Wed 9 Jan 2019
Hero Pulp Stories I’m Reading: GORDON E. WARNKE “Whispering Monk.”
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Stories I'm Reading[8] Comments
GORDON E. WARNKE “Whispering Monk.” The Whispering Monk #1. Short story. Published in All Detective Magazine, June 1934. Never reprinted.
This is the first appearance of The Whispering Monk as a hero pulp character, and the last. In fact it is the only [crime fiction] story that the author, Gordon E. Warnke, ever had published, and the only way you’re going to be able to read it is by finding a copy of the right issue of All Detective Magazine, which is as usual with these old magazines, is not going to be an easy job to do. (See also comment #3.)
The Whispering Monk, a terrifying nemesis to hoodlums and gangsters alike, is in reality Dick Steele, a former police detective whose father, also a detective, was murdered by a criminal gang that Steele believes is operating with police protection. He takes on the guise of the hooded Whispering Monk to bring the gang down by means of his own vigilante justice.
As it turns out, however, by means of clever disguising techniques, for most of the story he takes on the identity of Johnny the Dip, a barfly who is able to overhear the conversations of gang members in bars as he sprawls drunkenly at nearby tables.
Only one person, William Dugan, a captain of detectives, knows about Steele’s alter egos, and is the only man he trusts with that information. The story is short — it’s only nine pages long — so to do what he has to do with so little room to work, Steele’s only resource is to get the gang members fighting against each other.
You may be surprised to hear me say that the story is not badly written — there’s simply just not enough of it — and the setup shows some imagination, at least. This overlooks the unfortunate fact, however, that The Whispering Monk appears in person in only a few paragraphs on the last page. More of him in action, instead as Johnny the Dip, would seem to be a reasonable request, and why that particular moniker, anyway?
January 9th, 2019 at 10:23 pm
This story sounds like fun.
Wish it were available!
It would make a good movie or TV show, perhaps.
Maybe someone will add it to pulgen (source of free pulp stories).
January 9th, 2019 at 11:09 pm
Mike,
Yes.
January 10th, 2019 at 12:50 pm
FictionMags lists about a dozen stories by Warnke, all the others are Westerns. Ancestry.com has many entries for a Gordon E. Warnke who was born in Wisconsin in 1897 and died in 1990. His profession was always given as Jeweler, both in Wisconsin and later in Florida. He initially worked for his father’s company. I can’t find an obituary for him, but he wouldn’t be the first person who dabbled in writing before settling into a permanent career. I noticed that he got married in 1922, and had a son in 1924, the year the earliest known story appeared; he may have been scrounging for extra money.
January 10th, 2019 at 12:59 pm
Thanks for all this information, Ken. Obviously I should have said this was his only known work of crime fiction. I did find a Gordon E. Warnke online who’s still living. He could easily be a grandson. It’s not a common name.
January 10th, 2019 at 3:39 pm
Here’s a transcription of the first part of his obit:
Gordon E. Warnke
93, of Boynton Beach, passed away on June 12, 1990. Mr. Warnke was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and served in World War I with the 120th Field Artillery, 32nd Division and was past Vice-Commander of the Alonzo Cudworth Post, American Legion, Milwaukee. He also served as a Captain in the Wisconsin National Guard. After the war he worked for 57 years in the jewelry business that his father, E. H. Warnke, established in 1895. In the 1930’s he was the editor of the Jefferson County Union newspaper in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. He was an author, writing many mystery and cowboy novels for the early “pulp” magazines. He was a member of the 32nd Division Assn., the Horse Cavalry Assn., Veterans of WWI and the Cline, Pautsch, Kott Post 164, American Legion, Boynton Beach.
**************
I wouldn’t take the “many” novels as being on oath since obits are frequently written by children with incomplete or misleading knowledge of their parents lives; but clearly Warnke was a journalist and recidivist author.
January 10th, 2019 at 3:45 pm
More thanks due. Thanks, Jon!
And I do agree with your last paragraph. But it’s better to exaggerate to some extent, than to omit a background of writing for the pulps as if it shouldn’t even be mentioned.
January 10th, 2019 at 3:55 pm
For the record, from the online Western Fiction Index, which I failed to look at before writing this review:
WARNKE, GORDON E.
* According to Law, (nv) Ace-High Magazine Mar #2 1925
* Alkali Pays the Bill, (ss) Ace-High Magazine Apr #2 1925
* Alkali’s Millionaire, (ss) Ace-High Magazine Jan #2 1925
— Cowboy Stories May 1925
* Color Blind, (ss) Two Gun Western Stories Oct 1929
* Guns of Vengeance, (nv) Cowboy Stories Sep 1929
* Plumb Lawful, (ss) Rapid-Fire Western Stories May 1933
* Shakespeare Comes to Alkali, (ss) Ace-High Magazine Aug #1 1925
* A Shootin’ Fool—For Peace, (na) Cowboy Stories Nov 1926
* Silent Cleans Up, (ss) Ace-High Magazine Nov #1 1925
* “Silent†Rides Alone, (ss) Rapid-Fire Western Stories Jan 1933
* Teamwork at Twin Forks, (nv) Ace-High Magazine Oct #2 1924
January 10th, 2019 at 7:14 pm
Obviously someone had read their Frank Packard Jimmy Dale stories, with the Jimmy the Dip business though I suppose he might have gotten it from Norvel Page who got the idea from Packard.