[crutledge]

Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson), 1878-1959
Author of 76 mystery stories for boys. Born in Ladonia, Mo. In 1878, Snell moved to the Sycamore area and learned his father's trade of erecting windmills. He entered Wheaton academy after his 19th birthday, graduated, and then worked his way through Wheaton College, finishing with the class of 1906 In 1941, Snell wrote the network serial, "Jack Armstrong—The All American Boy." At the special request of his publisher, he wrote eight war novels for children.

Excerpt
Behind locked and barred doors, surrounded by numberless mysterious-looking instruments, sat Curlie Carson. To the right of him was a narrow window. Through that window, a dizzy depth below, lay the city. Its square, flat roofs formed a mammoth checker-board. Between the squares criss-crossed the narrow black streets. Like a white chalk-line, drawn by a careless child, the river wound its crooked way across this checker-board.