Vaudevillian Goes West, Part 3

 

cover art by C. Calvert

Read/Watch 'em In Order #146

Henry Harrison Conroy, former Vaudeville comedian and now sheriff of Tonto County, Arizona, has his third adventure appear in the April 27, 1935 issue of Argosy. The story is "The Sherlock of Sageland," written by W.C. Tuttle.

Henry still isn't happy with being sheriff and is perpetually annoyed that he can't get the hang of putting his spurred boots up on his desk without tipping over his chair. The county commissioners are also unhappy with him, since there are several unsolved crimes--a couple of bank robberies and a stagecoach hold-up--on the books. These crimes were committed during the previous sheriff's tenure, but the commissioners expect Henry to solve them anyways.

As with the first two stories, this one ambles along enjoyably, with a lot of humor (often generated by Henry's perpetually drunk ranch-hand Oscar Johnson) seeded throughout. But, also like the first two, it's also a solid mystery, with Henry once again giving Sherlock Holmes a run for the money in deductive reasoning.

Soon, there's another attempted bank robbery, a murder and a wrecked stagecoach (made to look like an accident) and then yet another murder. The commissioners bring in a private detective from San Francisco, but this guy seems to make no more headway in solving the case than does Henry. Except Henry might just be more on the ball than anyone suspects.

"The Sherlock from Sageland" is yet another wonderful entry in the series. Sadly, I could not find this specific issue online. It has been reprinted in The Complete Tales of Sheriff Henry, volume 1.