Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1911
Blake: In WITNESS FOR THE DEFENCE, we learn that Blake is a qualified barrister.
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,180 · 7/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Animal Bloomers; Ring Out the Old; The East End — After Dark; Mister Brown on Football; See How They'll Fly; The Copy Hunter; Brave Boys in Blue; Stray Stories; Honk! Honk!; Answers' Christmas Number; Two Doorsteps and a Mug!; A Minister's Day; Some Cambridge Capers; Boxing Made Easy; Seeing it Out; A Surprise Packet; The Power of Gold; Editorial Chat; When a Man's Down; Boots for Women; Foxey Foxes.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,181 · 14/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Houndsditch!; Up at Covin' Garding; Chances for Chancellors; Tommies We Dont's Want; Is Flying Safe?; To Beginners; The Weary Willie Census; The Aliens Act Farce; Handicapped Humanity; Chat From Across the Sea; Boxing Made Easy; Our Potted Panto; Compensation; The Power of Gold; Editorial Chat; Health by Post; When a Man's Down; How to Manage Him; Mystery Sales. Notes: None at present.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,182 · 21/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Journeys End in Lovers' Meetings; Signal-Box Blunders; The Last Hope; The Amazing Prison Life of Convict Z; Last Lap!; Our Own Representative; The Dossers; Was it an Earthquake; Good Gossip; Famous Football Captains; A Fearful Temper; Films on the Road; Boxing Made Easy; A Hunting We Will Go; Benefit Performances; Spies!; Census Secrets; Editorial Chat; The Power of Gold; The Girl Outcast; Policemen Heroes; Growing Old Together; A Woman in the Wilds.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,183 · 28/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Back Street Battles; The Sample Squad; The Amazing Prison Life of Convict Z; The Sign of the Scarlet "S"; H.M. the Chucker Out; Fire!; His Majesty's Mails; Knott Half!; Real Gold; Boxing Made Easy; That's Lancasheer; Editorial Chat; Troops Out!; In the Fashion; Arranged By Correspondence; Old Temple Bar; The Real Alien Danger; Gossip; The Power of Gold; Army Aristocrats; Engaged; Preparing for the Coronation.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,184 · 4/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; My Impressions of a Prize Fight; The Amazing Prison Life of Convict Z; Her Majesty's Dresses; In Hot Water; Points for the P.M.G.; Two Years to Live; Censusing the Savage; The Lookers; Second Sight Sensations; Weird Work; Takee Tooth Out?; In the Whelly of the Bale; Pug Harbottle; Rogues All; Editorial Chat; Pictures for Passengers; A Lordly Life; The Power of Gold; Four a Pennies; On Neckwear.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,185 · 11/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Monstrous Mormons; Over the Counter; The Amazing Prison Life of Convict Z; Mister Brown on Anarchists; Mid the Factory's Roar; Ex-M.P.; Beastly Day; Coronation Corners; Disasters Made Here; Asking For It; The Land in the Limelight; Why Clover Likes Cats; What's in a Name?; Boxing Made Easy; In Swagger Switzerland; Love and Electricity; William Sikes, LL.D.; Teaching the Missing Link; Sport That Pays; Editorial Chat; The Power of Gold; Choice of Partners; Facts for Feb.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,186 · 18/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; My Mormon Marriage; 2,500 Vols. of Valentines; The Amazing Prison Life of Convict Z; The Seaside in Feb.; Mirth in the Mine; The Wild Winkle; Touching the "Tenter"; My Impressions of the Rev. Waldron; Stowaways; Hush! Here's Harriet!; Well I'm Wellingtoned!; Wading in Wine; Where Fog is Blue; Modern Olivers; You Never Can Tell; Rail Tales; Our Temp'ry; The Goalkeeper; Shixty per Shent; When They Howl; Editorial Chat; The Power of Gold; 50 Years on the Road; Our What-Not.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,187 · 25/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Money Magnet; No Cows, No Cream; The Sarn Major; The Girl at the Keys; Cinematographing Lions; Razor Easy, Sir?; I Dine with the Speaker; The Agent Artful; The Wheel of Fortune; Soap; More About Mormons; Should Lovers Be Licensed?; Dear Your Majesty; Fame in Football; A Strike Story; Harbottle v. Slobbs; A Shower of Gold; Wills Criminals Make; Nobody Loves Me; The Authorised Version; Editorial Chat; The Power of Gold; Doctor and Hero; Whitebait.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,188 · 4/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Day's Work; Muffins!; Shylock's Defence; Tackling the Tackler; The Greatest Money Makers; The Ticket 'Tec; Rats! Mr Speaker, Sir!; I Fast; The Unwelcome Guest; Life in a Lunatic Asylum; To-Day's Pancake Day; Your Coronet, Sir!; Help! Thieves!; At Duty's call; All Cane!; Signor!; Editorial Chat; Right Away!; In Defence of the Hobble; The Power of Gold; Tragedy of a Poisoned Bullet!; The 5,000; Gusts.
Notes: This was reprinted in THE POPULAR issue 449 (1927).
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,189 · 11/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; I Wear a Harem; When Sandy says "Ha! Ha!"; The Lure of Cards; The Tale-pitcher; Murder By Microbe; My Impressions of a Covent Garden Ball; Measles, Ugh!; The Slaver's Scourge; Quite Accidental; Bad State Bargains; Mister Brown on Fashions for Men; Inventors Who Fail; Life in a Lunatic Asylum; I Fight for the Standard; The Good Turn; Editorial Chat; Why I'm Going to Canada; Guarding the King's Throat; The Power of Gold; Woolwich or Greenock?; Sweet Peas.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,190 · 18/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Under the Borstal System; Points About Poison; I Drop Smoking; Seen on the Serpentine; My Prize Sweet Peas; Knocked Out; The Census and the Whiskers; Clever Animal Criminals; Life in a Lunatic Asylum; About Our Amusements; When George IV was Crowned; Paddy the Picket; The Real Siberia; Swee-eep!; Outgeneralled; Editorial Chat; Beware of the Plague; The Cutlooker; Scouting with Smeeth; The Power of Gold; Cup Tie Dreams; Crocuses.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,191 · 25/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; I Try the Smile Cure; The Sweet Sweet Pea; The Descent of the J.P.; Concerning the Harein Skirt; Royal Nicknames; Gardens for Good Convicts; The Superstitious Racing Man; Dolly Drama; Britain's Good Goods; Life in a Lunatic Asylum; The Cult of the Cinema; The Buskers; Bird Aliens; Wiles of the Tallyman; Who Will Win the Cup; Our Town Band; The Reward of Susan; Editorial Chat; The Artful Beggar; The Power of Gold; Life on an Old Age Pension; From All Corners.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,192 · 1/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Her Marriage Lines; Storyettes; Is Any Picture Worth £100,000?; Mister Brown on Gardening; The Grocer's Friend; We Move; A Woman's Trap; Editorial Chat; When Society Was Startled; Woolwich or Greenlock? Mr Answers' Answers; When Fortune Smiles; Money in Hair; Caught Napping; Looking for Lives; Where Black Rules White; Yah! April Fool!; Uneasy All!; The Servants of Shylock; The Power of Gold; An April Shower.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,193 · 8/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Her Marriage Lines; My Storm Tossed Life; To Sneezers!; I Won't Wash!; Preparing the Procession; I Poach; Red Tape Run Riot; His Jokes; Our Boating Battle; The Rivals; Editorial Chat; All About the Camorra; Dodging Mr Speaker; Fire!; Landladies, Beware!; Millions for Thinking; The Power of Gold; Mr Brown on Reforms.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,194 · 15/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Her Marriage Lines; Hurrah for the Simple Life; Census and Sentences; Why Football is Popular; Our Lost Property Office; Awkward Indeed!; Why Members Should be Paid; My First Bout; vanity, Thy Name is — ; The way to Spend Easter; We Spring Clean; Henfoot's Joke; Editorial Chat; The Thief Tracker; The Quack of the Quack; Bequests That Bewilder; To the Lords!; Ten People to One Horse; The Power of Gold; Whittlings of Wisdom.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,195 · 22/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Her Marriage Lines; Our Own Holiday; Ranker Officers; Easter in the Garden; Pity Poor Editors; Royal Salutes; I Grow a Beard; The Hungry Atmosphere; My Blameless Life; Our Easter Out; The Interloper; Strike Ruin; It Fits, Madam!; T'Coop; Editorial Chat; 5 Years in a Reformatory; Robert's Unhappy Lot; Fun o' the Fair; Troubles in State; Why Dread Disease?; The Power of Gold; Probables v. Possibles; Easter Eggs.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,196 · 29/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Man Who Went Under; What's in a Name?; The Newspaper Girl; Waking Up; The Fight for the Standard; Number, Please!; I Am Followed!; The Field Ladies; Her Quiet Majesty; To a Broken Heart, £2; Ready to Row; Chat From Across the Seas; Why the Black Wins; Harbottle Up; By Strategy; Mister Brown on Peace; The Emigrant Outfit; Editorial Chat; Her Marriage Lines; Under the Weather; The Way Ticket; Fined for Marrying; Spring Buds.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,197 · 6/5/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; China in England; Married by Advertisement; Fighting Farm Fires; The Queen's Daily Day; The Problem; Things We Can't Explain; Oxford and Cambridge Only; A Young Man's Fancy; Thief-Takers Under Ten; The Griddler; My Articles; Big Jokes of Our Own Times; The Sorrows of Song-Selling; The Man Who Went Under; Our Secret Society; Bonner's Duel; Editorial Chat; Crowning the May Queen; Her Marriage Lines; The Passer; Coronation Gifts; May Flowers; The Gold Beater.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,198 · 13/5/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; My Jubilee; Nothing New; Why Cutlets Have Frills; A Dance of Triumph; Riding in Golden Taxis; China in England; Mister Brown on Ticket; The Adventurer's Paradise; Why the Big Shop Triumphs; I Reverse; A Barrel-Organ Boom; Gossip; The Man Who Went Under; Very Fly Fishing; The Lonely Days; Editorial Chat; The Police-Court Mother; When to Take Your Holidays; Door-Step Dangers; Her Marriage Lines; H.M's Experts; Spring Onions.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,199 · 20/5/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Sentenced to Broadmoor; The Money in Memory; Stage Squabbles; Fortunes from the Foam; The Owls' Night; Three Weeks Not Out; 350 Words a Minute; Do Lawyers Overcharge?; The Festival of Empire; Selling Their Swords; Fakes at the Flower-Show; China in England; Hoch Der Kaiser!; Told by an Old Lag; Four Men in a Boat; Mr Tussleton and the Tiara; Editorial Chat; The Man Who Went Under; Her Marriage Lines; Gooseberries.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,200 · 27/5/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Sentenced to Broadmoor; I Take a Taxi;Cuckoo!; Making Photographic Plates; Are the Mormons Agapemonites?; Crowning Touches; Arcady on the Window-Sill; 60 Years of Song; When Monarchs Were Mites; Mister Brown on Summer; The Fall from Grace; A Cricket Causerie; The Sculpting of Richard; Dog in the Manger; Editorial Chat; The Modern Scribe; Boy Messenger to Prime Minister; Her Marriage Lines; 100 Words a Shilling; Concerning Gipsies; Variegated.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,149 · 3/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Derby Winners I Have Ridden; Plots for Picture Plays; 'Ware Pickpockets; Speed in Being; The Military Auction; Sentenced to Broadmoor; The Mystery Princess; Chosen for the County; Academy Pictures for Fowl-houses; Wedded at Westminster; Coronation Omens; Tragic Exits; Fighting an Alligator; Washing the World; The Treasure Trovers; A Holiday for Two; Editorial Chat; Grand Day in the Temple; Sweepstake Sweeps; Magic on the Skin; Her Marriage Lines; The USA Begs Pardon; June Jottings.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,202 · 10/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Making of Kings; Night Folk; Hints for Holiday Makers; Gossip; Guiding the Great; Holiday Fortunes; Sentenced to Broadmoor; Mister Brown on the Coronation; Sick Pay for All; Well Bowled, Sir!; Our Free Holiday; The Awakening of Starkie Bliss; Editorial Chat; The Scholars' Walk; The Pavement Critic; T.A's Decorations; Her Marriage Lines; Fortunes in Horse Flesh; Whit Wisdom.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,203 · 17/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; How I Fly; Long to Reign Over Us; Water Fairies; To One Sausage, £4,000!; 25 Years With Forest Kings; What the Soldier Said; Mister Brown on Holidays; When the Crush Comes; The Lineman; When There's One in Need; Sentenced to Broadmoor; Shall We Have a Real Summer?; Possibilities in Pictures; When Translators Trip; The Dulham Week; The Wonderful Jimmy; Editorial Chat; Other Boys in Blue; Beautiful for Ever; Her Marriage Lines; I Take Silk; Sea-Shells.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,204 · 24/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Our King!; My Life; Hints for the Day; An Elephant Drive; Terribly Torrid; Coronation Gossip; Regarding the Regalia; On the Moors; Barrack-Room Court-Martial; Curious Cures; Canary Wisdom; Justice in Jail; Dinner for the King; Do Be Careful!; Why We Rule the Waves; Chips and Chippers; Our Mixed Marathon; Fashion's Decrees; Editorial Chat; The Street-Door Manner; The Fancier; Her Marriage Lines; Camp Comicalities; Coronets.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,205 · 1/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; When Big Banks Break; Census Surprises; The Bat's Night; The Thunder's Roll; They Mustn't Advertise; Warm Weather Wisdom; Mister Brown on Exhibitions; Brains in Duplicate; 165 Runs = £165; The Frozen Face; Climbers - Beware!; How to Insure; The Outside Contributor; Concerning the Children; When Youngsters Grow Up; A Trip and a Tent; The Deputy; Editorial Chat; Purser, Please!; Mainly About Mummies; Her Marriage Lines; Rules of the Waves; Strawberries.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,206 · 8/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Things I Shall Never Forget; How's That, Sir?; Henley; Dwellers of the Cliffs; Running Race — Horse Trials; Marriage Made Easy; Whale Island; Other Scribes; Beach Blooms; The Wrong 'Un; Line Clear!; Punishing Tommy; Our Little Ways; Freak Appetites; 8 Hours by the Sea; I Emigrate; A Matter of Arrangement; Editorial Chat; At the Club; Lake-Land for 5/- a Day; Her Marriage Lines; Before We Part.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,207 · 15/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Things I Shall Never Forget; The Life on the Ocean Wave; Down in the World; Their Majesties and Ireland; Things They Said; Mister Brown on Weddings; About Your Fire Policy; When Towns Go Broke; Spirits of the Deep; My Life; Off to Queensland; Paying the Legal Piper; Seaside or Country? His Royal Highness; Parted; Codge's Holiday; Editorial Chat; Constable or Milkman?; Finding Folk Lore; Curious Calendars; Her Marriage Lines; Words of Court; Sunbeams.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,208 · 22/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Things I Shall Never Forget; Struck Off the Rolls; Bright Eyes of the Shades; Ornament Money; Is Life Getting Noisier?; Ploughing 25 Miles a Day; First Impressions of Queensland; Monopolies in the News; Trouble in the Mill; Scots Wha Hae; Royal Servants' Love Affairs; Throw Out the Life-Line!; All About the "Run Out"; My Lodgers; Innocents at Home; Jim's Rosie; Editorial Chat; Preparing for the Holiday; Fore!; Her Marriage Lines; Music Hall Robbery; Sun-Spots.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,209 · 29/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Things I Shall Never Forget; We Want Less!; Is Life Noisier?; Monarchs of the Air; I Try Menticulture; Mascots of T.A.; No Second Chance; The City of Sweetmakers; When Pythons are Peevish; Work and Wages in Queensland; Mister Brown on Summer Sales; The Trials of the Yachting Host; Sea-Fishing for All; Their Terrible Enemy; Jimson's Benefit; The Surprising Cousin; Editorial Chat; Queer Holiday Luggage; The First; Our Seaside Schemes; Her Marriage Lines; Where Women Win; Sea-Shells.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,210 · 5/8/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Where They Are Going; Something New in News; The Marred Holiday; Are we Advancing?; Royal Treasures; When the Germans Came to Queensland; Chat From Across the Sea; The Amateur Handyman; The Salmon's Home; Fortunes in Tips; Someone Had Blundered; Spooning Prohibited; When We Think Best; The Lure of the Loan Office; Opportunities for Workers; Our Trip; Jimmy's Rise; Editorial Chat; Things I Shall Never Forget; Our Seaside Schemes; Her Marriage Lines; M'Lud on Circuit; Grains of Sand.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,212 · 19/8/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Our Reporter; Farmer John's Worst Foe; Searching for Work; On the Hill; Lodger v. Landlady; In the Timber Country; Mister Brown on Bachelors; The Ration-Van; Dame Nature's Dispensary; Raised to the Peerage; The Gala days; The Great Illusion; Order! Order!; The Special; Obesity Set at Defiance; A Bid for Fame; Miss Radnor's Friends; Editorial Chat; Feeding a Warship's Furnaces; How Workers can Increase Earnings; Her Marriage Lines; Seasise or Country; Wavelets.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,213 · 26/8/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Great Illusion; Figures of Football; Pauperised by Presents; Winning on Points; Recreations for Writers; The Market for Picture Plays; Life-saving for Swimmers; The Science of the Skies; Are Motors a Curse?; How they Got Their Fame; Fruit Farming in Queensland; What Crime Costs Us; The Lure of the Leafy Lane; Our Seaside Schemes; In Warsaw During the Terror; Beauty in Jeopardy; A Holiday Deal; The Butt of the Boarding House; Editorial Chat; Where Rudeness Rules; In the Witness Box; Perils of the Practitioner; Her Marriage Lines; Is the Anglo-Saxon Race Decaying?; The Blackmailer's Bite; Without Amendments.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,215 · 9/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Bombardier and the Massa; Fun in the Football Crowd; When Music Doesn't Charm; Fearless; Blister, Sir!; The Life Story of an Adventurer; Is Woman Weaker?; The Chanter? Great Snakes!; The Lighter Side; Seaside or Gasworks?; Mister Brown on Strikes; News That is Never Known; My Half-Time Days; Guarding Our Secrets; My Motor Boat; Accidents Will Happen; Editorial Chat; Among the Sheep; The Tragedy of Errors; Rich and Poor; My Jubilee; The Trials of the Iron Road.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,216 · 16/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; A Soldier of Fortune; Mind How You Fall; The Flood Folk; Nature's Danger Signals; UC's of Industry; Why Mother Never Knew; When Fowls Fail; Hammered; The Night Storm; Letters to my Son; Worrying His Worship; The Army Bandmaster; Money in Manners; A Newspaper Man's Trials; Harbottle the Handsome; The Picture Postcard; Editorial Chat; The Durbar; The Man in the Box; Rich and Poor; Shackled Soccer Players; Among the New Chums; Corner-Kicks.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,217 · 23/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; The Malingerer; From War to Football; Actors Without Words; The Haunted House; Friends of Weary Willie; Luxury and Poverty; Seconds Out of the Ring; When Distance Divided; Freak Farms; Midshipman H.R.H.; Everyone hates Them; Mister Brown on Housekeeping; Manners and Masons; The Magic North; I Tramp; The Signalman; On Being One's Own Master; Ticket Suspended; The Silly Picture Palace; Merit in Muddy Water; Editorial Chat; Rich and Poor; A Railway Black Museum; Moving Matters; An Awful Time; Clock Ticks.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,218 · 30/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; In Earth's Odd Places; Poor Little Millionaires!; The Last Swallow; The Boxing Referee; Amazing Advertisements; Honesty in the Mill; After You, Mr Yellowplush!; The Pedlar; Still Waiting!; With Strikers in Queensland; Staging 2,000 People; Of Various Uncles; Lost!; What Are Cimmers & Threaves?; I Pose; Miriam's Ma; Mutual Benefits; Editorial Chat; Play Up, Peeping Toms!; Good Dog, Then!; The Smallholder's Chances; Rich and Poor; Our Everyday Risks; Kings That Might Have Been; On Keeping Fit; Postman's Knocks.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,219 · 7/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Au Revoir to Queensland; My First Day's Shooting; Clothing the Rich; A Tale of a Cut; When Tommy Sales Away; Up Again; How Flying Pays; The Red First; The Extravagant Engaged; Zxopphizoshtski!; Oh, the Weather! What a Photo Did; The Man with the Towel; The Divine Sarah; I Spy!; A Fly in the Web; More About Menti-culture; Nice but Nasty! Perilous Props; Chat From Across the seas; Editorial Chat; Bits From Far Back; Rich and Poor.
Notes: "Come at once. Cardmere Castle. Baffled. — CLANCY." Thus reads the telegram Sexton Blake receives from Detective Inspector Clancy. Arriving at the castle, he is told the facts by the policeman. Last Thursday Lord Cardmere had breakfasted with his wife and nephew. They ate the same dishes and drank the same coffee. Afterward, Cardmere went to his study and worked through the morning. By lunchtime he was found dead. The coroner reports that he was killed by alkaline poisoning. After searching the scene of the crime, Blake, accompanied by Clancy and Marden Cardsmere (the nephew), drives to Cardmere's solicitor to examine the man's will. After Lady Cardmere, Marden is the principle beneficiary. Next, Blake visits a newspaper shop to which someone called Henry Wingate has his letters delivered. This leads him to a seedy boarding house in which an ex-servant of the murder victim lies in an opium-induced trance. Blake, with assistance from Marden, collars the murderers and explains who they are and the cunning technique they used to poison Lord Cardmere.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,220 · 14/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Q.A.I.M.N.S.; The Last Feast; Our Special Buyer; Be a Central Gazer; H.M.'s Inspector of Palaces; A Babe in Business; Mister Brown on Children; Mohair Laces, 1d a Pair!; The Strenuous Comedian; Our London Letter; Lapsus Linguae; Concerning the Cracksman; The Canine Bookie; The Changed Dinner; Where Do Birds Die?; The Colonies at Home; Hercules Harbottle; When the Current Failed; Editorial Chat; Drinking Typhoid Fever; Rich and Poor; More About Menti-Culture; Reformed or — ?; Small Holdings.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,221 · 21/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Plots and Counterplots; Out, Collision Mats!; Knights of the Stick; We Change; The Train Tapper; Up We Go! Down We Go!; The Window Cleaner Talks; Wars That Will Come; Among the Cannibals; Are Shop-Assistants Slackers?; Why He Proposed; Natural Causes, Or — ?; Present day Pluck; Aye, Aye, Blow the Man Down; The Palace Built of Windows; To Save £13,000,000; My Opera; A Man of Business; True Bill; The Shrew; I'm Sergeant Snip; On Leaving Home; Editorial Chat; The First Fog; Rich and Poor; The Wonder Wheel of Wax; From Popular Science.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,222 · 28/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Overtime at the F.O.; When Wild Winds Blow; The Last Act; Mr Thomas A. Requests the Pleasure; Bunny; Mister Brown on Neighbours; The British Navvy; Those Winter Furs; Down Again; On Wireless Watch; Ordered South; Blackmail by Snapshot; Changing Sentences; Physicking Fishes; Does Marriage Kill Ambition?; When Life is Grey; Nicely, Harbottle!; A Rise in Flaxmans; Editorial Chat; A Cup of Sandow; The Wedding; Peculiar Accidents; Rich and Poor; Are You Thinking of Emigrating?; Nutshell Knowledge.
Notes: This shares the same title as the story in ANSWERS issue 1,113 (1909) but is a different yarn.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,224 · 11/11/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; Ducks and Drakes; Ha, Ha!; The Mayor's Nest; Yo-icks!; An Emigrant in the Argentine; Folk Who Want £400; The Spoiled Cut; Hare-Brained; My Longest Moment; He Never Tells; Our Skin Never Wears Out; The Pantechnoplane; A Surprise Visit; Editorial Chat; Unpopular Prisoners; Hard Labour; To One Bulb - £5,000; The Sting of the Sea; No Words Wasted.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
ANSWERS WEEKLY · Issue 1,231 · 30/12/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Storyettes; No Confidence! The Queen-Mother's Shopping; Grinding the Lightning; Model Memories; Kitchen Riches; Workshop Merchants; David v. Goliath; My Life; Do Six Months For You, Sir?; The Witty Censor; A World Without Women; The Merry Little Motor; Logged; Games to Play; Why Apple-Sauce With Goose; Eyes and no Eyes; Left Behind; The Successful Business Woman; To Detect Bad Money; Our Raffle; The Mysterious Notes; What Are Trumps?; The New Young Man; Rats!; Editorial Chat; Ducks and Drakes; Mince Pies.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 500 · 7/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Val Reading
Other content: Chris of the Camera by Malcolm Dayle; Doings of the Month; Your Editor's Den; The Lads of London by Andrew Gray; The New Broom by Maxwell Scott; The Aeroplane Wreckers by Martin Shaw; Soldiers of Fortune by Stanley Portal Hyatt.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 501 · 14/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Val Reading
Other content: The New Broom by Maxwell Scott; Your Editor's Den; The Terror of the Dormitory by Anon.; Soldiers of Fortune by Stanley Portal Hyatt; Chris of the Camera by Malcolm Dayle; True Grit Tells by Captain Angus Macpherson.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 502 · 21/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Val Reading
Other content: The New Broom by Maxwell Scott; Your Editor's Den; In Peril on the Ice by Anon.; Soldiers of Fortune by Stanley Portal Hyatt; Lost in the Hebrides by Fred W. Young; Chris of the Camera by Malcolm Dayle.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 503 · 28/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Val Reading
Other content: The New Broom by Maxwell Scott; Your Editor's Den; The Shotley Champion by Anon.; Chris of the Camera by Malcolm Dayle; Soldiers of Fortune by Stanley Portal Hyatt; All At Sea by Anon.
Notes: None at present.
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 537 · 23/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 538 · 30/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 539 · 7/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 540 · 14/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 541 · 21/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 542 · 28/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 543 · 4/11/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 544 · 11/11/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 545 · 18/11/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 546 · 25/11/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 547 · 2/12/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 548 · 9/12/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 549 · 16/12/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 550 · 23/12/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Unknown
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND · Issue 551 · 30/12/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: T. W. Holmes
Other content: The Star Turn by Claude Heathcote; The Reason Why! (article); Your Editor's Den (ed.); The Pitfalls of London by Andrew Gray; Home for the Holidays by S. Clarke Hook; Irish Emigrant by Herbert Ford; The Ghost Ship by Sidney Drew.
Notes: An abridged version of this serial appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY issue 229 (1913).
Unrated
THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY · Issue 165 · Aug. 1911 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: G. M. Dodshon
Other content: None
Notes: A terrible feud breaks out between two aristocrats, Julian Cardew and Lord Brackenmere. It culminates in the apparently accidental death of the latter's baby son. Sixteen years later, Sexton Blake and Tinker are on a cycling holiday in Cornwall when they stumble upon a murder scene. The victim was once employed by Brackenmere as a nanny. She had been on her way to speak to him about something when she was struck down. With her dying breath, she utters the words "Alive! Alive!". Brackenmere comes to the conclusion that his son never died and commissions Blake to find him. Julian Cardew, who lives in East Anglia on the other side of the country, denies that he ever arranged the kidnapping of Brackenmere's son. Blake believes that he's lying and is being blackmailed by the man he originally hired to carry out the kidnapping. The finger of suspicion points at the deceased nurse's husband, Ralph Fenton. While trying to trace this man, the detective survives umpteen attempts on his life: he is lured into a deadly marsh; thrown out of a moving train as it crosses a bridge; gassed; and attacked by a knifeman as he sleeps in his bed. Tinker discovers that the boy — Harry Bevan — is currently in Paris where, Blake suspects, he is to be corrupted by Cardew's machinations. After being shot at and surviving a shipwreck, Blake crosses the channel with Tinker and Pedro to search for Harry. They find him just in time to help him escape the trap that's been set. Fenton murders Julian Cardew before being brought to justice by the detective.
Rating: ★★★★☆ This is a gripping, action-packed adventure with all the ingredients that make the Blake saga so enjoyable. The detective and his assistant are in top form, Pedro does his bit, and there's even the obligatory (for this period) dollop of romance thrown in as well. Splendid stuff!
THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY · Issue 177 · Dec. 1911 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: H. M. Lewis
Other content: None
Notes: This is an abridged reprint of a serial that appeared in THE BOYS' HERALD from issue 298 to 313 (1909).
Unrated
THE MAGNET LIBRARY · Issue 189 · 23/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: Sent to Coventry by Frank Richards; Beyond the Eternal Ice by Sydney Drew.
Notes: This serial was continued in THE BOYS' FRIEND (part 1 was also published in that paper).
Unrated
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 606 · 7/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Sexton Blake and his friend Bathurst are spending the weekend with the latter's rich aunt at her mansion in Wiltshire. On their way to play golf, they see a small crowd gathered outside a house that is guarded by two policemen. They stop and speak to Jenkins of Scotland Yard who informs the detective that Daykin Travers, a rich eccentric, has been killed on the nearby railway line. The body was found at the mouth of the Great Bridge Tunnel. But there's something strange about the case ... Travers' boots are clean, so how did he get from the house and along the muddy path to the railway? Also, the tracks run through a very deep cutting that is protected by a high spiked fence at the top. So how did he reach the rails? Even more mysteriously, the train thought to have hit the man has no bloodstains on the wheels. Bathurst agrees to take a note from Jenkins to the police station at Salisbury and leaves Blake at the house to investigate. Nothing appears to have been removed from the premises and there are no apparent motives for murder but Blake finds evidence that Travers received an unexpected visitor during the night. He also discovers that, despite appearances, a considerable sum of money has gone missing. A row of dilapidated cottages behind the house provide the next clue: in one, an upper floor window is surprisingly clean. From it, the study in which Travers' kept his safe can be watched. The detective makes inquiries and learns that an old man had rented the room, leaving the day before the "accident." He deduces that this is the same man who'd visited Travers last night. A poker in the fireplace, strangely free of dust, tells more of the story: the visitor used it as a murder weapon. After bludgeoning Tracers to death, he carried the body to his car, cleaned up the house, removed the money from the safe, and drove to the Great Bridge Tunnel. Blake now follows in his tracks, driven by Bathurst who has returned from his errand. The detective tells his friend that the evidence points to one man: Marston Hume. In a railway siding at a goods yard, Blake finds what he was looking for: a train waggon covered with a tarpaulin that is splashed with blood. Hume had tipped the body off the bridge and onto the train. It was dislodged as the vehicle exited the tunnel at the other end. Blake calls Scotland Yard and a search for Hume begins. He is found in a south coast hotel. Blake heads there for their final confrontation.
Trivia: This was anthologised in THE CASEBOOK OF SEXTON BLAKE (2009).
Rating: ★★★★★ A truly excellent tale with Blake in full investigative mode, seeing clues others have missed and building a picture of the crime bit by bit.
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 607 · 14/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Sexton Blake and Bathurst arrive at the Quay Hotel with two Scotland Yard officials. They examine Marston Hume's car and find evidence connecting it to the Great Tunnel Bridge murder (see previous issue, above). Blake then interviews Hume, who is being held in the manager's office by two constables. The detective lays out his case against the renegade lawyer, with the latter explaining away every point. However, when Blake produces one of the dead man's collar studs, which he discovered on the floor of Hume's car, it finally seems that the game is up. The villain appears to suffer a fit, frothing out the mouth and falling into a state of complete paralysis. A hotel guest who is also a doctor is called and, after checking the stricken man, he rushes back to his room for drugs. Suspicious, Blake follows him and, while the medical man returns to Hume, sneaks a look inside his room. What he sees convinces him that the doctor isn't genuine. He races back to the manager's office where he finds his worst suspicions fulfilled: the man has helped Hume to escape. Blake and Bathurst give chase in their car and finally catch up with Hume's vehicle on the seafront. The villain makes a run for it but Blake tackles him and they fight on the brink of a cliff. The struggle ends when Hume puts a bullet through the detective's arm and they both topple over the edge. Blake's fall is broken by an outcropping of chalk. Marston Hume fares less well and plummets to his death. His body is carried out to sea by the tide.
Trivia: This was anthologised in THE CASEBOOK OF SEXTON BLAKE (2009).
Rating: ★★★★☆ An action-packed end to the saga.
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 608 · 21/1/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: A writer and illustrator named Morton Wakefield has been found dead in a Cornish tin mine. It is a presumed suicide. Bathurst doesn't believe this and asks Sexton Blake to look into the case. Wakefield had gone for a walk on the moors with his friend, Dr. Haley. The doctor had been called back to the village to see a patient — but found that the man had recovered and left the inn where he'd been staying. Wakefield was later discovered dead at the bottom of a pit. He'd left a suicide note. Blake and Bathurst travel to Cornwall and interview Dr. Haley. They learn that the messenger who recalled the doctor to the village cannot be identified or traced. The dead man's watch, they are informed, was broken when he fell and stopped, showing the exact time of death. Blake examines the timepiece and other items of evidence then sets off for a walk to the scene of death. There, he finds the last clue needed to prove that Wakefield was actually murdered. The note, he tells Bathurst loudly, was never intended as a suicide note but was a part of Wakefield's next novel. As the detective suspects, his exposure of the crime is being listened to by the culprit. That person now springs into sight, curses Blake, and throws himself into the pit, preferring suicide to a trial for murder.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 611 · 11/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Sexton Blake and Bathurst are aboard a train when it crashes. While helping with the rescue effort, the detective notices a man standing motionlessly, staring at a burning carriage. He claims that his aunt is in there — though by now she must be dead and burnt beyond recognition. Hours later, when the heat of the blaze has died down, a charred body is found and with it a small heap of jewels, which the man identifies as his aunt's. Blake, however, notices an inconsistency in the man's statement about the jewels. The next day, at an inn, Blake slips a sleeping-draught to the man — whose name is Johnson — and waits for him to fall asleep in his room. Meanwhile, he outlines to Bathurst the evidence which he believes indicates that the body on the train wasn't Johnson's aunt, and that the man has murdered his relative. Blake searches Johnson's personal effects, which lead him to a house where he finds the proof that Johnson killed his aunt and dissolved her body in a bath of acid.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 613 · 25/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Blake and Bathurst are relaxing at the Baddeley Club when a fellow member named Richard Ponders barges in. He's in a terrible temper having argued with his father who's refused to loan him money to purchase a doctor's practice. The next morning, Bathurst reports to Blake that Ponders is on the run having been accused of murdering his father in Carven Wood, close to his home. There is a great weight of circumstantial evidence against the young man, not the least of which being that he was capable of running the distance required to catch the train that would otherwise provide an alibi. Ponders turns up at Blake's place pleading for help. The detective promises to do what he can and travels to the wood where he finds Inspector James investigating. Blake learns that Mrs Ponders, the accused's mother, had on the day of the murder welcomed an unexpected shooting party into her home, Carven Hall. His further investigations lead to an inescapable conclusion ... it was she who had murdered her husband! He then presents a plethora of evidence to support his assertion ... principal among them being the behaviour of a motor car as it climbed a hill. The woman is duly arrested.
Trivia: This is reminiscent of an Agatha Christie mystery robbed of all its red herrings and motives. It cheats by refusing to offer the reader any clues. Basically, Blake presents evidence that has not at any point been previously mentioned. From a reader's perspective, that's a foul!
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 614 · 4/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Blake and Bathurst are dining with friends at Ensdon Hall when the butler brings news that a car has gone into a ditch at the bottom of a nearby hill. The men rush to the scene and find the driver and his passenger both dead. However, Blake spots that the latter had been crawling out of the wreck when he was murdered by a blow to the head. A motorcyclist arrives and proves to be the local bank manager, Trafford. The car had been transporting money. He opens a safe between its back seats and finds that two bags of gold have been stolen. The culprit, he claims, must be the owner of a car that has been seen frequently in recent days parked opposite the bank. Obviously, the place was under observation. This car is traced and the murder weapon is found in it. The owner is arrested. Blake, however, declares him not guilty. He discovers that the crash was caused by a length of wire stretched across the road, and various other clues and facts about the matter point him to the true perpetrator. It turns out that Blake had been investigating this individual for some considerable time and that the other man — now proved innocent — had been planted by the detective to keep the real crook off his guard.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 615 · 11/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Bathurst summons Blake to the remote Suffolk town of Merlingford, where he has been pike fishing. He's been staying at the Angler’s Rest and while there befriended a rather solitary fellow guest named Evan Standish. Early one morning, Bathurst had been shaving and through the bathroom window could see Standish sitting on a bridge and fishing from the river beside the inn. Between his glances, Standish went from sitting to sprawling. He’d been murdered but there had been no one else in sight. Death was due to a blow to the head, leaving a long gash curving around the skull ... but how was it delivered, and by whom? Blake arrives, investigates, discovers some interesting details about the dead man's past, and is able to identify the killer and his unique murder weapon.
Trivia: Blake’s manservant Morrison makes an appearance..
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 616 · 18/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Two years ago, when Lady Molly Maxwell married, she released her companion, Miss Finchett, from her duties and gave her a parting payment with which Finchett purchased a little cottage. Six months ago, an elderly gentleman asked to rent the place, and upon her refusal, offered to buy it at twice the sum she had paid. Again, she refused. Visiting Sexton Blake, she reveals that when the property was being built, a tramp had been discovered dead inside it, and since the prospective buyer’s visit, she has been hearing ghostly noises every night, and her housekeeper has died, apparently of fright. The buyer tried again, disguised as another man, but she saw through the make-up, sent him packing, and purchased a guard dog. When Lady Molly visited, she observed that the cottage abutted the back of a bank and would be the perfect place from which to break in. Now, Finchett’s dog has been killed, and she has come to Blake for help. He promises to visit the next day, but in the morning, Finchett is discovered murdered. With Bathurst, the detective visits the crime scene. The clues suggest not an intended bank raid, but that the proceeds of a two-year-old robbery were hidden in the cottage, and have now been retrieved. From this, it is short work for Blake to identify the killer and successfully track him down.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 617 · 25/3/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Bathurst draws Sexton Blake’s attention to the personal column in a newspaper in which, each day, more and more money is demanded of Joseph Davis, with a diminishing deadline. Davis writes to Blake requesting his help but the deadline has already passed, and Davis disappears. A cabbie calls on the detective and describes how a man, assisting an apparent drunk, hired him to drive them to the train station, there to catch a Brighton-bound train. A bloodstained handkerchief was left in the cab, Davis’s initials on its corner. Blake traces the two men to a deserted windmill, but there, he and Bathurst fall into a trap. The detective realises that Anarchists have got him out of the way, and now intend to disrupt the coronation of King George V. It takes the pair the whole night to escape, then they race to London, and as the King’s procession moves through the streets, manage to prevent the bomber’s attempt at assassination. It comes at a cost, Blake and Bathurst end up “swathed in bandages in a private nursing home.”
Trivia: Blake’s manservant, Morrison, receives a mention.
Rating: ★★★★★ One of the more clever and exciting of the PENNY PICTORIAL shorts, made all the more so by its relation to real events.
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 620 · 15/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Sexton Blake discusses a trial with Bathurst and two barristers. A petty thief has been convicted of a savage murder. The evidence weighs heavily against him, and his own story does not hold water … or does it? After piecing together the evidence, Blake uncovers a very different picture. He sets a snare, and the real killer walks right into it.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 621 · 22/4/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Rosa Carson’s lover, Markwell Davis, is brutally murdered by her uncle, William Henshaw. Blake and Bathurst set out to investigate. The case against Henshaw appears solid, but to Blake, the evidence does not add up. Piece by piece, he dismantles it, then rebuilds the case based on new clues, which he himself discovers. Henshaw is proven innocent. The guilty party, in attempting to escape, dies a nasty death.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Blake demonstrates excellent skills of investigation and deduction in this yarn.
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 626 · 27/5/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: This was reprinted in THE POPULAR issue 435 as THE STOLEN TIE PIN (1927).
Unrated
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 627 · 3/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: Blake and Bathurst are attending a party at a country manor in Wharton when the child of a neighbour is kidnapped by members of the Black Hand, the Italian extortion gang. Though the girl was removed by car, Blake is able to follow clues and deduce the route taken. It leads to a long-unoccupied country house, and there, he finds the car but not the gang. Leaving Bathurst, the detective returns to his chambers at Messenger Square, then visits an unoccupied office off Victoria Street. After spending some hours inside it, he travels back to Wharton. At an isolated red-brick house, he pulls a gun on the occupant, whom he addresses as Mr. Hunston. Blake produces evidence, gained from the office, that Hunston has been committing crimes of extortion in the name of the Black Hand, though he is not a member of that criminal organisation. The detective wonders what revenge would be wreaked should the gang discover what Hunston has been doing. Hunston returns the child. While Blake is returning the girl to her grateful parents, and explaining how he identified the culprit, the Black Hand murders Hunston.
Trivia: This was reprinted in THE POPULAR issue 436 as THE BLACK HAND (1927).
Rating: ★★★☆☆
THE PENNY PICTORIAL · Issue 644 · 30/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: R. J. MacDonald
Other content: Unknown
Notes: This was reprinted in THE POPULAR issue 448 as THE THREE SOVEREIGNS (1927).
Unrated
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 382 · 4/2/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: My copy is missing the cover. Sexton Blake, Chief-inspector Martin and the now retired Will Spearing catch red-handed a safe-cracker named Flash Smith. As he is led away, the thief taunts Blake over an unsolved case — the theft of the Melton diamonds three years ago; which at the time had been attributed to George Marsden Plummer and John Marsh. After a note from Plummer is found on Smith, the Home Secretary asks Blake to investigate the security of Bleakmoor Prison. The detective arranges for himself and Spearing, in disguise, to be hired as new warders. He quickly discovers that Gustav is staying in a nearby village and is using a dog to shuttle messages back and forth when the prisoners are in the quarries. Still in disguise, he ingratiates himself with Gustav and offers to help the men escape. His real intention is to let them inadvertently lead him to the Melton diamonds. However, Blake miscalculates and the two criminals, with Gustav, give him the slip. The Home Secretary threatens Blake with arrest for his unauthorised part in their escape and gives him just seven days to recapture them. Blake and Spearing track the pair to London and, en route, learn that Flash Smith has also broken out of prison. Smith is recaptured on the road to Dover, which provides the detectives with a clue to Plummer and Marsh's ultimate destination. The trail leads to St. Margaret's, just along the coast from the port, and to a house where Marsh's wife, who is sick, resides. Blake notices the two criminals in the region, both heavily disguised, but before he can intercept them, they kidnap Tinker. While he is tied up, the lad overhears their plans. He manages to slip free of his bindings and escapes. When he recounts the plans to Blake, the detective realises that it's a red herring — Tinker was allowed to escape. Deducing the criminals' real intentions, Blake sets a trap and captures them as they retrieve the diamonds.
Trivia: At the end of the previous Plummer story — THE COTTON 'CORNER' — Plummer and Marsh were sent to Starkmoor Prison. At the start of this story, they are in Bleakmoor.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ After G. H. Teed's masterly 'ghosting' for Michael Storm, the handover of Plummer to Norman Goddard comes as a shock to the system. His style simply doesn't live up to that of his predecessors and, though Plummer remains his psychotic self, the plot suffers when compared those that went before. Also, the idea that Blake would willingly allow two of his greatest foes to escape from prison is too much to swallow.
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 401 · 17/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: H. M. Lewis
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: My copy is missing the cover. John Marsh and George Marsden Plummer are on the run after escaping, once again, from prison (we are not told how this was achieved). They hatch a plan whereby a Scotland Yard man, Detective-Inspector Logan, is kidnapped and replaced by Plummer in disguise. In this role, he visits Sexton Blake and asks him to accompany him to Lord Minter's mansion for a party celebrating the engagement of the host's daughter, which he has been ordered to attend as security. There, while the lights are off during a seance by an Indian mystic, the women's jewellery is stolen. While everyone is distracted by this, the wedding gifts vanish. The following day Plummer plants evidence on the Indian and has him arrested. Meanwhile, Will Spearing, whose wife is friends with Logan's fiancé, tells Blake that Logan has mysteriously cancelled their engagement. This provides the clue that leads to Blake realising that Logan must have been responsible for the robbery at the manor. He confronts him and is shot at. The bogus policeman escapes, leaving his false beard behind. Blake realises that Logan had been Plummer in disguise. Spearing follows a clue that leads to the real Logan, who is rescued — but Blake deduces that it's a double-bluff; the rescued man is Plummer in disguise again. After nearly catching Marsh in a thrilling train chase, Blake works out that the criminals are going to attempt to steal the jewels of a visiting Rajah. He impersonates the intended victim and attends a party with the jewels. Plummer, as Logan, chloroforms him (but the detective holds his breath and acts unconscious) and lets Marsh, who is also disguised as the Rajah, in through the window. Marsh dresses in the jewels and the two men attempt to leave. However, Blake and the real Logan, who has been freed by Spearing, confront them and place them under arrest. Gustav, their servant, is also caught and all three men are sent to Bleakmoor Prison.
Trivia: John Marsh's wife is named Julia Marsh. Will Spearing is married and lives in a house named Westminster Lodge on Denmark Hill. This story marks the first appearance of Assistant-Commissioner Sir John Fairfax. There appears to be a missing story between UNION JACK 382 THE MYSTERY OF BLEAKMOOR PRISON and this one. The current tale mentions that Marsh and Plummer 'escaped punishment' for their last crime but Blake had denied them its proceeds, thus their state of poverty at the start of this issue. I can find no trace of a story in which such events occur — perhaps there never was one?
Rating: ★★★★★
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 402 · 24/6/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: E. E. Briscoe
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: My copy is missing the cover. Coronation special issue (King George V).
Unrated
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 404 · 8/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: T. W. Holmes
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: My copy is missing the cover. Fighting breaks out between Lobangu's Etbaia tribe and the neighbouring Askari who are led by Hassan — the brother of the White Death (see the first ever Losely tale — THE SLAVE MARKET Union Jack issue 171, 1907) — and a rogue Belgian named Franz Steiner. The Askari win the battle and take hostages, including Lobangu's brother, N'Kobe, and a girl known as Kala the Rose. With Sir Richard Losely recalled to England, Lobangu has no choice but to ask his replacement, Sir Henry Marsden, for aid. The request is refused. Lobangu responds by informing Marsden that his authority will no longer be recognised. The giant chief prays that Losely, Sexton Blake and Tinker will come to his assistance. It works: miles away, all three feel a sudden urge to visit their old friend. They set sail and arrive in time to intercept a letter from Lobangu from which they learn that he is gathering his scattered men for a suicidal attack against the Askari. After joining him, they suggest a better plan. They will divide his army into two parties: a small team headed by Blake, Tinker, Losely and Lobangu will cross the mountains to raid the Askari camp while the greater force of soldiers provide a diversion. The scheme succeeds and with N'Kobe and Kala rescued, Blake's team race to outrun pursuing Askari scouts. After being cornered in a ravine, they fight a pitched battle, barely escaping with their lives. Ultimately, though, they triumph and escape to rejoin with the main Etbaia forces. Now the two armies engage and, though they are outnumbered five to one, the Etbaian tactics win the day. Hassan is killed, Steiner is captured, and the Askaris surrender. Finally, the British government recalls Sir Henry Marsden and reinstates Losely as Governor.
Trivia: Three months ago Blake's doctors advised him to take a holiday. Losely observes that if he doesn't do so, he is in danger of suffering a breakdown. Warnings such as this pop up frequently in the Blake saga.
Rating: ★★★★☆
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 406 · 22/7/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: T. W. Holmes
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: After a misunderstanding and under the influence of a bad set of 'friends', Tinker throws a bad-tempered fit and resigns from Sexton Blake's service. He is persuaded by one of the friends, Major Slott, to invest in a new hotel: Deadwater House. He does so but when he goes to examine the property he finds that it's a total wreck, located in a remote region, and inhabited by gypsies. Meanwhile, Sexton Blake learns from a teacher named Barraclough that a boy — Prince Silhad Singh, heir to the Rajaship of Noorpur — recently lost a lucky talisman and has turned to a medium named Professor Mondah for advice concerning its recovery. Barraclough, suspecting foul play from the boy's uncle, asks the detective to investigate. That same night, Barraclough is attacked and disabled long enough to stop him accompanying Singh on his visit to the medium. So Blake, leaving Mrs Bardell to nurse the stricken teacher, impersonates him and goes in his stead. It is fortunate that he does so, for Mondah plainly intends to terrify the boy into committing suicide. An Indian girl aids Blake and Singh's escape and, for the moment, it seems that the boy is safe. A month later finds Tinker still being hoodwinked by Major Slott & Co. Deadwater House has been tidied up and Slott is living there at Tinker's expense. On a more positive note, though, the first paying guest arrives: the Jammu of Noorpur — Singh's uncle — who brings with him an entourage that includes an elephant, a sacred cow and a man Sexton Blake would have recognised as Professor Mondah. Tinker quickly learns that the Jammu is keeping Singh a prisoner on the upper floor of the hotel and within minutes of him gaining this knowledge the premises is raided by the police, led by Sexton Blake. The Indian guests are taken into custody. Blake explains that they had been plotting to make Singh take his own life so that the Jammu's son could accede to the throne of Noorpur — and they were aided in this plan by Major Slott and his friends. Crestfallen and broke, Tinker returns to Baker Street and to Sexton Blake's service.
Trivia: My copy is missing the cover. It is stated in this story that Blake's apartments are on Baker Street West.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 410 · 19/8/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: T. W. Holmes
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: My copy is missing the cover. Laban Creed is helped to escape from prison by his daughter, Michael Pulsk and an Indian servant. A year later, two burglars steal a part of a private art collection but fail to take the most valuable item — the Yoshiga vase. The shock of the robbery kills the owner and the remainder of his collection is put up for auction. Just as the vase is about to be sold for £71,000, Sexton Blake announces that it is a fake ... the thieves didn't miss it at all; they simply replaced it with a forgery. The clues point to a New York-based art dealer named Daniel Strangway, so Blake and Tinker set sail for America. En route, the detective is nearly killed by Strangway's assistant, Conrad Jaeger, who fools him by disguising himself as Inspector Widgeon. Further problems are encountered at the voyage's end, when Blake and Tinker are set upon by hired thugs. Fenlock Fawn comes to their rescue and gives them a place in which to stay for the remainder of their visit. Sexton Blake discovers that a second copy of the vase has been used to trick a millionaire into handing over money to Strangway. The detective, with Fenlock Fawn, arrests the crooked dealer but can find no hard evidence against him. Nevertheless, Strangway is placed into police custody pending a charge. During a visit to a theatre, Sexton Blake is shot at. Tinker follows the gunman — who turns out to be Conrad Jaeger — to the train station and overhears him buy a ticket to Pasadena. Blake uses Pedro to track the villain from the Pasadena station to a remote house. Jaeger attacks but is prevented from killing Blake by the sudden appearance of Miss Creed. The detective realises that Jaeger is, in fact, Michael Pulsk and that Strangway is Laban Creed. The genuine Yoshiga vase is recovered from the premises, providing the needed evidence against Creed. The criminals are imprisoned, though Blake, as a favour to Creed's daughter, doesn't reveal Strangway's true name to the authorities.
Trivia: As he has done before, Sexton Blake dons a chainmail undershirt to ward off attacks.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 414 · 16/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: Unknown
Other content: None
Notes: My copy is missing its cover.
Unrated
Illustrator: T. W. Holmes
Notes: The serial, TINKER'S SCHOOLDAYS, was continued in THE BOYS' FRIEND.
Unrated
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 416 · 30/9/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: H. M. Lewis
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: After being picked out in an identity parade, one of Tinker's friends is accused of a murder he didn't commit. Blake investigates and discovers that the murdered man, far from being the middle-class Englishman he appeared, was in fact a Mexican who'd escaped to England after being threatened by revolutionaries. The trail leads Blake and Tinker to South America where they gather evidence and help to thwart an uprising. Returning to England (and voicing some heartfelt patriotism at the sight of the White Cliffs of Dover), Blake sets off in pursuit of the man he has now identified as the killer. Unfortunately, just as he's closing in on the villain, the detective is hit by a car and badly injured. Of course, this isn't enough to stop him and, after a train chase, he collars the criminal. Making an impassioned speech in court (we learn that Blake is a qualified barrister), he secures the freedom of Tinker's friend who, in true Victorian/Edwardian style, ends up married to the murdered man's widow.
Trivia: Tinker still calls Blake "Mr. Blake" rather than "guv'nor" at this stage in their partnership; but most interesting of all, a throwaway line reveals that Sexton Blake has a moustache which doesn't seem to be a disguise!
My copy is missing the cover. This story was featured in the 1976 compilation SEXTON BLAKE'S EARLY CASES.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ This story is too long for its own good; a rambling yarn with a totally unnecessary middle section set in Mexico. In fact, it feels like two stories cobbled together and padded out.
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 420 · 28/10/1911 · Amalgamated Press · 1d
Illustrator: T. W. Holmes
Other content: The School Against Him by Henry St. John
Notes: A criminal named Gideon Preece is sentenced to fifteen years after being caught by Sexton Blake. In the dock, he vows to revenge himself on the detective. Five years later, young Reginald Grayson refuses his uncle's demand to become a doctor. Sir Digby Mellor is researching the causes of cancer and wants his nephew to continue the work. Reginald, though, is happy in his job as a lawyer and is soon to marry his sweetheart. By defying his uncles wishes, he will lose his inheritance but he considers this a price worth paying. Sexton Blake arrives in Barrowdown, Berkshire, as one of Sir Digby's guests. He is met by his host's young groom, Harry Heslop, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Tinker. Heslop also bears a grudge against Sir Digby, who has given him one month's notice. At the gathering, where Sir Digby intends to reveal a breakthrough in his research, Blake meets Professor Calcraft, General Rangerton, and Reginald. When Sir Digby is murdered, all these men become suspects. Rangerton suspects Calcraft; Calcraft suspects Reginald; Reginald suspects Jem Hawkes, a local poacher; and Inspector Weekes of the local police suspects Heslop, who has mysteriously vanished. Blake sends for Tinker. They pick up Heslop's trail and follow it, realising that the young groom had been skulking in the grounds and must have witnessed the murder before being kidnapped by the killer. When Blake learns that Gideon Preece has escaped from prison, he concludes that Preece is behind the crime and must have captured Heslop after mistaking him for Tinker. Preece lures the detective to the south coast and traps him in a martello tower which has been adapted to flood at high tide. With Tinker tricked into going to London to fetch Pedro, Blake finds himself imprisoned and close to drowning. Twenty-four hours later, Tinker learns that he has been tricked and searches for his master, finding him in a near-death condition. After being rescued and making a recovery, the detective visits one of Preece's old haunts in London and finds there the criminal's confederate, Punch Milkins, guarding Harry Heslop. Milkins tells Blake that Preece is aboard a boat and fleeing to Holland. Blake gives chase in a Royal Navy torpedo destroyer and captures the criminal. Preece is ultimately sentenced to death and hanged.
Trivia: My copy is missing the cover. At the time of Blake's original encounter with Preece (an unrecorded case), Tinker had not yet joined the detective. Tinker also seems rather young in this tale. Both these facts suggest that the events of this story occurred some years prior to its publication. Sexton Blake is strangely depressed and even fearful during this story, even predicting his own death. This possibly places the time of this case around 1907, after Blake had his devastating encounter with his brother, Henry Blake.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
