SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE TAKING OF CLOUDY MCGEE

 "The Taking of Cloudy McGee" by W. C. Tuttle  (from Short Stories, February 1926)

Ferdinand P. Putney was the only lawyer in the town of Lost Hills.  His main distinction  was that he had never been in jail, but Putney was relatively young so there was still time.  Amos K. Weed was a cashier at the Lost Hills Bank.  Weed would often fantasize aboout being a great criminal, but the thought of jail and/or being hung deterred him.  Miles Rooney ws the editor of the Lost Hills Clarion, a weekly newspaper, "seven-eighths syndicate matter and one-eighth sarcatic editorial."  Rooney never let facts or knowledge interfere with his editorials and, as such, turned more than a few people against him.

Fate brought them together one evening in Putney's office.  Amos Weed was plainly frightened.  On the strong advice of Putney he had invested heavily in an oil operation.  Since Weed had no money, he pilfered $40,000 from the bank to purchase a one-third interest in the well.   That day, he got word that they had drilled four thousand feet without hitting oil, considerably deeper than any other well had gone in the area without striking oil.  To make things worse, a bank examiner was scheduled to examine the books within a few days.  Putney's legal advice to Weed outlined three options:  run, go to jail and likely be hung by a mob of angry bank investors, ot commit suicide.  None of those options appealed to Weed.

Rooney's problem was also dire.  He had written an editorial excporiating Cloudy McGee, a feared bank robber with a thousand dollar price on his head.  McGee took offense at the characterizations Rooney made and sent him a threatening note, promising to catch up with him.  Rooney admitted that he knew nothing about McGee except that he was wanted for bank robbery; most of his comments were made of whole cloth, but shouldn't an editor print whatever he wanted?

Things were not looking well for Weed or Rooney.  But then Putney's legal (?) mind started working.  The bank still had $10,000 left in it.  If Putney could get McGee to rob the bank before the examiner showed, Weed would be in the clear.  And McGee would have to get out of town before exacting revenge on Rooney.  The only problem was that no one knew what McGee looked like.  Weed was assigned to hang around the saloon and try to suss out which person was McGee.

Into the saloon wanders a tough-looking mas with a huge sombrero with an ornate silver band -- just like the one McGee was said to wear.  Add to that the cartridge belt and the holstered six-shooter and the fancy saddle with an embossed "M" on it that was on the man's horse. and Weed knew he had his man.  Putney offered McGee a thousand dollars (taken from his safe; Putney knew enough not to trust Weed's bank) enter the bank first thing next morning, fire off a couple of rounds, and escape through the back -- he didn't even have to rob the bank to make it look like a real robbery.  But Putney was a lawyer, and he knew not to trust a crook.  So he had Weed enter the bank at night and steal the remaining ten thousand dollars -- to be split evenly between Putney and Weed, 60% for Putney and 40% for Weed.  Unfortunately, somebody knocked Weed out and stole the newly stolen funds.

This meant that Putney was out a thousand dollars and that just wouldn't do, so Putney got a rifle and hid in the alley behind the bank the next morning, intending to kill McGee and grab the money he had stolen the night before.

As you can tell, this tale is a comedy of errors and mistaken identities, that had toend up with the biter(s) bit, probably.

W. C. Tuttle (1883-1969; the initials were for Wilbur Coleman) was a prolific writer for the pulp magazines, most of his work in the western genre.  During his career he sold over a thopusand magazine stories and dozens of novels.  In a 1930 poll od its readers Adventure magazine (one of Tuttle's main markets) had Tutlew as its most popular author.  Tutle's stories combined western adventure with a pleasinf wit.  His best-known characters wre Hashknofe Hartley and Sleepy Stevens, two cowpokes who often served as unwitting detectives.  Other popular characters were Sheriff Henry, Tombstone and Speedy, "Peaceful" Peters, Cultus Collins, Warwhoop Wilson, Terry MCone and Handy Hepburn, Happy Hay.and Sad Sontag; Tuttle also used the twowns of Bronkville, Piperock, and Dogieville as the settings of some of his stories..  He also wrote screenplays for 52 films.  He served as host for Hashknife Hartley, a radio series that aired from 1950 to 1951.  In his younger days, Tuttle was a semi-pro baseball player.

Even a reader typically averse to western stories will find something entertainingly readble in Tuttle