Throughout the years we have been writing, we have frequently received letters asking for various terms we employ to be explained in greater detail. While we do not have the slightest objection to such correspondence and always reply, we have found it saves much time consuming repetition to include those most frequently requested in each new title. We ask our ‘old hands’ who have seen these items many times in the past, to remember there are always ‘new chums’ coming along who have not and to bear with us. J. T. E.
1. We strongly suspect the trend in movies and television series made since the mid-1950’s, wherein all cowhands are portrayed as heavily bearded, long haired and filthy arose less from a desire on the part of the productions companies to create ‘realism’ than because there were so few actors available—particularly to play ‘supporting’ roles—who were short haired and clean shaven. Another factor was because the ‘liberal’ elements who were starting to gain control over much of the media seem to obtain some form of ‘ego trip’ from showing dirty conditions, filthy habits and unkempt appearances. In our extensive reference library, we cannot find even a dozen photographs of actual cowhands —as opposed to civilian scouts for the Army, old time mountain men, or gold prospectors—with long hair and bushy beards. In fact, our reading on the subject and conversations with friends living in the Western States of America have led us to the conclusion that the term ‘long hair’ was one of opprobrium in the Old West and Prohibition eras just as it still tends to be today in cattle raising country.
2.‘Clip’ point: where the last few inches of the otherwise unsharpened ‘back’ of the blade—when laid in a horizontal position with the ‘edge’ down and the handle to the left of the viewer—joins and becomes an extension of the main cutting surface in a concave arc. This is the characteristic which many authorities claim identifies a ‘bowie knife’.
2a. What happened to the knife possessed by the alleged designer of such a weapon, James Bowie—many claim this was actually his older brother, Rezin Pleasant—after his death during the final attack upon the besieged Alamo Mission at San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, on March the 6th, 1836, is told in: GET URREA! and THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
2b. A ‘spear’ point, which is less utilitarian than a ‘clip’, is formed by the two sharpened ‘edges’ of the blade coming together in symmetrical curves. It was generally used for purely fighting knives such as the ‘Arkansas toothpick’ or assassin’s weapons.
Although the military sometimes claimed it was easier to kill a sailor than a soldier, perhaps tongue in cheek, the weight factor of the respective weapons had been responsible for the decision by the United States’ Navy to adopt a revolver with a caliber of .36 while the Army employed the heavier .44. The weapon would be carried upon the person of a seaman and not—handguns having been originally and primarily developed for single-handed use by cavalry—on the person or saddle of a soldier who would be doing much of his travelling and fighting from the back of a horse. Therefore, .44 became known as the ‘Army’ and .36 as the ‘Navy’ caliber.
Introduced in 1873 as the Colt Model P ‘Single Action Army’ revolver—although with a caliber of .45 instead of the erstwhile traditional .44—was more generally known as ‘the Peacemaker’. Production continued until 1941, when it was taken out of the line to make way for the more modern weapons required for use in World War II.
4b. Between 1873 and 1941, over three hundred and fifty thousand were manufactured in practically every handgun caliber from .22 Short Rimfire to .476 Eley; with the exception of the .41 and .44 Magnums, which were not developed commercially during the original production period. However, the majority fired either .45 or .44-40. The latter, given the designation, ‘Frontier Model’, handled the same cartridges as the Winchester Model of 1873 rifle and carbine.
4c. The barrel lengths of the Model P could be from three inches in the ‘Storekeeper’ Model, which did not have an extractor rod for dislodging spent cartridge cases from the cylinder, to the sixteen inches for what became known to the public and firearms collectors as the ‘Buntline Special’. The latter was also offered with an attachable metal ‘skeleton’ butt stock so it could be used as an extemporized carbine. The main barrel lengths were: Cavalry, seven and a half inches; Artillery, five and a half inches; Civilian, four and three-quarter inches.
4d. Popular demand, said to have resulted from the upsurge of action-escapism-adventure Western series being shown on television, brought the Peacemaker back into production in 1955 and it is still in the line. During this period, because of interest arising from the use of such a weapon by actor Hugh O’Brian starring in the WYATT EARP series, Colt for the first time produced and gave a Model the name, ‘Buntline Special’, albeit with a barrel only twelve and a half inches in length.
5. We consider at best specious—at worst, a snobbish attempt to ‘put down’ the myth and legends of the Old West—the frequently repeated assertion that the gun fighters of that era could not ‘hit a barn door at twenty yards’. While willing to concede that the average person then, as now, would not have much skill in using a handgun, knowing his life would depend upon it, the professional pistolero on either side of the law expended time, money and effort to acquire proficiency. Furthermore, such a man did not carry a revolver to indulge in shooting at anything except at close range. He employed it as a readily accessible weapon which would incapacitate an enemy, preferably with the first shot, at close quarters, hence the preference for a cartridge of heavy caliber.
5b. With the exception of .22 caliber handguns intended for casual pleasure shooting, those specially designed for Olympic style ‘pistol’ matches, the Remington XP100— one of which makes an appearance in: THE LAWMEN OF ROCKABYE COUNTY—designed for ‘varmint’ hunting at long distances, or medium to heavy caliber automatic pistols ‘accurized’ and in the hands of a proficient exponent of modern ‘combat’ shooting, a handgun is a short range defensive and not an offensive weapon. Any Old West gun fighter, or peace officer in the Prohibition era and present times expecting to have to shoot at distances beyond about twenty feet would take the precaution of arming himself with a shotgun or a rifle.
‘Make wolf bait,’ one term meaning to kill. Derived from the practice in the Old West, when a range was infested by stock killing predators—not necessarily just wolves, but coyotes, the occasional jaguar in southern regions, black and grizzly bears—of slaughtering an animal and, having poisoned the carcass, leaving it to be devoured by the carnivores.
‘Up to the Green River’: to kill, generally with a knife. First produced on the Green River, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 1834, a very popular type of general purpose knife had the inscription, J. Russell & Co./Green River Works on the blade just below the hilt. Therefore any edged weapon thrust into an enemy ‘up to the Green River’ would prove fatal whether it bore the inscription or not.
‘Light a shuck’, a cowhand term for leaving hurriedly. Derived from the habit in night camps on ‘open range’ roundups and trail drives of supplying ‘shucks’—dried corn cobs—to be lit and used for illumination by anybody who had to leave the campfire and walk about in the darkness. As the ‘shuck’ burned away very quickly, a person needed to hurry if wanting to benefit from its illumination.
The sharp toes and high heels of boots worn by cowhands were functional rather than merely decorative. The former could find and enter, or be slipped free from, a stirrup iron very quickly in an emergency. Not only did the latter offer a firmer brace against the stirrups, they could be spiked into the ground to supply added holding power when roping on foot.
Americans in general used the word, ‘cinch’, derived from the Spanish, “cincha”, to describe the short band made from coarsely woven horse hair, canvas, or cordage and terminated at each end with a metal ring which—together with the latigo—is used to fasten the saddle on the back of a horse. However, because of the word’s connections with Mexico, Texans tended to employ the term, ‘girth’, usually pronouncing it as ‘girt’. As cowhands from the Lone Star State fastened the end of the lariat to the saddlehorn, even when roping half wild longhorn cattle or free-ranging mustangs, instead of relying upon a ‘dally’ which could be slipped free almost instantaneously in an emergency, their rigs had double girths.
‘Chaps’: leather overalls worn by American cowhands as protection for the legs. The word, pronounced, ‘snaps’, is an abbreviation of the Spanish, ‘chaperejos’ or ‘chaparreras’ meaning ‘leather breeches’. Contrary to what is frequently shown in Western movies, no cowhand ever kept his chaps on when their protection was not required. Even if he should arrive in a town with them on, he would remove and either hang them over his saddle, or leave them behind the bar in his favorite saloon for safekeeping until his visit was over.
‘Hackamore’: an Americanized corruption of the Spanish word, ‘jaquima’ , meaning ‘headstall’. Very popular with Indians in particular, it was an ordinary halter, except for having reins instead of a leading rope. It had a headpiece something like a conventional bridle, a brow band about three inches wide which could be slid down the cheeks to cover the horse’s eyes, but no throatlatch. Instead of a bit, a ‘bosa’—a leather, rawhide, or metal ring around the head immediately above the mouth—was used as a means of control and guidance.
13.‘Floating outfit’: a group of four to six cowhands employed by a large ranch in the ‘open range’ days to work the more distant sections of the property. Taking food in a chuck wagon, or ‘greasy sack’ on the back of a pack animal, depending upon the expected length of their absence, they would be away from the ranch house for several days at a time. Therefore, as they would not be under supervision by the boss or foreman, they were selected from the most competent and trustworthy members of the crew.
13a. Due to the prominence of General Jackson Baines ‘Ole Devil’ Hardin in the affairs of Texas, members of the OD Connected ranch’s floating outfit were frequently sent to assist such of his friends who found themselves in difficulty or endangered.
‘Mason-Dixon line’, erroneously called the ‘Mason-Dixie line’. The boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, as surveyed from 1763-67 by the Englishmen, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. It became considered as the dividing line separating the Southern ‘Slave’ and Northern ‘Free’ States.
‘New England’: the North East section of the United States—including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island—which was first settled by people primarily from the British Isles.
‘Gone to Texas’: on the run from the law. During the white colonization period, which had commenced in the early 1820’s, many fugitives from justice in the United States of America had fled to Texas and would continue to do so until annexation by the United States on February the 16th, 1846. Until the latter became a fact, they had known there was little danger of being arrested and extradited by the local authorities. In fact, like Kenya Colony from the 1920’s to the outbreak of World War II—in spite of the number of honest, hard working and law abiding settlers genuinely seeking to make a permanent home there—Texas had gained a reputation for being a ‘place in the sun for shady people’.
The Texas Rangers were to all practical intents and purposes abolished—their functions being taken over by the more prosaic Department of Public Safety at Austin and the Highway Patrol—on October the 17th, 1935. This was almost one hundred years to the day after their formation. Although their first purpose was to act as militia, or what in present day terms would be called a ‘para-military’ organization, to help fend off marauding Indians, they became increasingly responsible for supporting the local authorities in the enforcement of law and order.
17a. Having State-wide jurisdiction—as opposed to a sheriff being confined to his county and a town marshal to the community which hired him—the Rangers were supposed to await an invitation from the senior lawman on the spot before instigating or participating in any investigative activities in his bailiwick. However, due to the special conditions which prevailed at the time, during the Prohibition era a special Company, ‘Z’, was formed and given the right to act without such permission. Information regarding their official ‘unofficial’ operations is given in the Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog series.
17b. During the late 1870s, the Governor of Arizona formed a similar force to cope with law breaking in his State. A similar decision was taken by a later Governor and the Arizona Rangers were brought back into being. Why it was considered necessary to organize the first force, how it operated and was finally disbanded is recorded in the Waco series.
We do not claim Marvin Eldridge ‘Doc’ Leroy was the
originator of wearing a jacket tailored in such a fashion as an aid
to making a fast draw, but his were always converted that way.
Information about his earlier career can be found in
Part Three, ‘The Invisible Winchester’, OLE
DEVIL’S HANDS AND FEET; Part Five, ‘The Hired Butcher’, THE HARD
RIDERS; WACO’S DEBT;
Part Five, ‘A Case of Infectious Plumbeus
Veneficium’, THE FLOATING OUTFIT; Part
Three, ‘Monday Is A Quiet Day’, THE SMALL TEXAN; Part Two,
‘Jordan’s Try, THE TOWN TAMERS; RETURN TO BACKSIGHT; Part Six,
‘Keep Good Temper Alive’, J.T.’S HUNDREDTH and the Waco series.
The Wedge trail crew make ‘guest’ appearances in: QUIET TOWN, TRIGGER FAST and GUN WIZARD. They also ‘star’ in their own right in: BUFFALO ARE COMING!
ii Such boots were not the modern waterproof rubber variety, but had their legs in a style made popular by the Duke of Wellington in the Napoleonic War.
iii Another example of how completely clothing could identify a man as a Texan is given in: Case One, ‘Roan Marrett’s Son’, ARIZONA RANGER.
iv Information about some of Colin Farquharson’s activities prior to becoming a rancher is recorded in: .44 CALIBRE MAN and A HORSE CALLED MOGOLLON.
v ‘Chicano’, a person of Spanish origins residing in the United States.
vi ‘Cowtown’; colloquial name for Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, derived from its long connection ranching and cattle.
vii ‘Bayos cebrunos’, a dun shading to a smoky grey colour.
viii A lariat was—and still is—made with one end of the rope being doubled back and spliced to form a small circle, or ‘eyelet’, known as the ‘honda’, through which the other end was passed to form the loop sometimes referred to as a ‘noose ‘. The section between the honda and the other end of the rope is called the ‘stem’, or ‘spoke’.
Although a metal ring can be used for helping form the honda, many men claim such an object might blind an animal and, anyway, would not ‘set’ sufficiently to prevent the struggling captive from freeing itself. A vastly superior precaution and aid is to have a piece of slick leather sewn about the upper end of the eyelet so that the stem of the rope will not burn through it.
ix How dangerous failing to take the precaution when making a draw could be is told in: THE FAST GUN.
x Although there is no mention of the part played by the ancestors of Don Jose Fernando de Armijo y Cordoba, details of some of the struggle to gain independence for Texas are given in the Ole Devil Hardin series.
xi Because of the slowness of communications at that period having prevented the news reaching the area, the Battle of Palmitto Hill—ironically won by the force serving the Confederate States—was fought on May the 13th, 1865, approximately a month after the War Between The States had ended elsewhere.
xii Although the term ‘rustlers’ was used in the other cattle raising States, Texans employed the blunter and more accurate description and said, ‘cow thieves’.
xiii ‘Mi casa, su casa’, ‘My house is your house’; traditional greeting given by wealthy Mexicans when receiving welcome visitors.
xiv Although Waxahachie Smith did not achieve the distinction, during the Prohibition era, Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog acquired his sobriquet by becoming the youngest man ever to attain the rank of captain in the Texas Rangers. For further information about his career and how this came about see the Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog series.
xv For more detailed information regarding the Texas Rangers, see: Item 17 of the APPENDIX.
xvi ‘Right bower’, second in command. Derived from the name given to the second highest trump card in the game of euchre.
xvii The event is described in: THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN.
Details of the careers of Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog and Mark Counter can be found in the various volumes of the Civil War and Floating Outfit series.
We also have the privilege of being official biographer for Mark’s grandson, Sergeant Ranse Smith, Company ‘Z’, Texas Rangers and two great-grandsons, Deputy Sheriff Bradford ‘Brad’ Counter of Rockabye County, Texas, and James Allenuale ‘Bunduki’ Gunn. See, respectively, the Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog, Rockabye County and Bunduki series.
The sobriquet of James Allenvale Gun derives from the Swahili word for a hand held firearm of any kind being ‘bunduki’. It gave rise to the pun that when he was a child he was ‘Toto ya Bunduki’, ‘Son of a Gun .
xviii According to an often repeated story, although possibly apocryphal, a sheriff requested assistance from the Texas Rangers to help bring to an end a range war in his county. When only a single Ranger arrived, he was asked why more had not been sent and was told, ‘Well there’s only the one war, isn’t there?’
xix What eventually happened to Ranger Talbot Ottaway is told in: SLIP GUN.
xx In the Old West, if a person experienced doubts when another gave a name by way of introduction, the only way to express them and reduce the chance of provoking a hostile response was to ask, ‘Is that your summer name?’
xxi Some details of the career of the Ysabel Kid and his father, Big Sam Ysabel, are given in the Civil War and Floating Outfit series.
xxii We apologise to any of our readers who are called ‘Ramsbottom’ and can only say in exculpation this is the name used in the documents upon which we have based this narrative.
xxiii ‘Bible Two’, also sometimes known as the ‘Black Book’; the list of fugitives published annually for the Texas Rangers and said to be read by them far more frequently than the real Bible.
xxiv Further information about the career of Charlotte ‘Madam Bulldog’ Canary is given in: Part One, ‘Better Than Calamity’, THE WILDCATS and its two ‘expansions’; THE HIDE AND HORN SALOON and CUT ONE, THEY ALL BLEED.
xxv ‘Burro’: in this context, a small wooden structure like the roof of a house upon which a saddle would be rested when not in use. Being so dependent upon his rig, a cowhand preferred to use a burro when one was available instead of laying it down or hanging it by a stirrup.
Despite the misconception created by Western movies—even the late and great John Wayne being an offender—a cowhand would never toss down his saddle on its skirts. If no burro was available, he would either lay it on its side, or stand it on its head, somewhere it would be safely clear of anybody inadvertently stepping upon it.
xxvi As is recorded in the Alvin Dustine ‘Cap’ Fog and Rockabye County series, members of the Tragg family continued to be active in the law enforcement of Texas during the Prohibition era and still are to the present day. Some details of two earlier members who served as peace officers are given in: SET A-FOOT and BEUINAGE IS DEAD!
xxvii ‘Refried beans’: a Mexican dish generally made from the mottled variety of kidney beans known as ‘pinto’, which have had spices added and are cooked until attaining a consistency similar to what are sold in the United Kingdom as ‘mushy peas’.
xxviii The combination of numbers were, in fact, Sergeant Waxahachie Smith ‘s date of birth. Americans put the month first, then the day and the year.
xxix One gun fighter who occasionally relied upon such a ploy was Major Bertram Mosehan, leader of a special force of peace officers whose purpose was to counter the activities of an exceptionally dangerous criminal organization in Arizona Territory; see: WACO’S BADGE.
xxx The trait of making a determined effort to avenge the murder of a compatriot was still retained by the Texas Rangers in the Prohibition era, see: THE RETURN OF RAPIDO CLINT AND MR.J.G. REEDER.
xxxi Details of the career and special qualifications of Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty ‘Fog can be found in the Civil War and Floating Outfit series.
xxxii The members of the Hardin, Fog and Blaze families with whom we have consulted decline to say why Lady Winifred Amelia ‘Freddie Woods’ Besgrove-Woodstole—as she was before her marriage to Dusty Fog—decided to leave England and live in the United States of America under an assumed name.
Mrs Fog appears as ‘Freddie Woods’ in: THE TROUBLE BUSTERS; THE MAKING OF A LAWMAN; THE GENTLE GIANT; THE CODE OF DUSTY FOG; BUFFALO ARE COMING!; THE FORTUNE HUNTERS; WHITE STALLION, RED MARE; THE WHIP AND THE WAR LANCE and Part Five, ‘The Butcher’s Fiery End’, J.T.’s LADIES.
xxxiii Teodoro Fuentes had outsmarted himself. After being subjected to the mutilation he had described, the body of Moses ‘Cousin Cyrus’ Claybone was taken by ‘the Dumb Ox’ to be left in the poor section of Flamingo known as the ‘barrio’ near the cantina of an otherwise disreputable Chicano who, Jose Lorenzo Rabena had declared, would be in opposition to their scheme. Unfortunately for the plotters, the owner found the corpse shortly after it was deposited. Deducing how the dead man had earned a living from the condition of his hands, the Chicano had believed his body had been left by an equally unscrupulous business rival in the hope that the other hired guns around Flamingo would come to take revenge under the misapprehension that he was murdered in the cantina. To avoid this, the owner took and sank the corpse—suitably weighted—in a deep stretch of the Rio Grande.
xxxiv The duties of a roundup captain are described in: THE MAN FROM TEXAS.
xxxv Being shorter than rifles, like handguns—see Item 3 of the Appendix—carbines were intended/or use by mounted soldiers. To offer greater accessibility when on foot or in the saddle, many types designed with mainly military sales in mind were equipped with a swivelling metal ring attached to the side of the frame. This could be coupled to the hook—generally brass, which could be given a bright polish for ceremonial purposes, where the army and navy were concerned—fitted on a leather strap allowing the weapon to be suspended across its user’s left shoulder and to hang by his right side.
xxxvi One occasion when Mrs. Freddie Fog displayed her ability with the ‘elephant gun’, which was actually a Holland & Holland . 465 H & H calibre double barrelled rifle considered by British sportsmen as being too light to be used successfully against such massive animals, is recorded in: BUFFALO ARE COMING!
xxxvii As was the case with his uncle, ‘Tommy Okasi’, the name of the young samurai was an Americanized corruption of an alias and their true identity cannot be divulged.
xxxviii The various members of the Hardin, Fog and Blaze clan with whom we discussed the subject during visits to Fort Worth, Texas, in 1975 and ‘85 stated that, because of the circumstances and high social standing of the people involved—all of whom have descendants holding positions of importance in Japan at the time of writing—it is inadvisable even at this late date to make public the facts concerning the reason for Tommy Okasi’s departure from his homeland.
Details of some of Tommy Okasi’s career and ability as a samurai warrior are given in the Ole Devil Hardin series and one occasion when he put to use his skill at karate is recorded in: SIDEWINDER.
xxxix When the
daisho was carried with
the sheaths attached to slings on a leather waist
belt, as was preferred by Tommy Okasi, the longer sword was
referred to as a tachi.
xl The incident is described in: Part Three, ‘The Paint’, THE FASTEST GUN IN TEXAS.
In addition to information to be found in his own series, details of General Jackson Baines ‘Ole Devil’ Hardin’s later career are given in the Civil War and Floating Outfit series. His death is reported in: DOC LEROY, M.D.
xli Lord Maidstone was the son and heir of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hornblower, the majority of whose distinguished career in the Royal Navy is recorded in a series of biographies written by C.S. Forester. How his injury came about is described in: Chapter Twelve, ‘Admiral Of The Fleet’, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HORATIO HORNBLOWER, by C. Northcote Parkinson.
xlii The device was produced for Lord Maidstone by Hardy Bros, of Alnwick—now known as ‘The House Of Hardy’—who were already acknowledged as the manufacturers of top quality fishing tackle. The company later put a version of it called a ‘Third Arm’ on the market for the benefit of anglers with similar afflictions.
xliii Although Kiowa Cotton had ridden under the command of Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog in Company ‘C of the Texas Light Cavalry during the War Between The States, it was not until after the events recorded in TRAIL BOSS that he became a member of the OD Connected ranch’s floating outfit.
xliv We asked the present day members of the Besgrove-Woodstole family whether the dealings ‘Freddie Woods’ had had with untrustworthy and disloyal Civil Servants were responsible for her leaving Great—as it was then—Britain. They admitted that she was considered by some people to have gone too far in bringing to an end the activities of three in fairly high positions of trust who were selling military and other information to Russia; then regarded as an enemy, particularly where the internal affairs of India were concerned. However, they refuse to supply further details except to say the affair was not forgotten by the survivor and on at least one occasion he instigated an attempt to take revenge upon her; see: DECISION FOR DUSTY FOG.
xlv As Talbot Ottoway left Flamingo on the afternoon that Sergeant Waxahachie Smith was abducted, wanting to ensure he was not found to be involved should it go wrong, his participation in the conspiracy was not known to Sheriff Daniel Tobin.
xlvi Regardless of the popularity achieved by the Winchester Model of 1873, some authorities assert that there are better claimants for the title, ‘Gun Which Won The West’. Among those proposed are Colt’s revolvers, Sharps’ rifles and the Winchester Model of 1866, known as the ‘old yellowboy’ because it had a brass frame.
xlvii How a ‘Missouri Skin-Tite’ type of holster was ‘form-fitted’ and made is described in: Chapter Twelve, ‘Lieutenant Ballinger Acquires A New Skill’, THE LAW OF THE GUN.
xlviii Told in: TRIGGER FAST.
xlix Occasions when Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog was required to pose as another person are recorded in: KILL DUSTY FOG!; BEGUINAGE; BEGUINAGE IS DEAD!; HELL IN THE PALO DURO; GO BACK TO HELL; THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN; Part One, ‘The Schoolteacher’, THE HARD RIDERS; its ‘expansion’, MASTER OF TRIGGERNOMETRY; Part One, ‘The Phantom Of Gallup Creek’, THE FLOATING OUTFIT and Part Two, ‘A Wife For Dusty Fog’, THE SMALL TEXAN.
l Ranchers were continually making changes to their remudas in the Old West and not infrequently failed to alter the brands on the horses which came into their possession.
li Waxahachie Smith learned Sir John Besgrove and Bradford Drexell were sincere in the reasons they had given when trying to hire him. In the case of the former, although he did have an arrangement to purchase cattle in Mexico, he had intended to delay sending to complete it until seeing what developed in Bonham County.
lii The ‘singletree’ was also occasionally known as a ‘swingletree’, or a ‘whiffletree’.
liii There was no town in Texas called ‘Trubshawe’. However, as we have no intention of supplying ‘liberal’ elements with information which—even at this late date —they might be able to use in their campaign to smear the law enforcement agencies of the Free World, we refuse to give the real location.
liv An occasion when circumstances required that Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog changed the manner in which he carried a revolver is recorded in: Part One, ‘Small Man From Polveroso City, Texas’, OLE DEVIL’S HANDS AND FEET.
lv Not only did Orville Garfew ‘Fluency’ Beech follow the lead of his grandfather, Donald, by enrolling in the United Stales’ Secret Service and wearing an equally unnecessary black eye-patch, he rose to be its head during the 1930’s. See the Doc Savage biography, RED SNOW, by Kenneth Robeson.
lvi J.F.B. Charriere devised the hypodermic syringe in 1852 and its use was widespread by the period of this narrative.
lvii How deadly anthrax could be is demonstrated by a man in the United States of America having died as a result of being infected while working upon a piece of ivory from the tusk of an elephant which had died of the disease in Africa.
lviii The incident is recorded in: Chapter Fifteen, ‘Kill Me and You’ve Killed Him Too’, DOC LEROY, M.D.
An occasion when Marvin Eldridge ‘Doc’ Leroy benefitted from another doctor following the habit of having a revolver readily available is described in: Part Five, ‘A Case Of Infectious Plumbeus Veneficium’ in THE FLOATING OUTFIT.
lix In actual fact, the nom de plume adopted by Doctor Otto Grantz was the German surname, ‘Bothe’.