According to Gushing,⁽¹⁾ "Maud Hilton" was a pseudonym of Mrs. Frank Whicher [sic]. He cited no authority, however, and may have been mistaken, for in no biographical dictionary has the name of Mrs. Frank Whicher been found. There is nothing to indicate that the name Mrs. Frank Whicher is a typographical error for Mrs. Frances Miriam Whitcher, whose first pseudonym was "Frank." Her novels were mostly humorous and so far as known not of the type of "Maud Hilton's" tales.

On the other hand, the first installment of the serial "Jennie, the Book-stitcher; or, Ticket No. 91,283," by Maud Hilton, appeared in the Family Story Paper, September 16, 1905. It was reprinted simply as "Jennie the Book-stitcher" in the same periodical, beginning in the issue for August 30, 1919, as by Adah M. Howard. The two stories are identical.⁽¹⁾ Mr. H. W. Ralston, the vice-president of the Street & Smith Corporation, for whom Adah M. Howard wrote, said⁽³⁾ that this was apparently the author's true name. If it were definitely established that Adah M. Howard is a real and not a stock name, then the pen name "Maud Hilton" may be said to belong to Adah Howard. Since nothing is known about either Mrs. Whicher or Adah Howard, it is a toss-up between the two, with the evidence stronger in favor of the latter. Seeming to confirm this as the true name of Maud Hilton is the fact that "Rose Michel," the only story published by Beadle with her name as author, also appears in the "By the author of" line of one of Adah M. Howard's tales. Temporarily, the story "Rose Michel" is listed in this book under the name Howard.

† Correction made as per Volume 3.

Notes

1	William Gushing, Initials and Pseudonyms, New York, 1886, 130,589.
2	Compared for me by Ralph Adimari, in litteris, September 14, 1942. † The Dime Novel Round-Up, XXVII, February, 1959, 15, Adimari also says that Benner's list shows the true name of Adah M. Howard and Maud Hilton to be Thomas W. Hanshew.
3	H. W. Ralston, in a letter to me, December 10, 1942.