pulps
Foxy Fred, the Keener
Foxy Fred, the Keener This November 1900 pulp magazine issue features "Bagging the Sandbagger Trio," a detective serial by Marcus H. Waring ("Sergeant Mark"), author of "The Three Spotters" series. The story concerns C. E. Jordan of Poland, Ohio, who arrives in New York on an important but mysterious mission only to be attacked and robbed by sandbaggers—criminals who use weighted bags as weapons. Left senseless with memory damaged, Jordan can only repeat "New York" monotonously. A young detective named Foxy Fred (Frederick Walsingham Mather), a woman of interest, and Dr. J. McNabb discover Jordan's identity through recovered letters referencing a mill-property deal and someone in New York who wrote to him with promises. Their crucial clue emerges when a distinctive watch-charm—featuring a racetrack scene with a diamond-eyed horse—falls from Jordan's coat, bearing broken chain links with wool fibers, suggesting it snagged from the attacker. Fred determines to use this charm to track the criminals, while the unnamed woman reacts with visible alarm to his declaration.