The City of Doom
by Maxwell Grant
As originally published in "The Shadow Magazine," May 15, 1936
Back from the grave comes Doctor Mocquino, the Voodoo Master, to battle The
Shadow again in a terrific struggle to the death!
CHAPTER I
AT THE STEEL WORKS
THICK night engulfed the valley about the town of Hampstead. One area alone
showed brilliance; that was the central district of the little city, where rows
of street lamps shone and electric signs added their blinking brightness.
Near the town, a few specks of light showed against the hillsides; but
beyond was a blanket of blackness that seemed a shroud of doom. A stranger,
viewing the town from some near-by slope, could well have pictured the darkness
as a monster, about to swallow the city.
Nor would the thought have been too fanciful. Hampstead was a city touched
by terror - a town where disaster had already taken toll.
Men who passed upon the streets were melancholy. Smiles were forced when
friends exchanged their greetings. Though business was as usual, this was a
surface indication only. Secretly, every citizen of Hampstead held a horror of
the future.
Out where the railroad line reached the city limits, stood the long,
low-roofed buildings of the Hampstead Steel Works. There, quivering light
flickered from frosted windows, accompanied by the thrum and clank of machinery.
The steel plant was working to capacity. The night shift was on duty.
Two men were standing in a little office, staring through the glass panel
of a door that opened into the main furnace room. They were watching a crew of
men at work - a score of hardy laborers whose faces showed grimy against the
ruddy glare from open-fronted furnaces.
One of the observing men was the foreman of the furnace room. His companion
was the general supervisor of the steel plant.
"IT'S been like clockwork tonight, Mr. Harlin," declared the foreman,
solemnly. "Not a thing to trouble us. Every man's been right at his job."
Harlin nodded.
"I've been watching them, Steve," he told the foreman. "This department is
running as smoothly as every other one. But we can't be sure about anything."
"On account of those other troubles?"
Another nod from Harlin. The supervisor pulled a folded newspaper from his
pocket and tapped its headlines.
"This town is jinxed," he stated, seriously. "The people here know it. Our
local newspapers have tried to softpedal it; but they haven't in other cities.
Look at this sheet, Steve."
