Halfaday Creek Works of Western writer James B Hendryx.
James B Hendryx – Halfaday Creek Book List
“This here’s Cushing’s Fort, on Halfaday Crick, ain’t it?”
“Yeah, this is the place. The character behind the bar there is Lyme Cushing, in person. My name’s Smith — Black John by identification.”
“My name’s John Smith, too.”
“Not on Halfaday it ain’t. Just reach in the Name Can there on the end of the bar an’ draw out a name.”
“Name Can! What’s a Name Can?”
“It’s a device Cush and I worked out when the crick got so cluttered up with John Smiths that we ran out of distinguishin’ characteristics like Long John, Short John, One Eyed John. Pot Gutted John, Red John, One Armed John, et cetra. We garbled the name’s out of a history book an’ tossed ’em into that molasses can yonder. Now when a man comes along claimin’ his name is John Smith, we call his attention to…”
From the story “Target Practice on Halfaday,” collected in HELLS-A-POPPIN ON HALFADAY CREEK by James B Hendryx.
James Beardsley Hendryx was one of the Top 10 Writers of Mountie fiction. Most of his short stories, novelettes and full-length novels told the adventures of the men and women who stormed into the Canadian Klondike in the 1890’s to make their fortune. Or escape troubles back home.
Halfaday Creek was just “a half days travel by canoe” from the Yukon and Alaska Territories border (i. e. the US-Canadian Line) and attracted a strange and untrustworthy population who wanted to hide out in the deep Northern woods.
STRANGE DOINGS ON HALFADAY CREEK, Reprinted by Robert Hale Limited, London, 1952
There, the big outlaw Black John Smith “dispensed justice with the wisdom of Solomon and a heart as big as the biggest nugget found in the Gold Rush days. And sometimes with a length of good hemp rope.”
With the help of his saloon-running buddy Lyme Cushing and Corporal Downey of the North-West Mounted Police, Black John solved the crimes that for some reason seemed to happen often in a community of outlaws.
Jim Hendryx, who had been in the Klondike Gold Rush as a younger man, published his popular Halfaday Creek tales in the top pulp fiction magazines of the day, especially Short Stories magazine.
He collected and published thirteen volumes of Halfaday Creek stories in his lifetime, with four more volumes appearing since, gathering all of his published narratives of the strangest sanctuary in Canada.
As well as a popular Western writer, James B Hendryx became and remains one of the best Mountie Writers ever.
You asked for a list of Jim’s Halfaday Creek Books in order. Here it is…
1. OUTLAWS OF HALFADAY CREEK (1935)
“Self-appointed dictator of these hard-bitten sourdoughs was Black John Smith. And Lyme Cushing (aka Old Cush), banker, bartender and father confessor, who was Black John’s aide-de-camp. Together, they kept their own brand of Law and Order — and very speedy justice.”
Unlike the later books, OUTLAWS blends a number of novelettes into one coherent novel.
With chapters like “Grubstake,” “The Swede Disappears,” “On Halfaday Creek,” “Corporal Downey Investigates,” “A Fat Man Visits Halfaday,” “Whisky Bill Makes a Deal,” “Hoodoo Gold” and “Black John Invents the Name-Can.”
And more than a few unbelievers came to a rough ending in Black John’s “most moral and peaceable community” on the Northwoods creeks.
OUTLAWS OF HALFADAY CREEK was printed by Doubleday, Doran & Co, Garden City NY, and by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, London, England, in 1935. And reprinted by Triangle Books, New York, in 1944. All in hardcover editions.
Corporal Downey grinned. “It sure will be a feather in my cap — fetchin’ back all this loot.”
“Yeah,” agreed Black John, “but it looks to me that feathers come damn high, at fifty thousan’ a feather. Intrinsic honesty, as a perfesser would say — must be hell when you’ve got it.”
2. BLACK JOHN OF HALFADAY CREEK (1938)
“My name is Beezely, gentlemen — J Q A Beezely, attorney at law.”
Black John Smith regarded the man with interest. “A lawyer, eh? Well, we’ve had damn near every other kind of miscreant there is show up on Halfaday, so I s’pose it was only a question of time till a lawyer would come.”
Welcome to Halfaday, where new arrivals pick a new name out of an old tin can.
Black John will meet you with a warm grin and searching blue-gray eyes. Maybe even a free glass of Cush’s best whiskey. And if you think you can make a fool of this big American you just made a big mistake.
The outlaw leader spends most of his time “keeping the crick clear of swindlers, gold thieves, cardsharps and unwanted wives.”
Black John Smith, Old Cush, and the rest of the outlaws of Halfaday Creek return in seven more Northwestern adventures, all adapted from their original magazine texts.
BLACK JOHN was originally published by Doubleday, Garden City, New York, in 1938. And reprinted by Jarrolds, London, England, in 1939. Both in hardcover.
Shown left is the Zebra Books “Three Star Western” paperback edition, New York, 1978.
“When some suspicious strangers with something more than mining on their minds come to Cushing Fort, Black John gives them a two-gun welcome that turns the Yukon from gold to blood red!”
Like OUTLAWS, Jim restructured this book into novel form, broken up into chapters, such as “A Lawyer Arrives on Halfaday,” “Black John Listens to a Tale,” “Let Nature Take Her Course,” “Three Birds with One Stone,” “Musheroons,” “Whiskers.” “Black John Escapes,” “The Ghost of Halfaday Creek,” “A Woman Closes a Deal,” “Corporal Downey Arrives Too Late,” “Black John Files a Stove Leg” and “A Marshall Leaves Halfaday.”
In 2020, Altus Press reprinted this title, using the original Short Story magazine yarns as they were printed. Altus also included the original ink illustrations of pulp artist Pete Kuhlhoff.
3. THE CZAR OF HALFADAY CREEK (1940)
“Black John Smith, the uncrowned ruler of the outlaws of Halfaday Creek, and the executive, legislative and judicial branches as exists in the deep Northwoods of the Yukon, deals out a few drastic sentences to desperate characters who break the unwritten Law of the North.”
THE CZAR OF HALFADAY CREEK was published originally by Doubleday Books in hardcover in 1940 and reprinted in 1942 by Triangle Books, both of New York.
The book cover shown here is of the mass market paperback edition released by Consul Books (World Distributors), London, England.
As you can see by the style of clothing worn by the shootists and the Southwestern saloon setting, Consul gave their cover art a more traditional Western look than Northwestern. No bold black beard, flannel lumberjack shirt and wool toque for big John here. (See Below)
Consul Books released a number of Hendryx’s titles in the 1960s.
CZAR started off a popular time for author Jim Hendryx, with this novelization of yarns from Short Stories magazine published in 1934, 1935 and 1940.
Chapter titles included: “The Man Who Looked Over His Shoulder,” “Cornwallis Tells His Story,” “Goldie,” “A Shot From Ambush,” “Black John Outlines His Plot,” “Some Cheechakos Hire A Guide,” “A Stranger Arrives At The Fort,” “The Secret-Service Man” and “Christopher Blue Spots His Man.”
Marriage was a running theme through this book.
Black John Smith “saves an innocent man from a wrathful wife by the simple device of hanging him.” And then saves his good buddy Lyme Cushing from the claws of wedded bliss, “a state that Lyme does not highly regard.”
And there are would-be but dangerous Halfaday-ers to uncover and relieve of ill-gotten money. All under the watchful eye of one red-coated, excessively honest Mountie.
4. LAW AND ORDER ON HALFADAY CREEK (1941)
Originally published by Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1941 (Left).
The same year in Canada (Macmillan) and England (Jarrolds). And reprinted later that year by Carlton House (under its Bar-H Books imprint), New York.
Fiddlers are revered in the Canadian Northcountry.
A good fiddler will attract folks from all over the lonesome Northwoods. And soon the toe-tappin’, dancin’ and good times would be under way.
When a red-headed fiddler is silenced forever at Halfaday, Black John needs Cameron Downey’s help in quickly solving the murder.
And then there’s the case of who killed Short John Smith — and for a bounty on Short John’s head, of all despicable motives.
Also, who exactly is this visiting Englishman?
5. GOLD AND GUNS ON HALFADAY CREEK (1943)
6. STRANGE DOINGS ON HALFADAY CREEK (1943)
7. IT HAPPENED ON HALFADAY CREEK (1944)
The publication of these three collections of good-humored Black John/Downey yarns in a 15 month period showed that, while Mountie fiction as a genre might be losing some of its fan base to the new hardboiled detectives and solitary soldiers-of-fortune of the Wartime men’s magazines, James B Hendryx was actually increasing in popularity — and hence saleability.
(Left, STRANGE DOINGS, Published by Sun Dial Press, New York, 1943.)
“Black John and his cronies maintain law and order in an outlaw’s haven.”
STRANGE DOINGS, for instance, gave us a novelization of six narratives; all had originally appeared in Short Stories magazine fr0m 1938 to 1942.
“All the Evidence,” “Bear Paws,” “Black John Assists at a Wedding,” “Black John Files a Claim,” “Father John” and “Mail Order to Halfaday.”
Note: The Altus edition of this title quotes from a letter by Jim revealing the inspiration for his “Bear Paws” yarn about the sourdough who lost his toes.
The Happily Ever After theme drifting through this book shows that Jim may have got a bit of grief over his treatment of Holy Matrimony in CZAR.
Then again, maybe Jim hadn’t completely reformed…
“You can’t trust a woman,” opined Old Cush, proprietor of Cushing’s Fort, the combination trading post and saloon that served the little colony of outlawed men that had sprung up on Halfaday Creek. He filled his glass and shoved the bottle toward Black John Smith who faced him across the bar. “Not even if you marry ’em, you can’t.”
Black John grinned. “Well — you’d ought to know. I never tried marryin’ any of ’em, personal.”
8. SKULDUGGERY ON HALFADAY CREEK (1946)
Published by Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1946. And Hammond, London, 1953.
In this collection of novelettes, again first published in Short Story Magazine, Black John evens up the score with a number of old enemies.
“Black John Goes Outside” tells the tale of his trip “Outside” to his boyhood home and perpetrates a clever swindle on a greedy local banker who once had caused trouble over his father’s mortgage. In other yarns, he encounters his friend Cush’s third wife on the way to the “crick” to make trouble for her husband, and engineers the hanging of some high-grade ore thieves.
This is accomplished with Black John’s usual imperturbability and good humor. And the fact that he comes out a few thousand dollars ahead on each of the deals in no way lessens his moral stature.
Besides “Black John Goes Outside,” other reprinted stories are “Cush’s Third Wife,” “One Good Turn Deserves Another,” “Hanged by a Thread,” “All in the Day’s Work” and “Reward-$1000.”
The Altus Press reissue of this title adds “Ten Thousand New Lakes,” which first appeared in the May, 1955 Field & Stream.
9. THE SAGA OF HALFADAY CREEK (1949)
Published by Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1949. And Hammond, London, 1954.
As Black John, The Law on the Creek, is fond of saying, “the interval between the crime and the hanging is hardly worth mentioning.” This time, and with the sometime assistance of Corporal Downey, Black John deals competently with assorted trickery…
Reprinted Stories: “Fingerprints,” “Black John Advises,” “Black John Finds a Missing Heir,” “The Law Visits Halfaday Creek,” “Dead Man’s Nugget,” “Thunder on Halfaday” and “Black John Solves a Crime.”
In “Black John Finds a Missing Heir,” John must make sure that Lady Ainslee-Higginbotham’s fortune goes to the rightful heir, and not to a hospital for homeless mongooses in Rangoon.
And figure out perhaps the most difficult question in Life: how do you swindle a swindler?
10. JUSTICE ON HALFADAY CREEK (1949)
Published first in New York by Doubleday Books in 1949, it was rejected by Jim’s usual British publishers, Jarrolds and Hammond & Co. But put out in 1954 by Museum Press of London.
“Halfaday Creek rings to the sound of Black John keeping the peace.”
Northwoods mysteries to solve: One murder by dynamite and another by mistake. Missing gold dust to be found. There’s a wicked white slaver to be brought to justice. And hunting down the dastardly whiskey trader who cheated neighboring Natives of their furs.
“I’ve heard that Black John is an outlaw himself,” Nellie Douty said. “But I don’t believe it. He seems like such a nice man — so jolly and smiling behind that black beard of his.”
“I’ll bet some of them cusses he’s hung didn’t see nothin jolly about him,” Old Man Douty opined. “Ain’t that so, Downey?”
Corporal Downey nodded. “He’s a peculiar mixture, John is. The talk is that he’s an outlaw but we’ve never got anything on him this side of the Line. An’ the way he handles those shady characters on Halfaday has saved the police many a headache. If there’s any crime on Halfaday, it’s handled before we even hear of it.”
“You going back to Dawson from here?” Douty asked.
“Yeah,” replied Downey, “I’ll be pullin’ out in the morning.”
It was only later that the Douties realized that the Mountie had never really answered their Black John question.
11. BADMEN ON HALFADAY CREEK (1950)
Printed in the US by Doubleday in 1950, and picked up in Great Britain by Hammond & Co in 1956.
Black John Smith breaks the law and puts it together again!
“Black John Smith was dimly conscious of a vast discomfort. His head ached, there was a terrific throbbing at his temples, and a continuous thumping against his back. He opened his eyes…”
Black John Smith awakened to find himself upside down in a mine shaft. And the latest series of Halfaday Creek adventures is in full swing…
Of course, Black John is needed. If not to keep the Law in his infamous colony on the Yukon-Alaska border, then to keep Order.
Breaking the law in the interests of justice is his favorite pastime.
This time his unconventional methods help him to solve the Case of the Chocolate-Covered Cartridges, the Case of the Poisoned Moose Meat, and the Case of the Other Black John. As usual, his ardent pursuit of justice add a few headstones to the Halfaday Creek cemetery, where the “Hs” (Hung) and the “Ms” (Murdered) outnumber the “Ds” (Died Natural).
Reprinted Stories: “Black John Pays a Debt,” “Justice and the Law,” “Profit on Halfaday,” “The Partnership Business,” “Slight Misunderstanding on Halfaday” and “Conspiracy on Halfaday.”
12. MURDER ON HALFADAY CREEK (1951)
Printed in the US by Doubleday in 1951.
Entering Cushing’s saloon accompanied by two men, Black John strode to the bar and, with the butt of his revolver, knocked loudly to attract attention. “All stud games is temporarily adjourned. I’m callin’ a miner’s meetin’ to try one Joe Smiley for night prowlin’ in One Eyed Joe’s cabin, at present occupied, to wit, one William Henry Van Buren. Five minutes will be allowed for the cashin’ in of chips.”
MURDER ON HALFADAY CREEK reprints six stories from late 40’s editions of Short Story magazine.
Black John Smith foils a plot dreamed up by as despicable a gang of crooks as ever stacked a deck, exchanging twenty-five thousand dollars in fake bills for good ones. He runs a pair of swindlers out of town, after persuading them to leave their cash behind, in his name. And he doubles the twenty thousand he paid for some sacks of fool’s gold, and hangs a murderer in the bargain.
Reprinted Stories: “Black John Turns a Trick,” “Black John Wins a Bet,” “Skin Game,” “Miner’s Meetin’,” “Permanent Resident on Halfaday” and “Willie Shows Up on Halfaday.”
13. INTRIGUE ON HALFADAY CREEK (1953)
Printed in the US by Doubleday in 1953.
Six novelettes reprinted from Popular Publications Short Stories magazine.
Black John can recognize two sleazy swindlers when he meets ’em. And soon figures out that the pair is “bent on cheating a young sourdough out of his claim and shows them that if they are looking for loopholes in the law — Black John knows ’em all!”
Corporal Downey helps big John take on two hired killers. And John guides Constable Brock in figuring out that One-Arm John isn’t the murderer he’s looking for.
This was the last Halfaday book published in Jim Hendryx’s lifetime.
14. TERROR ON HALFADAY CREEK (1963)
First collection of Jim’s Halfaday Creek magazine short stories and novelettes gathered by the Hendryx family.
Probably most of the editing for this paperback original was done by James Hendryx Jr, who started as a writer in the 40’s but later became a successful editor. Publishing as Harrison Hendryx, James Jr wrote Western and Sports stories for magazines and went on in the 50’s to script horror stories for the weird comic books such as Adventures Into Darkness. The title word “Terror” doesn’t sound like a word that James Sr would have picked.
TERROR was published in the US in 1963 and the UK (Consul Books, London), in 1967. Both in mass market paperback editions.
15. ADVENTURES ON HALFADAY CREEK (2013)
For the first time in 50 years, a new Halfaday Creek collection!
“Part of the matching Halfaday Creek Library from Altus Press.”
This trade paperback edition contains five previously-uncollected Black John & Halfaday Creek novelettes.
Newly collected yarns of the big American with the fierce black beard, his saloon-running partner in crime and a true-blue red-coated policeman.
Table of Contents: “Black John Sells a Claim,” “Corporal Downey: ‘Suicide.’ Black John: ‘Maybe.’,” “For Some Little Sacks of Gold,” “Foreclosure on Halfaday,” and “All or Nothing.”
16. HELLS-A-POPPIN ON HALFADAY CREEK (2014)
“Altus Press is proud to present another new Halfaday Creek collection, containing eight previously-uncollected Black John & Halfaday Creek novelettes.”
All but one of the stories reprinted in HELLS-A-POPPIN appeared originally in Short Story magazine. Table of Contents: “Black John Declines a Reward,” “Constable Buck Counts Heads,” “Left Handed Justice,” “Poison On Halfaday,” “The Gambler,” “Halfaday Evidence, Package Style,” “Target Practice on Halfaday” and “Trial and Error.”
“Target Practice on Halfaday” appeared originally in the Boston Sunday Globe Fiction Magazine, July 31, 1955.
“Well, John, I’ll not be forgettin’ that if you hadn’t been there in the brush with your rifle, I might be layin’ up there in front of Whiskey Bill’s door along with that other fellow.”
“Hell — don’t mention it, Downey. Like I said, it would make it mean fer us boys if a policeman was to get knocked off on Halfaday. And as fer the reward — cripes, Downey — I wouldn’t think of takin a reward fer performin’ a simple duty. It wouldn’t be ethical. Come on — let’s go down to Cush’s and I’ll buy you that drink.”
17. DAMNATION ON HALFADAY CREEK (2021)
Black John Smith, Old Cush, and the rest of the outlaws of Halfaday Creek return in ten more adventures, taken from their original magazine texts.
Included in this collection are “Yukon Twins,” “Black John and the Sky Pilot,” “Black John — Bushwhacker,” “Black John’s Bear Trap Trouble,” “Cheechako Trouble,” “The Damnation of Black John.” “Death Stakes this Claim!,” “Justice — Yukon Style!,” “Superstition,” and “White Hell.” These original versions have never before been reprinted.
With the publication of this 17th book, ALL of Jim Hendryx’s great Halfaday stories have been collected and put out for the world to enjoy.
Like the Altus editions of BLACK JOHN, SAGA and SKULDUGGERY, DAMNATION includes the original magazine line and ink illustrations by popular pulp artist Pete Kuhlhoff.
“If it wasn’t for some — er — eccentricities in your makeup, John, you’d make a wonderful policeman.”
“Oh, hell, Downey, I’d never make a policeman. A policeman’s got to be smart. It takes everything I’ve got to keep Halfaday moral. While you’ve got to handle the whole Yukon.”
Live Free, Mon Ami! – Brian Alan Burhoe
Did you like this Classic Northwestern Fiction Book Review?
THEN YOU’VE GOT TO SEE “THE WRITERS OF THE NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE” — MY MOST POPULAR LITERARY HISTORY POST:
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An extensive look at the writers who created the magnificent Mythology of our North-West Mounted Police. My Top 10 Mountie Fiction Writers in some detail, including James B Hendryx. Yup, there’s more about Black John and Corporal Downey. And a look at many, many other authors.
Amply illustrated with marvelous magazine and book covers. CLICK HERE: The GREATEST AUTHORS OF NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE FICTION
For more of James B Hendryx’s popular Northwest fiction, see Excerpt from DOWNEY OF THE MOUNTED, a novel by James B Hendryx
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“Never let your work interfere with your fishing.” James B Hendryx
SOURCE: My Own Pinewood Bookshelves, AbeBooks Sellers & Altus Press/Steeger Books.
