Pulp Fiction, 1939 · page 45 of 116
10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 45: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This page contains prose narrative from a crime story titled "The Vengeance Broker" (page 43). The text describes two cousins who robbed each other, fought violently when their scheme was exposed, then mutually prosecuted one another—both receiving one-to-ten-year penitentiary sentences. The narrator later visits them in the same cell block, where despite their continued hatred, they briefly unite to insult each other as "crooks." The page concludes with a vintage advertisement for Star brand razor blades, promoting a "Giant First Pack" of twelve blades for 25 cents.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE VENGEANCE BROKER ized that each had robbed the other— and that I had helped each of them catch the other in a trap. Then, without warning, they threw themselves upon each other. Jackson’s greater weight bore his slighter cousin to the floor, where they rolled about striking and scratching at each other. It took the two policemen and myself to separate them, When we got them quieted down, they swore out warrants against each other. If I had been surprised be- fore, 1 was amazed now. I had rather expected that nothing would happen when they learned how they had robbed each other. There was no point in their sending each other to jail. But that’s exactly what happened. Neihart’s case was tried first and Jackson refused to drop his charge. As a result Neihart received from one to ten years in the penitentiary. ———___—-43 Then Jackson was tried for the rob- bery of the jewelry store, and he re- ceived the same penalty. When two people hate each other they’!] go a long way to get revenge on each other. But it isn’t very often that they’ll go to the pen so that they can see the other in the pen also. Though, as I said, there’s no trying to explain human nature. I saw the two cousins several months later. I took a trip to the state penitentiary to see a man who had promised to make a squeal. They were in the same cell block only a few feet from each other. The warden told me that they hated each other as much as ever, and that each boasted that he was waiting for the other to die so that he would get his money. But when I saw them, they were both in agreement for once. For they both yelled. “You crook!” bARCEST*SEMMAGE =) SINGLE EGCE BLADE FOR GEM AND EVER-READY RAZORS Comicloooks (C@