The Secret of the Steamer COLON
Not so long ago (April 13, 2015, for those of you keeping score), I wrote a post discussing the long unseen, unexpurgated version of Jack Boyle’s story “The Woman Called Rita.” In its original incarnation, the tale was a sequel to “Boston Blackie’s Mary,” opening with Blackie’s attempt to flee the country in the wake of his escape from prison in the previous story. Boyle’s original version of this yarn revealed that Blackie and Mary planned to flee to Central America aboard the steamship Colon, only to be thwarted by a mechanical failure in the ship’s boiler room.
It’s interesting to note that there really was an ocean-going vessel out of San Francisco known as the Colon, owned by the city’s Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company and sailing a regular route between New York and Panama. In fact, the Colon made her trans-Pacific run for many decades, so when Jack Boyle needed a realistic means of spiriting his criminal hero out of the country, the Pacific Mail’s trusty steamer was an excellent option.
the Steamship Colon
Though Blackie and Mary never managed to make their escape to Central America, nevertheless the Colon once carried a cargo precious to Jack Boyle. In fact, the steamer had a major influence on his family’s history. Note the following item from the July 24, 1873 edition of the San Francisco newspaper The Daily Alta California:
Among the passengers reported arriving in San Francisco that July were S.A. Boyle and O.M. Boyle … known less formally as Sarah Boyle (Jack’s grandmother) and Olin McClintock Boyle (Jack’s father). Prior to 1873, both were lifelong inhabitants of the East Coast. But after studying at West Point and working on several newspapers in Pennsylvania, Olin decided to take a chance on finding his fortune out West (apparently bringing his mother along for the trip). It was the Colon that brought the Boyle family to California, where eight years later Jack would be born.
It’s hardly surprising that when Jack needed a ship on which his main character might depart to make a fresh start, he chose the Colon. Not only would many readers of the time find the name familiar, but the steamer also held a place in his own family history. Sadly, Blackie and Mary were never to make their passage to another life upon her decks, but the Colon certainly played a part in changing the lives of the Boyle family.
By the way, while Blackie and Mary never managed to sail for Panama, not many months later they did take a momentous voyage aboard a steamship. And that vessel had a real-life counterpart whose history inspired one of Boston Blackie’s most elaborate heists. But that’s a story for another blog post.
JBF 7/19/16
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