Have I found an error in the 1939 novel, "GADSBY"?

This book by Ernest Vincent Wright, was “A Story of Over 50,000 Words, Without Using the Letter ‘E’,” with the author claiming that, “All words used are complete; are correctly spelled and properly used.”

I respectfully disagree with the author, who makes this comment in his introductory remarks: “Before the book was in print, I was freely and openly informed ‘there is a trick, or catch, somewhere in that claim that there is not one letter E in the entire book, after you leave the Introduction.’ Well; it is the privilege of the reader to unearth any such deception that he or she may think they can find.”

Here is a verbatim sentence from Chapter 18 of that book:

“This kid has lost a-a-a-crittur; I think it was a pup, wasn’t it, kid?”

The word “CRITTUR” is NOT FOUND at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

So, did I or did I not discover a spelling error in this unique volume?

The website for the entire book (including the Introduction) is at:

http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/

August 24, 2008, 2:06 PM EDT