Pulp Fiction, 1934 · page 97 of 148
Western Story Magazine, May 12, 1934 — page 97: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 95: "A Game of Draw" This page contains story prose from a Western pulp fiction narrative. The upper section depicts a gunfight in a saloon between a young stranger and a man called Roaring Bill, ending with Bill's death. A bearded rancher then questions the stranger—revealed to be Johnny Dartin—about his remarkably fast left-handed draw, leading to a revelation that Dartin killed the rancher's father in a previous incident in Texas. The lower section, titled "Nature at Work in Kansas," shifts to non-fiction, describing two unusual geological phenomena: a bottomless hole near Hutchinson and an expanding earth fissure in Haskell County, possibly caused by natural gas pressure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Game Of Draw 95 Go for that gun!” And even as he flicking up, “that shoulder draw spoke, his own right hand leaped to was lightning!” hip, grabbed his weapon, brought it “When a man practices steady for violently forward. four years,” said Johnny Dartin, _ “he gets to be tolerably fast on a T the same instant the young left-hand:shoulder draw.” A stranger curved slightly for- The rancher cursed softly. “So ward, over the table, and his you did it on purpose? Jus’ stood left hand streaked upward across. there an’ let him break your hand his chest: to his right armpit. His “To make a hombre like him left hand whipped that gun from draw,” Johnny said, “you got. to shoulder holster, and the gun burst’ give him the advantage.” with a crashing flame that shook the “An’ cold-deck him first jus’ to tense saloon. The red flame leaped, make him call you?” The rancher’s and the echo broke, and Roaring eyes narrowed suddenly. “Son,” he Bill, his gun only half drawn, spun recalled, “once I heard that Roaring around, sagged in the middle, and _ Biull tried almost that same play then, with a heavy sigh, crumpled down in Texas. Only that time he against the floor. did the cold-decking himself. The stranger turned slowly, and Switched decks on a man, an’ when faced the gaping crowd. he got called, offered to shake hands “Gentlemen,” he said, “you all an’ call it quits. Then he broke the saw it. A game of draw. He went fellow’s hand an’ shot him down.” for his gun, an’ I killed him in self- Johnny Dartin smiled thinly. defense.” 3 “Friend,” he agreed, “I’ve heard that The crowd pushed away from the — same story.” 1? - walls, shuffling forward, and a “Huh!” grunted the rancher. . bearded cowman stepped out, star- “Yeah? Maybe you even knew the ing fascinated at Jimmy Dartin’s§ man he killed?” broken hand. “Yes,” Johnny said, “I knew “Son,” he marvelled, his gaze him. He was my father.” NATURE AT WORK IN KANSAS > N the David Yoder farm, southeast of Hutchinson, Kansas, there () is a bottomless hole. Everything that could be trucked to it has been poured in, but the material simply drops down and keeps going. The hole was made for an oil test, and. men have been trying to plug it for weeks. In Haskell County, two hundred miles southwest of Hutchinson, a crack in the earth, two hundred feet long, twenty feet deep, and fifteen feet wide, has appeared. The fissure is slowly widening, and the owner of the land is afraid he will arise some morning to find his farm has dropped out of sight. This farm is not far from the natural-gas area, and gas pres- sure may account for the phenomenon. GOMicboolkcuco