Nick Carter began as a pulp fiction private detective in 1886 and has appeared in a variety of roles for just over a century. The author “Nick Carter” in reality was a number of different writers for a number of different publications. By 1915 Nick Carter had been replaced with a more varied cast of characters but was revived in the early 30s due to the success of The Shadow and Doc Savage; in this incarnation he through the 1950s. Following in the footsteps of James Bond in the 1960s, Nick Carter became a secret agent, aka ‘Killmaster’ and as such continued to 1990 when Nick Carter was finally “terminated with prejudice”. Over 250 Killmaster stories were published.
In the early 1900s many detectives were concerned with railway robberies – whether on the trains themselves or on railway property. Nicholas (“Nick”) Carter, assisted by Chick, Patsy and Ten-Ichi, was heavily involved in solving these crimes.The 1907 book, A Woman at Bay or A Fiend in Skirts begins with Nicholas and his partners posing as “yeggmen”, crooks who rob the railway companies.
Four men were seated around a camp fire made of old railroad ties, over which a kettle was boiling merrily, where it hung from an improvised crane above the blaze.
The four men were tramps—hoboes, or yeggmen, of the most pronounced types, if their appearance went for anything at all. Their conversation was couched entirely in the slang of their order; a talk that is almost unintelligible to outsiders. But, strangely enough, the four men were not hoboes at all; neither were they yeggmen; and the lingo they talked so glibly among themselves, although perfect in its enunciation, and in the words that were used, was entirely assumed.For those four men were Nick Carter, the New York detective, and his three assistants, Chick, Patsy, and Ten-Ichi, a Japanese.
The president of the E. & S. W. R. R. Co. had sent for Nick Carter a week before this particular evening, and as soon as he and the detective were alone together in the president’s private room, he had opened the conversation abruptly with this question:
“Carter, have you ever happened to hear of a character known as Hobo Harry, the Hobo King?”
“I have,” replied the detective. “I have heard about him in a vague sort of way. I have no particular information about him, if that is what you mean.”
“He is the king of all the yeggmen. He is the master mind, the controlling spirit of all the outlawry and lawlessness that goes on from one end of our big railroad system to the other. Hobo Harry costs us, in round numbers, anywhere from three to ten thousand dollars a month. There isn’t a bit of thievery, however petty it may be, or a scheme of robbery, however grand and great, which they do not turn their hands to under the guidance of Hobo Harry—and we have about got to the end of our patience.”
“I suppose,” said Nick, “that all this means that you want me to find Hobo Harry for you. Is that the idea?”
It turns out that Hobo Harryis actually a woman nick-named Black Madge who has escaped all traps that have been set for her. She traps Carter who, in turn, gets away, catches Black Madge who is put in prison; Black Madge escapes, catches Chick and so on. Finally, Black Madge and her gang are caught, but Nick gives the gang members 24 hours to get out of New York. Madge is not so lucky.
It is only necessary to add that, within forty-eight hours of that time, Black Madge found herself again in the prison of that State for which she had expressed such abounding contempt, and that, at her trial, which followed soon after, she was sentenced to serve ten years in the State prison, where she is at this day.
Books by Carter and other authors are available from Mystery & Mayhem on the home age under various categories such as Tough Guy PI.
In the early 1900s many detectives were concerned with railway robberies – whether on the trains themselves or on railway property. Nicholas (“Nick”) Carter, assisted by Chick, Patsy and Ten-Ichi, was heavily involved in solving these crimes.The 1907 book, A Woman at Bay or A Fiend in Skirts begins with Nicholas and his partners posing as “yeggmen”, crooks who rob the railway companies.
Four men were seated around a camp fire made of old railroad ties, over which a kettle was boiling merrily, where it hung from an improvised crane above the blaze.
The four men were tramps—hoboes, or yeggmen, of the most pronounced types, if their appearance went for anything at all. Their conversation was couched entirely in the slang of their order; a talk that is almost unintelligible to outsiders. But, strangely enough, the four men were not hoboes at all; neither were they yeggmen; and the lingo they talked so glibly among themselves, although perfect in its enunciation, and in the words that were used, was entirely assumed.For those four men were Nick Carter, the New York detective, and his three assistants, Chick, Patsy, and Ten-Ichi, a Japanese.
The president of the E. & S. W. R. R. Co. had sent for Nick Carter a week before this particular evening, and as soon as he and the detective were alone together in the president’s private room, he had opened the conversation abruptly with this question:
“Carter, have you ever happened to hear of a character known as Hobo Harry, the Hobo King?”
“I have,” replied the detective. “I have heard about him in a vague sort of way. I have no particular information about him, if that is what you mean.”
“He is the king of all the yeggmen. He is the master mind, the controlling spirit of all the outlawry and lawlessness that goes on from one end of our big railroad system to the other. Hobo Harry costs us, in round numbers, anywhere from three to ten thousand dollars a month. There isn’t a bit of thievery, however petty it may be, or a scheme of robbery, however grand and great, which they do not turn their hands to under the guidance of Hobo Harry—and we have about got to the end of our patience.”
“I suppose,” said Nick, “that all this means that you want me to find Hobo Harry for you. Is that the idea?”
It turns out that Hobo Harryis actually a woman nick-named Black Madge who has escaped all traps that have been set for her. She traps Carter who, in turn, gets away, catches Black Madge who is put in prison; Black Madge escapes, catches Chick and so on. Finally, Black Madge and her gang are caught, but Nick gives the gang members 24 hours to get out of New York. Madge is not so lucky.
It is only necessary to add that, within forty-eight hours of that time, Black Madge found herself again in the prison of that State for which she had expressed such abounding contempt, and that, at her trial, which followed soon after, she was sentenced to serve ten years in the State prison, where she is at this day.
Books by Carter and other authors are available from Mystery & Mayhem on the home age under various categories such as Tough Guy PI.
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