Rube Wallace

In the short story The Golden Ball, Rube Wallace is a film actor who apparently specialises in portraying prizefighters. The wealthy socialite Mary Montresor hired him to conduct tests for her to help her find prospective husbands.

The test involved holding a person up with a gun and seeing how he would react. In particular, Mary wanted to observe what the person (who would be with Mary) would do to protect her. George Dundas knocked Wallace out with a mule kick and always killed him. To prevent anything more serious from happening, Mary urged George to leave the cottage where the test was being held. Later she was forced to reveal her test scheme to him. According to Mary, Wallace's test had already failed "nine and a half" prospective husbands.