7 h 43 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when ordinary people break the rules—and must live with what follows?
In The Escape of Mr. Trimm, Irvin S. Cobb turns his sharp eye toward crime, guilt and people under pressure. The title story anchors a collection of short, tight tales in plain settings. Here, the question is less how clever a criminal can be than what wrongdoing does to a person.
Cobb brings a newspaperman's close attention to this crooked world. Greed, pride, fear and stubbornness shape people across differences of rank. His humor still finds its way into tense scenes, but these stories take a darker path than his comic sketches of Southern life. Human nature matters as much as the crime.
What you’ll discover
- Crime with a human cost Follow people who must face not just wrongdoing, but the burden of what comes after.
- A reporter's watchful eye Discover how close observation gives ordinary settings and troubled people their weight.
- Humor in dark places Find the wry remarks that slip into tense scenes without softening their dark edge.
- Ordinary rules under strain Watch fear, pride and greed surface when familiar limits begin to loosen.
- Short tales that hold you Enter compact stories that bring crime and consequence close enough to feel personal.
Who will love it
Readers who love sharply edged short stories, Southern humor and old newspaper life will enjoy this book. It also suits fans of crime tales and endings with a sudden jolt.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Wealth cannot open the handcuffs
- Guilt turns birds into witnesses
- Shared guilt destroys their trust
- Honor competes with a reporter's ambition
- Love draws Anse toward home
- A letter carries an unexplained past
- The hunters enter Fishhead's world
- A mother's plea softens official judgment
- Small objects carry moral weight
Who’s who
- Hobart W. TrimmA convicted banker who escapes a train wreck still in handcuffs and tries everything to get them off and vanish with his hidden fortune.
- Squire H. B. GathersAn old justice of the peace who believes he has committed a perfect murder in a swamp and cannot stop watching the sky.
- Ella GilmorrisA wanted woman who hides with her partner in the house where the crime took place and quietly plans against him.
- Major Putnam StoneAn old Confederate veteran, a failed cub reporter who clings to a gentleman's code and his twelve dollars a week.
- Anse DugmoreA Kentucky mountaineer sent to prison for a feud killing, who comes home dying to find out what became of his children.
- Judge PriestA kind, round old circuit judge who tries to heal a fifty year silence between two neighboring brothers before it is too late.
- FishheadA lonely man of Reelfoot Lake, shunned by his neighbors, who knows its waters better than anyone and is hunted by two brothers.
- Lieutenant Isidore WeilA police lieutenant on trial before a harsh deputy commissioner for giving a poor woman something that belongs to the department.
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The Escape of Mr. Trimm
by Irvin S. Cobb · 1913
A banker in handcuffs escapes a train wreck into the woods, sure that two steel bands cannot stop him.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Picture a rich banker, his wrists chained together, sitting in a smoking car when the train breaks in two. He is thrown clear without a scratch.
The Escape of Mr. Trimm at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 15 min3 h 25 min fast, 5 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 61,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1913by Irvin S. Cobb
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A banker meets the steel that waits
Hobart W. Trimm, once president of the Thirteenth National Bank, is going to federal prison for twelve years. A deputy marshal named Meyers sits beside him, and a pair of handcuffs holds his plump hands together.
Cobb makes the cuffs hurt more by shame than by pain. Trimm begs to hide them, and Meyers spreads a newspaper across his lap. A mob of photographers and onlookers chases him through the street, and he sees only a wall of legs and the steel on his wrists.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1913
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Cobb, Irvin S. The Escape of Mr. Trimm. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-escape-of-mr-trimm.
Cobb, I. S. (2026). The escape of Mr. Trimm. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-escape-of-mr-trimm (Original work published 1913)
Cobb, Irvin S. The Escape of Mr. Trimm. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-escape-of-mr-trimm.
@book{cobb2026escape,
author = {Cobb, Irvin S.},
title = {The Escape of Mr. Trimm},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-escape-of-mr-trimm},
note = {First published 1913}
}
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What is The Escape of Mr. Trimm about?
It is a collection of nine short stories by Irvin S. Cobb. The title tale follows a convicted banker who escapes a train wreck in handcuffs. The others deal with crime, guilt, feuds, newspapers and mercy.
What stories are in The Escape of Mr. Trimm?
The nine stories are The Escape of Mr. Trimm, The Belled Buzzard, An Occurrence on a Side Street, Another of Those Cub Reporter Stories, Smoke of Battle, The Exit of Anse Dugmore, To the Editor of the Sun, Fishhead and Guilty as Charged.
Who is Major Putnam Stone?
He is an old Confederate veteran who becomes a cub reporter at the Evening Press after losing his income. He appears in two stories, Another of Those Cub Reporter Stories and Smoke of Battle, as a pompous, kind and honorable man.
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