Munsey's Magazine, January 1920

Museum Catalog Note This January 1920 issue of Munsey's Magazine features "The Mark of Cain" by Charles B. Stilson, a mystery story illustrated by Paul Stahr. The narrative follows milkman Will Sampson on his early morning delivery route in Dorchester, driving his old horse Peanuts and accompanied by a nervous terrier named Spink. Upon reaching a forbidding brick-walled compound on Spruce Street—a converted contractor's depot now sealed with reinforced gates and iron spikes—Sampson discovers a corpse and an unidentified spotted feline creature crouched over it. When patrolman Tim Carney arrives and fires repeatedly at the beast, it leaps violently, shrieks, and eventually falls motionless. The story establishes a mystery: what is this unusual animal, who is the dead man, and what circumstances led to the encounter?