Type Comic
Date 1937-02-25
Pages 6
Tags China, illegal immigration, fiction

The Murders of Cap'n Scum

Speed Saunders and the River Patrol (1937-03)

This story introduces us to Cyril Saunders, known as "Speed", a special operative in the river patrol. A bayman has found four dead bodies floating in the bay, and Speed is called in to crack the case. Speed investigates, and ultimately reveals that a ship had been smuggling Chinese immigrants, and throwing sick men overboard. Speed catches the crooks and brings them in, earning himself a vacation.

This story had some potential, I feel, but it was severely handicapped by its length. It is only six pages long, and one of those is just the setup introducing Speed Saunders, which has nothing to do with the mystery. As a result of its brevity, the summary I gave is essentially the whole story. Speed doesn't come across as a very good detective, either. For example, when he visits the morgue to inspect the drowned men, we see this:

Excellent deduction, Speed.

Character Type
Speed Saunders Main
Name Role
Creig Flessel Inker
E. C. Stoner Author / Penciller

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