by J. T. Edson
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1 Details of General Jackson Baines Hardin’s early career are given in the “Ole Devil” series. His nickname arose in part from the way in which he deliberately enhanced the Mephistophelian aspect of his face, but mainly through the reputation he gained among his contemporaries as being a ‘lil ole devil for a fight.’
2 Told in: Doc Leroy, M.D., by J. T. Edson.
3 Details of Belle Boyd’s background and career are given in: THE COLT AND THE SABER; THE REBEL SPY; THE BLOODY BORDER; BACK TO THE BLOODY BORDER; THE HOODED RIDERS; THE BAD BUNCH; TO ARMS, TO ARMS, IN DIXIE!; THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN and THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
4 Details of Martha Jane Canary’s background and career are given in the “Calamity Jane” series. She also makes guest appearances in various of the ‘Floating Outfit’ series.
5 Details of the assignment are given by J. T. Edson in: THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE.
6 Samurai: a member of the Japanese lower nobility’s elite warrior class, usually acting as a retainer of the Daimyos, the hereditary feudal barons. A masterless samurai who became a mercenary was known as a ronin. During the mid-eight century, shortly after Tommy Okasi’s departure, an increasing contact with the Western World was bringing an ever growing realization that the retention of an hereditary and privileged warrior class was not compatible with the formation of a modern and industrialized society. Various edicts issued by the Emperor between 1873 and ’76 abolished the special rights of the samurai and, although some of their traditions and concepts were retained, they ceased to exist.
7 The author is too modest to suggest that, during his twelve and a half years’ service with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, he was too valuable as a dog trainer to be spared for long enough to be taught to drive. However, anybody who wishes to believe this was the case is at liberty to do so.
8 The Texas Rangers were to all practical purposes abolished—their functions being absorbed by the more prosaic Department of Public Safety and the Highway Patrol—on October the eighth, 1935, almost one hundred years to the day after their formation. Details of modern Texas law enforcement techniques are given in the “Rockabye County” series.
9 Details of Captain Dustine Edward Marsden “Dusty” Fog, C.S.A.’s career and background are given in the “Civil War” and “Floating Outfit”, q.v., series.
10 Other details of Mr. J. G. Reeder’s career and cases are covered in: Room 13; THE MIND OF MR. J. G. REEDER; RED ACES; MR. J. G. REEDER RETURNS and TERROR KEEP by Edgar Wallace.
11 Aureus Harundum: to quote John A. Hogan, ‘It is the nearest I can get with my memories of Latin to “Golden Reeder”, which seemed rather apt in this case.’
12 Mason-Dixon line: sometimes erroneously called the Mason-Dixie line. The boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, as surveyed in 1763-67 by the Englishmen Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, which came to be regarded as the dividing line separating the Southern ‘Slave’ and Northern ‘Free’ States of America.
13 On February the 16th, 1846, after protracted negotiations, the United States of America annexed what was then the independent Republic of Texas. The Texans had won their freedom from Mexican domination in a campaign which culminated on April the 21st, with the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, see OLE DEVIL AT SAN JACINTO. It was supplanted as the largest State of the Union by Alaska in 1959
14 Mufti: civilian clothing, especially when it is the attire of a person who normally wears a uniform.
15 See Chapter VIII, RED ACES, by Edgar Wallace.
16 See Chapter IX, TERROR KEEP, by Edgar Wallace.
17 The author realizes that his description of Mr. Reeder’s housekeeper is not in accord with the references made to her in earlier biographies. The most stringent condition imposed when Edgar Wallace received permission to write them was that there would be nothing to expose Mr. Reeder’s security arrangements, nor to identify his employees. The restrictions have now been lifted and the late Mrs. Jane Amelia Grible can be given the credit she deserves. The closest Mr. Wallace was allowed to come to doing this at first hand was on Page 53 of RED ACES, quote: ‘This lady is Mrs. Grible of my Department,’ he,—Mr. Reeder—said gravely.
18 Edgar Wallace was allowed to pay an indirect tribute to Mrs. Grible by recording the part she played in the case which he called THE TRAITOR’S GATE. However, he referred to her as Mrs. Jane Ollorby and, omitting all reference to her connection with Mr. Reeder, claimed she held a post at Scotland Yard. He also altered her description slightly. While her face was big, with three chins and a somewhat masculine nose, her eyes only twinkled with amusement on very rare occasions and her expression was not often genial.
19 Ms. Wallace informed me that, as her father did not learn of the arsenal until long after he had published the last of Mr. Reeder’s biographies, he had never seen any reason to mention the presence of the bust and its pedestal.
20 First issued in 1922, the Lee Enfield No. 1 Short Magazine Mark V rifle differed from its predecessors in having the rear sight mounted on the receiver bridge and an additional stock band fitted behind the nose cap.
21 Moran silencer: designed by bank manager-financier, Leopold Moran, but never manufactured commercially: see THE CLUE OF THE SILVER KEY by Edgar Wallace.
22 Trench gun: a five shot, tubular magazine, pump action shotgun designed for use in the trench warfare of World War I. The twenty inch barrel has a radiating cooling sleeve and is equipped to take a bayonet. An extremely effective close quarters arm, particularly when loaded with buckshot.
23 Mr. Reeder’s reticence where the arsenal was concerned caused his previous biographer to assume that he had used an air pistol and not, as was the case, the Webley & Scott rifle to frighten away a pair of criminals who were lurking outside Daffodil House: see the ‘Kennedy The Con Mail’ case recorded in: RED ACES by Edgar Wallace.
24 The tradition, but not the “disguise” which acted as a trademark and was responsible for at least four of Albert Henry “Bert the Jump-Up” Fredricks’ convictions—was continued by his son, Harry; see the “Ace of the Jump-Ups” episode of underworld nights by Charles Raven Hulton Press, London, 1956.
25 Revolver cartridges have a protruding rim to hold them in the chambers of the cylinder. With the exception of .22 Long rifle caliber, those designed for use in automatic pistols are level—apart from having a groove at the base of the case allowing the jaws of the extractor to obtain a grip and eject it after firing—to facilitate being fed from the lips of the magazine in to the barrel’s chamber.
26 Wagon’s exact description was not “little gentlemen”, rather it cast slanderous doubts on the marital status of Educated Evans’ parents at the time of his birth.
27 Told in Chapter Ten The Goods’, EDUCATED EVANS by Edgar Wallace.
28 For the benefit of readers who are unfamiliar with the terminology of wagering, “eight to one on” means the bettor must stake eight units to win one.
29 Mr. Reeder’s assumption proved to be correct. Eliot Ness was at that time forming a special Prohibition Detail from carefully selected agents of the United States Department of Justice. Earning the title ‘The Untouchables’, because they could neither be frightened nor bribed from carrying out their duties, they played a major part in causing the downfall of Alphonse “Scar-Face Al” Capone in Chicago; see THE UNTOUCHABLES by Eliot Ness (with Oscar Fraley).
30 Mr. Reeder subsequently discovered that the genuine constable was called into a public house to settle a dispute over a counterfeit half-a-crown piece which the proprietor claimed was passed to him by a customer. The matter was settled amicably and no arrest was made, the customer—a stranger in the district—being allowed to leave on payi
ng with a genuine coin. The name and address he gave proved to be false and he was finally identified as a small time criminal who had been employed to keep the constable occupied and away from Brockley Road while the murder attempt was in progress.
31 See Case 3, ‘The Troupe’ of THE MIND OF MR. J. G. REEDER by Edgar Wallace.
32 Gaylor’s promotion to Chief Inspector took place after ‘The Case of Joe Attymar’ which is recorded in RED ACES by Edgar Wallace.
33 Radios of that period were only capable of receiving and could not transmit. It would not be until the improved technical developments in the field of communications produced during World War II were made available, that two-way and three-way—respectively, car to transmitting station only, and car to transmitting station and to other cars—were manufactured and fitted to police vehicles.
34 Some details of John Wade’s career after his promotion to Inspector are given in: THE INDIA RUBBER MEN by Edgar Wallace.
35 The Miller: Detective Sergeant William Arbuthnot Challoner, Criminal Investigation Department, attached to the Camden Town Police Station and whose nickname arose from his habit of chewing on a straw; see EDUCATED EVANS, MORE EDUCATED EVANS and GOOD EVANS by Edgar Wallace for further details of his career..
36 Leon Gonzales: one of the ‘Four Just Men’, who had gone into retirement following his marriage to Mirabelle Leicester; see THE THREE JUST MEN, also THE FOUR JUST MEN, AGAIN THE THREE, THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE and THE LAW OF THE FOUR JUST MEN BY Edgar Wallace.
37 Told in TERROR KEEP by Edgar Wallace.
38 See Part 2, ‘Mr. Evans Does a Bit of Gas Work’ in: GOOD EVANS by Edgar Wallace.
39 SCARNE ON DICE by John Scarne (with Clayton Rawson) Military Service Publishing Co., Washington D.C. 1952, is the definitive work on the game of “craps”.
40 San Antone: colloquial name for San Antonio, seat of Bexar County, Texas.
41
42 Justin boots: originally made by Joseph Justin, the business being carried on to the present day by his family. The boots, designed with the specialized needs of cowhands in mind, achieved great popularity by virtue of their excellent quality.
43 The author realizes that, in our present ‘permissive society’, he could include Wagon’s exact words, but he sees no valid reason why he should need to. However, if so inclined the reader is at liberty to substitute them.
44 Further details regarding Mr. Frithington-Evans and his connection with Lady Herban are divulged in Part IV ‘The Freak Dinner’ and Part XII, ‘The Journalist’ in MORE EDUCATED EVANS by Edgar Wallace.
45 Cow-Town: colloquial name for Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.
46 Neither the author, nor the world’s foremost fictionalist genealogist, Philip José Farmer—author of such biographical works as TARZAN ALIVE and DOC SAVAGE, HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE—on being consulted, have been able to trace any connection between this Robin Hood and the lineage of an earlier, more famous bearer of the name.
47 Although there is no confirmation in the records examined by the author, he believes the shot was fired from a second floor window over the GEORGE AND DRAGON on Shaftesbury Avenue.
48 Some details of Saul Siniter’s career are given in Chapter Two, ‘Mr. Evans Does a Bit of Gas Work’, GOOD EVANS by Edgar Wallace.
49 Information regarding the Cheese Club can be found in Part VII, ‘The Dreamer’ of: EDUCATED EVANS by Edgar Wallace.
50 Told in: ROOM 13 by Edgar Wallace.
51 ‘Volstead Act’: the Eighteenth (Prohibition) Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, defining intoxicating liquors as those containing more than one half of one percent alcohol and forbidding manufacture, transportation, or sale of such liquors for beverage purposes. Introduced by Representative Andrew J. Volstead of Minnesota, the Act was ratified in 1919 and repealed in 1933.
52 Details of the Turtle family’s prominence among the outlaw element of Texas is given in: OLE DEVIL AND THE CAPLOCKS and SET TEXAS BACK ON HER FEET, also, by implication, in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
53 Spear point: one where the double edges of the blade come together in symmetrical convex arcs.
54 Chorus of an old trail driving song:
‘Whoopee ti yi ho, get along little dogies,
It’s all your misfortune and none of my own,
Whoopee ti yi ho, get along little dogies,
You know that Wyoming will be your new home.’
55 Lighting a shuck: cowhands’ expression for leaving hurriedly. In the trail drive and round up night camps, ‘shucks’, dried corn cobs, were available to supply illumination for anybody who had to leave the firelight and walk m the darkness. As the ‘shuck’ burned quickly, a person using one had to move fast if he wanted to benefit from its light.
56 Muggle-smoker: an early colloquial name for a user of marihuana.
57 Diamondback: Crotalus Adamanteus, the diamondback rattlesnake.
58 Cricket: a leaping orthopterus insect, Gryllus Domesticus. Something like a grasshopper in appearance, having six legs and a pair of long antennae.
59 Texas flat-head grizzly: Ursus Texensis Texensis, the sub-species of flat-headed grizzly bear with a range from the Davis Mountains, Texas, to southwestern Colorado.
60 Dumdum bullet: one with a soft nose which expands on impact, inflicting a large, jagged wound. Said to have originated at the Dumdum Arsenal near Calcutta, India.
61 Monkey: betting term for five hundred pounds.
62 Work the fiddle: originally a confidence trick where one of the team would leave an object such as a violin temporarily on some pretense with a shopkeeper. After he had gone, a confederate arrived. Examining the object, the confederate claimed it was valuable and expressed a desire to buy it regardless of what it cost. He would then depart, promising to return later and conclude the purchase. When the “owner” came back, the shopkeeper would buy the object with the idea of turning a quick profit and waited in vain for the “purchaser” to put in an appearance.
63 Details of how the “fiddle” went wrong are given in Chapter Three, ‘Bones and the Wharfingers’, BONES IN LONDON by Edgar Wallace.
64 Friction primer: a device whereby a rasp-like metal bar is drawn across a highly combustible compound to create a flame which in turn ignites another substance.
65 Southron: a citizen of—particularly one who is still in sympathy with—the former Confederate States of America.
66 “Make wolf bait”: cowhand term meaning to kill. Derived from the practice of shooting an animal and, having poisoned the carcass, leaving it where it fell as a means of ridding a range of wolves.
67 Pistolero valiente: an exceptionally competent gun fighter, mostly one who sells his skill to the highest bidder.
68 Details of this earlier Rapido Clint are given in: BEGUINAGE.
69 Musher: colloquial name for a taxi driver, English and American usage.
70 Kah-Dih: the Great Spirit of the Comanche Indians.
71 The body was not recovered by the River Police until late on Tuesday afternoon.
72 Gold-jawed hay-burner: American racing term for an unruly horse.
73 How this came about is told in: the making of a lawman, the TROUBLE BUSTERS, THE FORTUNE HUNTERS and GUNS IN THE NIGHT.
74 Neither Ms. Wallace nor the author has been able to find any explanation of why Olga Flack was not arrested at the conclusion of the TERROR KEEP case. Ms. Wallace believes—and I am inclined to agree—that having suffered the traumatic experience of fearing the woman he loved had been killed and learning she was still alive, Mr. Jason Grant Reeder was more lenient with Olga than he should have been and allowed her to go free.
75 While building his reputation as an exceptionally competent detective and forming his organization, Jeremiah Golden Reeder had trained his three nephews, Jason Grant, John Gray—who also served as a captain in the Rifle Brigade seconded to M.I.5—and, the youngest, James Garfield to carry on his work. Knowing the superstitious natures of the criminal classes, he had decid
ed the organization could function more effectively if his nephews’ connections with it were kept secret.