Pulp Fiction, 1938 · page 81 of 116
10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 81: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: "Cocktails for the Corpse" This is a **story prose page** from a hardboiled crime pulp magazine (page 79). The text depicts the discovery and investigation of a murder victim named Richardson, whose body washes ashore during flood-tide. A character named Duke Morgan is arrested for the murder by someone named Cranfield, who explains how he used knowledge of ocean currents—testing them with logs and a message bottle—to predict where the body would resurface. The page includes a dramatic black-and-white illustration below the text showing a skull, revolver, bottle, and other objects arranged under a cone of light, reinforcing the crime narrative.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
oe get Some Se it over a watery crest, Under the sud- den glare they saw the stiffened arms, fingers outstretched, of a body. The clouds blotted out the light .... “What was that?” screeched the Duke, “What was that?’ His voice trembled. It was tinged with the fear of men who are caught in supernatu- ral things. He could not understand that what his eyes had glimpsed was real, _ No one answered. “What was that? What was that?” He screeched over and over. Flood-tide was at its height. It was ‘nursing all its power now for one last heave shoreward. For a moment there was a restless moment of calm. Then the sea gathered its strength and thundered to the shore, beating, pounding, wailing. With it came the corpse, The wash of the water flung it high above the waterline. ; - Cranfield’s pocket flash was out in- stantly. The finger of light probed at the sprawled form turned back by the sea, It was the body of Richardson. The sheriff’s gun poked hard in the small of Duke’s back. Yet it was un- necessary. The wizen-faced racketeer could not move. His thin lips were open. A whiteness blanched his face as with straining eyes he gazed at the body. It was evident that fright had engulfed him, COCKTAILS FOR THE CORPSE—— S99 He could not understand exactly what had happened. A creature of superstition always, little could he find to interpret this phenomenon. He hardly heard the bitter words an- nounced by Cranfield. “Duke Morgan, I place you under arrest for the mur- der of Thompson Richardson.” Two of the sheriff’s deputies clamped handcuffs on him and began leading him away. To the amazed gathering Cranfield turned. ‘Well I suppose you might as well know about this hocus-pocus. Last night I saw the Duke throw something into the water. It was the body of Richardson. It so happens that I know these waters pretty well. When I was a boy I used to throw logs of wood into the sea. Once I threw one in about the same place that the Duke used. The next night it came back at this point, almost a hundred feet distant. I tried it again with a bottle in which I placed a message. Sure enough the following night at flood-tide, the bottle came back .... I’d almost forgotten this peculiarity of the sea until this unfortunate mur- der came to our midst. “I’m mighty glad to have done my duty even though a lot of you thought I must be outta my head getting you down here. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m goin’ up to see if I can bring some of the color back in Duke’s tate iis Sy lital Ne aH Ab: a) } He Paik i Pe bhi UM ay ate WYER S67 ‘ wii¢, wth Ota Ree ey Mane ri? slip Loe y ee Week: GTA aeule ee aft WAN A rey vy iy a? mee \y i Ty Ni VEAY CN Cee : ‘| ae , Wott ; A : haiti WN SS Y Ni ay ‘ < ARNT AW) fy aA ty PA See HOME AMY NE HS 44 EUR ELEN ee ey, eta