The Vultures of Wahpeton

 

cover art by Howard Sherman

"The Vultures of Wahpeton," a Western by Robert E. Howard, was first published in the December 1936 issue of Smashing Novels. It's actually a novella, but it is pretty smashing.

Wahpeton is a gold rush town. Many people have been getting rich, but an outlaw gang known as the Vultures keeps the town on lock-down, robbing claims and holding up every single stagecoach that attempts to transport gold out. The town and the surrounding area is crowded with men hoping to strike it rich, so no-one knows who is a Vulture and who isn't.

The protagonist is a Texas gunslinger named Corcoran, whose lightning fast draw gets him a job as deputy. This initially puts him on the side of the good guys. But he soon finds out that the sheriff is the leader of the Vultures. Corcoran's sense of personal honor doesn't allow him to kill in cold blood or rob someone innocent, but he doesn't object to robbing thieves.

While the sheriff is conning the town leaders into thinking he's on the level, he and Corcoran plan to eventually run for it with a fortune in stolen gold. Both men plan to double-cross the other after they get clear.

In fact, Chronic Back-stabbing Syndrome is rife throughout the story, with Corcoran going up against several Vultures at different times even while theoretically a part of the gang.

Things begin to go awry for Corcoran when he tells the saloon girl he's fallen about his plans. The girl had built Corcoran up in her mind as a virtuous hero, so discovering he's planning on running off with stolen gold crushes her. This, in turn, leads to her spilling too much information to the Vultures. The violent story quickly becomes more violent.

There's a little too much sameness to the action scenes, which mostly involve Corcoran outdrawing his opponents, but Howard overlays the tale with a lot of tension. The pacing is appropriately fast. Corcoran is an interesting protagonist, with flaws as well as virtues that drive the story along. Also, a member of the "Men's Adventure Paperbacks of the 20th Century" Facebook group referred to the story as "The beginning of the hardboiled Western... The Western was changing from mythic to hardboiled." "The Vultures of Wahpeton" can be seen as a signpost pointing the genre in that direction.

Interestingly, the original printing in Smashing Novels provided two different endings to the tale, with an editor writing: "Of course, giving a story two endings is sort of unorthodox. But Smashing Novels, ever since its first issue, hasn't been a particularly orthodox magazine. We've tried, and we are trying, to give you different stories with different slants, and we've been doing our darndest to give you the best stories possible."

One ending pulls out a happy ending for Corcoran. The other, which was used when the story was reprinting in a Howard anthology a few years ago, is more tragic. I think the happy ending is a little contrived, while the tragic ending is a better emotional fit for the story. But if want to decide for yourself, you can find the story (with both endings) HERE.