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RIVAL CAESARS - A Romance of Ambition, Love and War.
Being the tale of a Vice-President, a Major-General and three brilliant and beautiful women.
For the initiated "a recruiting tool for revolutionary dreams."
By Desmond Dilg
The author says in an introductory note; "From original documents preserved from utter destruction in a very remarkable manner this book has been written. The discovery of these documents (withered and tattered and mouldy with age and damp) is in itself a strange and tragic story. Someday it shall be related."
This mysterious document, it is elsewhere stated, makes the revelation that Theodosia Alston, Aaron Burr's daughter, did not perish by shipwreck, as is generally supposed, but lived many years afterwards in Cuba. There has of recent years been new documentary evidence brought to light from Spanish sources touching on the alleged conspiracy for which Burr was tried at Richmond, but the ancient papers which this Chicago romanticist mentions are, of course, imaginary. With their aid, however, he has managed to weave an interesting, though necessarily fanciful, story, in which Burr and Hamilton are the principal characters, the latter showing to the best advantage.
The story begins in the colonial days, when Burr and Hamilton were both young men in New York and continue until after the fatal duel. It is supposed that both the "Rival Caesars" were members of a secret organization known as "The Iron Cross," and in this way, as well as in some other respects, the story is given suggestion of the weird and occult.
The author (the Chicago romanticist) Desmond Dilg, is in fact a pseudonym for Arthur Desmond (1859-1929) and Will H. Dilg (1867-1927) who collaborated in writing Rival Caesars.
Arthur Desmond most famous for being the author of Might is Right, (1896) which he wrote under his nom de guerre Ragnar Redbeard.
Will H. Dilg (1867-1927) was one of the 54 founders of the Izaak Walton League and served as the organization's first national president. Dilg wrote articles for "Outdoor America. Defenders of the Woods, Waters and Wild Life," and the book "Tragic Fishing Moments."
