, and perhaps in the whole American Army, was Henry N. Gunther, Company A, Three Hundred and Thirteenth Infantry. Gunther's home was in Baltimore, and he was killed at one minute of 11 o'clock on November 11, trying to take a German machine gun position.
Until a short time before the Three Hundred and Thirteenth finished its period of training at Camplitte, Gunther was supply sergeant of his company. A few days before the regiment left for the front he wrote a letter home complaining of certain things about army life, and as this was a violation of the censorship regulations, he was reduced to the grade of private.
According to his companions, Gunther brooded a great deal over his reduction in rank, and became obsessed with a determination to make good before his officers and fellow-soldiers. Particularly he was worried because he thought himself suspected of being a German sympathizer.
The regiment went into action a few days after he was reduced, and from the start he displayed the most unusual willingness to expose himself to all sorts of risks and to go on the most dangerous kind of duty. He acquitted himself splendidly in the Montfaucon fight, and on the drive east of the Meuse he was selected to act as a company runner—particularly dangerous work, for a runner is the bearer of important messages, and must get them delivered, even if his way lies over the most exposed country.
Showed Scorn of Danger.
In the role of runner Gunther proved to be a man of the finest mettle. He repeatedly volunteered for duty when communication had to be established over terrain raked by machine guns and subject to heavy shelling. A few days before hostilities ceased he was carrying a message, when a German bullet passed through his wrist. He said nothing about his wound, however, when one of his officers, noticing his exhaustion, asked him what was the matter. Having already bound up his arm with a first-aid bandage, he replied that he was a little tired, and thought he would take a rest. The next day he reported for duty and went on as usual.
On November 11 he was still on duty as a runner. His company had been ordered to advance on Ville-Devant-Chaumont, in the extreme right of the Seventy-ninth's sector, and several parties were already in the town. Gunther, with one or two other runners and an advanced party of riflemen from his company, was just on the outskirts. The order had already come that hostilities were to cease at 11 o'clock.
Directly ahead there was visible a German machine gun nest. Gunther, according to the men of Company A, must still have been fired by a desire to demonstrate, even at the last minute, that he was courageous and all-American. At a few minutes to 11 he announced that he was going to take that machine gun nest, and though his companions remonstrated, and told him that in a few minutes the "war would be over," he started out, armed with a Browning automatic rifle.
Germans Waved Him Back.
When the Germans saw him coming they waved at him and called out, in such broken English as they could, to go back, that the war was over. He paid no heed to them, however, and kept on firing a shot or two from his automatic as he went. After several vain efforts to make him turn back, the Germans turned their machine gun on him, and at one minute of 11 o'clock Gunther fell dead.
The guns stopped firing at 11 o'clock—a few seconds after—and a few minutes after the German machine gun crew that had killed him came out with a stretcher and placed Gunther on it. They then carried him back to his party from Company A he had left but a short time before. They explained that they had tried to keep him from coming on, and that they had to shoot him in self-defense. They insisted on shaking hands with the Americans, after which they set Gunther down and returned to their own lines.
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