Pulp Fiction, 1953 · page 68 of 116
Fifteen Western Tales, January 1953 — page 68: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is an interior story page from a pulp magazine, featuring the beginning of a Western fiction story titled "Over the Hill to Hell" by Robert Trimmell. The page includes dramatic black-and-white illustrations of men on a mountainous terrain alongside the story's opening prose. The narrative follows a wagon scout named Big Bill Shawn leading a caravan through harsh desert and mountain conditions, where tensions escalate among his inexperienced, mutinous crew members. A character named Kalder threatens to stop Shawn from leading them to ruin, suggesting conflict ahead.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OVER THE HILL TO HELL The endless prairie, the burning desert, the stark mountains, and the hostile savages were easy enough for big Bill Shawn, for in his years as a wagon scout he’d conquered them all .... but God save him from this caravan of mutinous greenhorns, who’d lose their way anywhere—except on the road to hell! Kalder cried, “Pll stop you, Shawn, from leading us to tryin!” By ROBERT TRIMNELL HE mountains had been before them for so many days that their eyes had shriveled from squinting at them through the glitter of sun on the alkali flats. Their skins were burnt black or blistered to a fiery red, but still, they made their way ‘through the burning wastes, intent on their goal. _ It was rough in the heat. The spokes dried “out and rattled and the wheels shrunk until their iron tires suddenly clattered off. But not until the wagon tongues snapped, did their tempers go. The brunt of abuse was heaped on Big 68 Conn () DOOKS,. CO