Pulp Fiction, 1938 · page 108 of 116
10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 108: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: 10-Story Detective This is an interior story page from a pulp detective magazine featuring prose narrative with an accompanying illustration. The text continues a crime story in which detective Tom and Officer Donovan investigate a murder. A witness named Snowy is shot and killed before he can provide testimony, and Tom is wounded in the gunfire. Tom theorizes that a criminal named Tony Balch orchestrated the original murder of someone named Reade, using Snowy to lure the victim. The page ends with Tom suggesting that Tony may now be returning to a restaurant to establish an alibi. The accompanying illustration depicts a figure crouching or falling near what appears to be a wall or corner, likely depicting the shooting scene described in the text.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
me A Fe ee, om eae ae Ps Seger os as a" Pca aa St Se Sh ae = z a te ay ay os > - a se — - = 106 ~ > . >= WK SSE aS Rss ~ . a el TOT JP — ras - a 10-STORY DETECTIVE (Continued from page 104) could. This is a hell of a place for a parole guy to stick his nose into, It’s the toughest spot in town.” “You’re not telling me much.” Tom grinned. “But if we can get Snowy to talk, I bet we’ve got Balch. Got him cold, Donovan. Help me get Snowy out of here. We’ve got to work fast now.” Snowy was groggy but able to stand. Tom passed an arm around him and forced him down the steps and across the sidewalk toward the police car. Donovan was just ahead of them. A. Tommy-gun spoke, flat and dead- ly. Snowy’s body gave a lurch as his head was whipped backward by the force of the slugs. Like a flash, Tom dropped to the pavement, but not quickly enough. The gun crackled again and a bullet ripped into the flesh of his right shoulder, high up. “Surround that house!” Donovan was shouting orders. “There’s a killer in there. Get going!” He dropped beside Tom. “Are you hit bad?” he asked. “Don’t worry, we'll get the guy who shot you.” Tom stood up weakly, holding Dono- van’s arm for support. He looked down at Snowy. “There goes our witness,” he groaned. “I believe I know how that murder was done, Donovan. Tony Baleh killed Reade. Listen—he paid Snowy to lure Reade to this place. Snowy made Reade a prisoner, stuck him in the back of that car and drove him to the alley in baek of Tony’s restaurant. Tony went out long enough to jab Reade a few times hefore he finally sent his knife through his heart. Then Snowy drove the body to Town’s End and left it there.” “Holy Smoke!” Donovan cried. “You got it, Tom. Sure that’s the way he musta done it. But—can you prove it ?” “T think so,” Tom replied, “but it must have been Tony hiding in there who killed Snowy and tried to get me. Bet he’s on his way back to the res- taurant to establish an alibi by this time. It’s teo late for the place to be (Continued on page 108) my 's i ' th { o a : ‘ ¢ va y ii} Vas a | Ly ‘ } ; RO he ts < s