YOU have probably never heard of Charles Phelps Cushing, a professional photographer who decided in the early '20s to try his hand at writing detective fiction, generating six narratives (at least two of which feature his series sleuths Andrew Kerrigan, Mamie Skaggs, and Snap-shot Bill Kelly), five for Blue Book and one for The Black Mask. So far, we've been able to track down only those two Kerrigan and Co.'s adventures. As always, we'll let you decide if our author has succeeded:
(1) "'Save the Mail or Die'," (ss) The Blue Book Magazine, May 1922
(2) "The Radio Murder," (ss) The Blue Book Magazine, June 1922
(3) "A Bit of Old Paper," (ss) The Blue Book Magazine, July 1922
(4) "The Perfect Alibi," (ss) The Blue Book Magazine, August 1922 (below)
(5) "The Crime-Detector," (ss) The Blue Book Magazine, September 1922 (below)
(6) "A Tassel of Black Yarn," (ss) The Black Mask, March 15, 1923.
"The Perfect Alibi."
By Charles Phelps Cushing (1884-1973).
First appearance: Blue Book, August 1922.
Short story (14 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).
"Don't fall down on this case, hear me? Get your man or turn in your badges."
IN detective fiction, the bad guy often searches for the perfect alibi, that unbreakable point in space (and/or space-time) that exonerates him or her. "I couldn't have done it," the baddie says, "because I was somewhere else when it happened, and I can prove it." So it seems with today's killer. It's going to take some persistent police work and technical know-how to break this alibi, but the detecting team of Kerrigan, Skaggs, and Kelly are up to the task . . .
Main characters:
~ Andrew Kerrigan:
". . . it would be just our luck, on a big case like this, to hit just what you spoke of—the perfect alibi."
~ Mamie Skaggs:
"'You don’t get my idea, at all. My clue’s a woman’s clue.' Her eyes sparkled with triumph and suppressed gayety. 'All I wish is that this case was going to be put up to a jury of twelve women. I could smash that Rensselaer alibi in two minutes—just long enough to say six words and run the film'."
~ The Chief:
"'Clear-r-r out!' he bellowed, rolling his 'r's in a broad Irish brogue in the stress of his emotion. 'Land yer-r-r man in thr-r-r-ee days, or-r-r I'll kill the both of ye with me own two hands. So help me, St. Patr-r-rick, I will!'"
~ Henry Oswald:
"Young Henry Oswald evidently had not died without a desperate struggle. The room where his body lay sprawled face downward, arms outstretched, was littered with the wreckage of battle, and his shirt was torn to ribbons. Every chair in the room was upset. A card-table tipped on two legs against the wall, and cards and poker-chips strewed the rumpled rugs. Hair-brushes, neckties and collars were all over the floor near where a dresser-cover had been yanked off. Books had been hurled about as missiles. A broken walking-stick gleamed in a beam of sunshine near the window, and bits of colored glass from a broken lamp-shade glittered with reflected light from the borders of the highly polished hardwood floor."
~ The superintendent of the apartment-house:
"'Poor Mr. Henry!' he said, shaking his head mournfully. 'Such a wild young man! I might have known it would come to this. Horrible!'"
~ Raeburn Rensselaer:
"Raeburn Rensselaer? He’s another of old man Oswald’s nephews. You can’t pinch him unless you’ve got enough evidence to convict a holy saint."
~ Snapshot Bill Kelly:
"I think he’s had his right eye doctored. But I’m afraid the picture won't prove it."
~ Mr. Coyne:
". . . a lean, beady-eyed, hatchet-faced youth, clad noisily in a suit of Broadway cut, obviously new, and his prosperity further advertised by squeaky new yellow shoes and a new silk shirt with a bright red tie, strode down the aisle of film-cutters’ tables and eyed the three visitors with haughty condescension."
References and resources:
- "the two collars":
Those would be detachable collars, first developed (if the legend is true) in the 1820s by a woman. (Wikipedia HERE).
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- "the holiday celebration—Memorial Day, you know":
"Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. From 1868 to 1970, it was observed on May 30. Since 1971, it is observed on the last Monday of May." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "the ten o’clock train from New York—the Broadway Limited":
"The Broadway Limited was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago. It operated from 1912 to 1995." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- By pure coincidence, there's a Rensselaer County in New York, its capital is Troy, and it just happens to be the home of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "the silver-plated mustache cup":
"The moustache cup (or mustache cup) is a drinking cup with a semicircular ledge inside. The ledge, called a moustache guard, has a half moon-shaped opening to allow the passage of liquids and serves as a guard to keep moustaches dry." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "you’d better touch it up a bit":
Not surprising that General Grant approved of it: "A common form of photographic manipulation, particularly in advertising, fashion, and glamour photography, involves edits intended to enhance the appearance of the subject. Common transformations include smoothing skin texture, erasing scars, pimples, and other skin blemishes, slimming the subject's body, and erasing wrinkles and folds. Commentators have raised concerns that such practices may lead to unrealistic expectations and negative body image among the audience." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "the bright lights along the Great White Way of Twelfth Street":
"One famous stretch near Times Square, where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, is the home of many Broadway theatres, housing an ever-changing array of commercial, large-scale plays, particularly musicals. This area of Manhattan is often called the Theater District or the Great White Way, a nickname originating in the headline 'Found on the Great White Way' in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram. The journalistic nickname was inspired by the millions of lights on theater marquees and billboard advertisements that illuminate the area. After becoming the city's de facto red-light district in the 1960s and 1970s . . ." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "The news reels":
You betray your age if you admit to seeing one in a movie theater: "A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, information, and entertainment for millions of moviegoers. Newsreels were typically exhibited preceding a feature film . . ." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "two flappers with skirts cut almost to their knees":
"Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for prevailing codes of decent behavior. Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes in public, driving automobiles, treating sex in a casual manner, and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "Civil War Zouaves":
"A feature of some American zouave units, at least in the opening stages of the American Civil War, was the light infantry tactics and drill they employed. Zouaves 'utilised light infantry tactics that emphasised open-order formations, with several feet between soldiers, rather than the customary close order, with its characteristic "touch of elbows". They moved at double-time, rather than marching to a stately cadence, and they lay on their backs to load their rifles rather than standing to do so. To fire, they rolled prone and sometimes rose on one knee'." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "a tower building in Times Square":
"In 1904, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved the newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square, on the site of the former Pabst Hotel, which had existed on the site for less than a decade since it opened in November 1899. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed 'Times Square' on April 8, 1904." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "the old G.A.R. men":
"The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and grew to include hundreds of 'posts' (local community units) across the North and West. It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson." (Wikipedia HERE.)
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- "a long pan":
"In cinematography and photography, panning means swivelling a still or video camera horizontally from a fixed position. This motion is similar to the motion of a person when they turn their head on their neck from left to right. In the resulting image, the view seems to 'pass by' the spectator as new material appears on one side of the screen and exits from the other, although perspective lines reveal that the entire image is seen from a fixed point of view. The term panning is derived from panorama, suggesting an expansive view that exceeds the gaze, forcing the viewer to turn their head in order to take everything in. Panning, in other words, is a device for gradually revealing and incorporating off-screen space into the image." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "the crowd close-ups":
"A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long shots (cinematic techniques). Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving toward or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming. A close up is taken from head to neck, giving the viewer a detailed view of the subject's face." (Wikipedia HERE.)
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| "You ain't no ravin' beauty yourself, Bud." |
- "a double exposure or any other trick stuff":
"In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be identical to each other." (Wikipedia HERE.)
Typos: "wont" (two times).
"The Crime-Detector."
By Charles Phelps Cushing (1884-1973).
First appearance: Blue Book, September 1922.
Short story (15 pages).
Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 111).
". . . that poor devil dyin' in the street, flat on his face there, with a black knife stuck into his back."
THERE'S a killer running loose in the streets (as well as an office building and a costume ball), and in none of those places are the police able to snag the villain. The Chief and Detective Kerrigan are having no luck at all on the case, and for Detective Skaggs "there seemed to be little hope in her case either"—until she has a brainstorm and decides to run her own customized psyop on their best suspect using something in a way that it wasn't originally designed to function: ". . . it began to buzz. A green disk gleamed and dimmed; a red disk glowed for two seconds; then a bell tinkled, a whistle shrilled, and a disk of sapphire began to glow" . . .
Main characters:
~ Marcus Vanderbridge:
"Right under their eyes, and in daylight, Marcus Vanderbridge, a wealthy broker in stocks and bonds, one of the vice-presidents of the exchange, had been struck down at the busiest street crossing in a busy city; but the murderer had escaped unhindered . . ."
~ Selah:
"Have not left the city, and shall not. As usual, the police show no imagination."
~ Mamie Skaggs:
". . . imagination works two ways. If we ever land him, we can make it work for us. We can play on his imagination, torture it if we have to, and get results we never could hope for with a duller sort of brain."
~ Andrew Kerrigan:
"Her team-mate's face was bruised and swollen; from his lower lip a little stream of blood trickled steadily down his chin. But in his eyes gleamed triumph."
~ The Chief:
"Tell 'em the Chief of Police is lookin' for a big fellow in a red-brown suit with cauliflower ears."
~ Snapshot Bill Kelly:
"'I was right there when it happened.' He tapped the battered camera triumphantly. 'And I've got the pictures of it here'."
~ The sergeant:
"Evidently enough, from his report, he and his men had responded to the emergency swiftly, and according to the best of police traditions."
~ Sadie Hussey:
". . . the white-haired and placid-featured proprietor of Wyandotte's notorious gambling 'club'."
~ Professor Alonzo Biggs:
"As she talked, the Professor gazed at her in solemn silence over the top of his glasses, and at the end nodded in approval."
~ Reggie:
"Aren't you Daphne? Take it off! I wanna see!"
Typos: "wont" (five times); "aint"(three times).
References and resources:
- "it's a new machine for detectin' crime":
The Chief does everything but call it by its name: the polygraph. (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "the new traffic-tower":
Very common before automation: "A traffic tower is a permanent raised structure providing a clearer view of traffic conditions than can be had from street level and protection for the traffic controller from the hazards of moving vehicles." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "orthochromatic speed plates":
"In photography, an orthochromatic light spectrum is one devoid of red light . . . Orthochromatic photography refers to a photographic emulsion that is sensitive to only blue and green light, and thus can be processed with a red safelight. The increased blue sensitivity causes blue objects to appear lighter, and red ones darker." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "He looked like a pug to me":
A boxer; the word is probably a shortened form of "pugilist" (a prizefighter).
- "She'd never peach":
"Inform on: 'The other members of the gang would not hesitate to peach on him if it would serve their purpose'."
- "the clavilux":
"Clavilux is the term coined by the artist Thomas Wilfred to refer to his mechanical invention that allowed the creation and performance of lumia, which was Wilfred's term for light art. From Latin, Clavilux means 'Light played by key.' Wilfred built his first Clavilux, Model A, from March to May 1919." (Wikipedia HERE.) Also see the article at cdm.link (HERE).
- "were not cauliflowered":
You don't have to be a boxer to suffer from it: "Cauliflower ear is an irreversible condition that occurs when the external portion of the ear is hit and develops a blood clot or other collection of fluid under the perichondrium. This separates the cartilage from the overlying perichondrium that supplies its nutrients, causing it to die and resulting in the formation of fibrous tissue in the overlying skin. As a result, the outer ear becomes permanently swollen and deformed, resembling a cauliflower, hence the name. The condition is common in martial arts such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, judo, sumo, or mixed martial arts, and in full-contact sports such as rugby league or rugby union." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "The sparrow-cop saw it":
Policemen wouldn't normally want to be one: "Try this, if you dare, the next time you see a police officer in Central Park: 'Hey, sparrow cop, what’s new?' This beat was apparently less than desirable, as the phrase 'sparrow cop' was defined as 'policeman in trouble with superiors and assigned to Central Park to guard the grass'." (The New York Times City Room HERE.)
Comment: The light tone the author adopts in both stories works to their advantage.
More resources:
- Our author's previous experience with crime fiction was his short short short story, "Modern Weapons," which predates the Kerrigan stories by a decade; see The Argosy, December 1912, 3 pages (Archive.org HERE).
- Here is one of Cushing's photographs:
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| Charles Phelps Cushing. Fifth Avenue Looking North from 42nd Street. Manhattan. 1940s. |
- The New York Times published his obit in 1973 (HERE).
- Cushing wrote a book aimed at nonfiction authors, If You Don't Write Fiction (1920); a free copy is available on Project Gutenberg (HERE).
- Shutterbugs penetrated crime fiction relatively early in the pulps; for example, Flashgun Casey and his successor Kent Murdoch (Mike Grost's site HERE; The Thrilling Detective HERE), and much later a single-season TV series featuring a future movie superstar (The Thrilling Detective HERE).
- Another crime was solved by a magician via photography just the other day (HERE). Photographic inconsistencies also help Julian Morse Trowbridge catch a thief in Arthur Porges's "The Cunning Cashier" (HERE).
Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.
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