The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale of Texas

Of the dozen books I've read so far this year, four were written by the Spanish writer, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and four were written by Edith Wharton .

In Blasco Ibáñez's novel, The Torrent (Entre Naranjos), it's mentioned that the protagonist, Rafael Brull had read the novels of Mayne Reid. Seeing that name, I wanted to learn more about this particular writer. I went on to read Reid's 1853 anti-slavery novel, The Quadroon. Although I enjoyed reading that adventure novel, I did not put any of Reid's other novels in the queue. I wanted to first read some of the novels of Edith Wharton.

In Wharton's autobiography, A Backward Glance she also mentions the writer, Mayne Reid. I saw this as a sign to go ahead and read something else by Reid.

Project Gutenberg has 61 novels written by Mayne Reid available for download. I decided that I would read the novel that had been downloaded most often - The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale of Texas.

The Headless Horseman was first published as a monthly serial in 1865 and 1866. The action takes place in 1850, after the Mexican/American war and before the American Civil War.

There are quite a few similarities between The Headless Horseman and The Quadroon. The male protagonist in both novels is not American (one is "British", the other Irish). Many of the other main characters are (white-non mixed) French Creole from Louisiana and owners of slaves.

In both novels, there is a male slave named Scipio and a female slave, Chloe. In the The Headless Horseman, Scipio is the husband of Chloe. The two are only minor players in the story. In The Quadroon, Scipio is Chloe's father and both characters are central to the plot. Mayne Reid had spent time in Louisiana prior to the Civil War, and I can't help but think that Scipio and Chloe were names of actual slaves he may have encountered there.

In both novels, the principle antagonist has a financial hold over the family with whom the protagonist is involved. In both, the protagonist is at risk of being lynched.

There is love, betrayal and jealousy in both novels.

In my earlier review of The Quadroon I made note of Reid's giving the slaves a "negro dialect". He had also given the uneducated, white, redneck characters a stereotypical drawl. In The Headless Horseman this use of dialects makes the novel difficult reading in parts. There are the slave dialects, the white Kentucky accent, as well as German, Irish and Spanish accents through out. Translating these accents and dialects in my head makes for slow reading.

All that being said, the The Headless Horseman is filled with action and drama and an interesting read. The novel can be found at Project Gutenberg.