Gang Pulp

About the Authors

A number of these names may seem unfamiliar, even to diehard pulp fans. The natural conclusion to make is that a few writers produced the bulk of the stories, which the publisher issued under pseudonyms to conceal the lack of variety. However, few of the below names are pseudonyms; on the contrary, the majority seem to be real. Some of these writers, however, did sell regularly to Hersey and, perhaps, had less luck elsewhere.

The online FictionMags Index was mined for publication history, when available.

Archibald, Joe [1898-?] (“Gangster’s Revenge”): Archibald’s name is well-known in the pulps. He was a prolific producer of short stories from about 1928 through the end of the ’50s. One rumor has it that Archibald graduated to the pulps out of newspaper sports reporting. Early on, western, war and aviation stories dominated his output. Later, he turned up increasingly in detective and sports pulps. Many of his stories were humor pieces, although “Gangster’s Revenge” demonstrates he could be quite tough. In the March 1943 Writer’s Digest, he wrote, “I’ve written approximately 60,000 words a month for twelve years and have sold every word, which goes to show you I have a strong back and a freak mind... Success hasn’t gone to my head because I haven’t had any to speak of. I’ve been content, too long perhaps, to scrape along on a yearly income that matches that paid the president of the bank in my town. But he has to get up at eight o’clock every morning and work until three. I get up at nine and knock off when I droop.”

Beaufort, Howard (“Racketeer Revenge”): No information.

Beyer, Bill (“A Long Chance”): An occasional name in the gang pulps.

Compton, Jack (“Racketeer Wages,” “Triple Cross”): Also wrote under John H. Compton. He seems to have had a short but varied career as a pulpster in the ’30s, appearing in magazines as diverse as sports and adventure, in addition to his many appearances in the gang pulps. He wrote under the Street & Smith house name Rand Allison for Pete Rice. He collaborated with Ed Witter and Off-Trail favorite, Thomas Thursday, for a short in the September 1, 1930 Top-Notch. In the early ’40s, he appeared in early Marvel comic books like Daring Mystery Comics and Marvel Mystery Comics.

Dunn, Tim (“Blood Thirst”): No information.

Feldman, Anatole (“Rough on ‘Rats’ ”): Feldman was a prolific producer for the gang pulps, penning many of the long novelettes. Later ones featured a Chicago mobster, Big Nose Serrano. He appears to have started his writing career around 1920. The October 1920 Drama Magazine referred to him as “a new American author” for his play The Red Thirst, which sounds like a title he could have recycled for Gangster Stories. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Anthony Field and A. F. Fields. Other genres he tapped include adventure and aviation. In 1931, he was involved in the management of the ill-fated pulp. Far East Adventure Stories. His wife. Hedwig, wrote pulp fiction under the name Beech Allen. His career seems to fade out through the ’30s.

A profile in the December 1929 Gangster Stories said: “Tony is over in Lisbon right now. He is a great traveller and has been all around the world many times. He’s gone all ways: by tankers, tramps, schooners, and big liners. He’s found out a lot about the underworld in Paris — the sewers and the underground cafes, and the Limehouse District in London.”

Gerard, John (“City of Bullets”): Seems to have been published primarily in Hersey aviation and gang pulps. Joined the American Fiction Guild in 1933.

Kiswold, Robert (“The Squealer”): No information.

Leverage, Henry [1885–1931] (“Glycerined Gangsters”): In Chapter IX of Pulpwood Editor, Harold Hersey writes of meeting Leverage in prison in 1916, and starting a long-term relationship. Hersey had been an executive with the Authors’ League of America and received a request for membership from Leverage, the editor of Sing Sing’s magazine, The Star of Hope. Hersey went to visit. Leverage “had pictures of Joseph Conrad, Kipling, and other well-known authors on the walls. There was a small library on a shelf over the tiny table where he kept his typewriter. He had special permission to write by candlelight after hours.” He was selling to pulps and slicks from prison. “The Twinkler,” a realistic story of underworld and prison life, was made into a five-reel film (1916).

Leverage had been convicted in 1914 of car theft and sentenced to three years, nine months as reported in the New York Times (“Graduate Engineer Sentenced as Thief,” December 12, 1914), giving him a release date in late 1918. At the sentencing, it was revealed that Leverage was a graduate engineer, a member of the Royal Society of Engineers of London and the American Institute of Electric Engineers. The harsh sentence was based on three previous convictions which led to him serving sentences in Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Leverage told the court: “I admit that I have been an ocean card sharp and a general crook, and that I did not have to steal. When I wanted to I could always earn a good living in my profession. After I got started on the wrong road it was hard to get back again. I have tried several times, but all in vain.”

One story published in The Saturday Evening Post (May 25, 1918), “Whispering Wires,” was turned into a long-running play, and eventually a movie (1926). Of the serialization, the Kansas City Star wrote (December 28, 1918): “In this newest type of [scientific] detective story Mr. Leverage writes of new inventions, such as the war has brought out. Being an electrical engineer with an imagination, Mr. Leverage combines his abilities in both lines successfully as he builds one of the really gripping mysteries of the season.” Hersey never asked him why he had been incarcerated but wrote, Leverage “let fall hints about experiences in China and Europe, anecdotes of sailing before the mast and adventures in the far West.” In his February 14, 1926 syndicated column, Curtain Calls, Wood Soanes wrote: “Leverage... is a London-born American, who ran away from his Denver home and spent a winter on the San Francisco waterfront. He tried the sea for a while, hunted for gold in Alaska, worked in a railroad office in Denver and then went to New York to write. He had written about 150 stories before ‘Whispering Wires’ brought him fame and fortune, as the Alger books have it.”

Leverage, “famous author, war correspondent and playwright,” was quoted in a 1924 ad for Corona typewriters: “I took [my typewriter] to England during the war and had it up in one of the Royal Air Planes used in defense of London.”

During his career. Leverage sold to Bob Davis at Munsey, Street & Smith, Clayton, Blue Book. His main genres were adventure and detective. Hersey reminisced: “He was a most charming, entertaining fellow. I miss him often when I go to make up an issue. He never failed to come in with just the right yarn for the right place.”

McNeil, William (“One Hour Before Dawn”): No information.

Plunkett, Cyril (“Rod Rule”): Plunkett was primarily a detective-mystery writer who appeared regularly through the ’30s and ’40s, selling to most of the big pulp houses.

Poindexter, William E. [?-1932] (“Hair-Trigger”): According to obituaries syndicated on March 15, 1932, Poindexter was the pseudonym for Merry Ruth Mader, who died at her home in Corpus Christi. She was described as a “former Chautauqua entertainer with the late William Jennings Bryan”; “she served overseas as an entertainer with the Y.M.C.A. during the World War.” The obits identify her as writing aviation, detective and western fiction, which the FictionMags Index confirms, an odd set of specialties for a woman. To confuse matters, the Index shows consist appearances by Poindexter through the late ’30s, mostly in air pulps, both in Thrilling, Popular, and other company’s pulps. We can only conclude that the stories were reprints or that the obituaries were incorrect. It’s a mystery.

Reeve, Lloyd Eric (“A Regular Moll”): Reeve was best known as a prolific western pulp writer, appearing consistently in the ’30s and ’40s. He was well-known in the Oakland-Berkeley area where he occasionally lectured on the subject of writing. The August 1935 Writer’s Review reported: “Lloyd Eric Reeve, told to cut down on his ciggies, did just that. He uses a razor blade to make five out of one, and catches a couple of puffs every thousand words or so at the end of a long holder...”

In his introduction to This Is the Way It Was: The Best Western Stories of Ryerson Johnson (Ohio University Press, 1990), Johnson told this tale:

Alice’s story sold in 1934, which dates the end of this anecdote. Reeve’s writing career obviously started several years earlier, so Johnson must have compressed events in his memory.

Rivers, Vernon (“When China Jo Lost His Woman”): No information.

Stueber, William H. (“The Highway to Hell”): Stueber’s (known) career runs from 1929-36. He wrote gang fiction both for Hersey and Popular’s Gang World He also wrote western stories and appeared in the rare one-shot. Popular Engineering Stories. He was a member of the American Fiction Guild as of March 1, 1933.

Wood, Clement [1888–1950] (“Kid Dropper Plays It Alone”): Wood was born in Tuscaloosa, graduated from the University of Alabama in 1909, and received a postgraduate degree from Yale in 1911. He was best known as a poet, and wrote several books on the subject. His poetry was collected in 1936 in The Glory Road. He also dabbled in the pulps with the occasional short.

Wrigley, Chuck (“The ‘Eyes’ Have It”): No information.

Young, Dan (“The Singing Kid”): No information.