Capturing A Convict: "I’ve never known one that wasn’t brought back yet"

By Richard Marsh

Richard Bernard Heldmann was born on 12th October 1857, in St Johns Wood, North London.

By his early 20’s Heldmann began publishing fiction for the myriad magazine publications that had sprung up and were eager for good well-written content.

In October 1882, Heldmann was promoted to co-editor of Union Jack, a popular magazine, but his association with the publication ended suddenly in June 1883. It appears Heldman was prone to issuing forged cheques to finance his lifestyle. In April 1884 He was sentenced to 18 months hard labour.

In order to be well away from the scandal and damage this had caused to his reputation Heldmann adopted a pseudonym on his release from jail. Shortly thereafter the name ‘Richard Marsh’ began to appear in the literary periodicals. The use of his mother’s maiden name as part of it seems both a release and a lifeline.

A stroke of very good fortune arrived with his novel The Beetle published in 1897. This would turn out to be his greatest commercial success and added some much-needed gravitas to his literary reputation.

Marsh was a prolific writer and wrote almost 80 volumes of fiction as well as many short stories, across many genres from horror and crime to romance and humour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Miniature Masterpieces
• Release date: Mar 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787378322

Book preview

Capturing A Convict by Richard Marsh

Richard Bernard Heldmann was born on 12th October 1857, in St Johns Wood, North London.

By his early 20’s Heldmann began publishing fiction for the myriad magazine publications that had sprung up and were eager for good well-written content.

In October 1882, Heldmann was promoted to co-editor of Union Jack, a popular magazine, but his association with the publication ended suddenly in June 1883. It appears Heldman was prone to issuing forged cheques to finance his lifestyle.  In April 1884 He was sentenced to 18 months hard labour.

In order to be well away from the scandal and damage this had caused to his reputation Heldmann adopted a pseudonym on his release from jail. Shortly thereafter the name ‘Richard Marsh’ began to appear in the literary periodicals. The use of his mother’s maiden name as part of it seems both a release and a lifeline.

A stroke of very good fortune arrived with his novel The Beetle published in 1897.  This would turn out to be his greatest commercial success and added some much-needed gravitas to his literary reputation. 

Marsh was a prolific writer and wrote almost 80 volumes of fiction as well as many short stories, across many genres from horror and crime to romance and humour.

Index of Contents

Capturing a Convict

Richard Marsh – A Short Biography

Richard Marsh – A Concise Bibliography

Capturing a Convict

Convict’s escaped!

Oh—when?

Last night. Didn’t you hear the guns?

I had not heard them. I don’t think that Ted had heard them, either. We had not gone to bed with the intention of lying awake to listen to guns.

We sat down to breakfast, Ted and I, thinking rather of the food in front of us than of the unfortunate or fortunate individual who, according to our landlord, had quitted Princetown Prison, in the small hours of the morning, without first going through the form of obtaining his host’s permission. But the landlord was full of the subject. He went on talking while we went on eating.

"They’ll catch him, safe enough. I’ve been here a few years, and I’ve seen a few of ’em escape, I tell you. But I’ve never known one that wasn’t brought back yet. You see, there’s five pounds to anyone who gives the screws the office—they call the warders ‘screws,’ them chaps up here. So pretty near everyone’s hand’s against them. And then Princetown isn’t like Millbank. You can’t drop over the wall and find a pal waiting for you round the corner. It’s when