COPYRIGHT INFO
The MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
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The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
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“Thubway Tham, Fashion Plate” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Oct. 7, 1919. “Thubway Tham’s Dog” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Jul 1, 1922. “Thubway Tham Tunes In” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, April 10, 1926.
“Thubway Tham’s Honethty” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Aug. 1932. “Thubway Tham’s Hoodoo Roll” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Nov. 12, 1921. “Thubway Tham’s Operation” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Mar. 12, 1921. “Thubway Tham’s Curiothity” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Jan. 7, 1922. “Thubway Tham Meeth A Girl” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, June 18, 1921. “Thubway Tham’s Engagement” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, August 20, 1921. “Thubway Tham Goeth To The Ratheth” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Oct 29, 1921. “Thubway Tham’s Raffle Ticket” originally appeared in Black Book Detective, May 1949. “Thubway Tham’s Thenth Of Honor” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, June 1, 1920. “Thubway Tham’s Inthane Moment” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Nov. 19. 1918. “Thubway Tham’s Thanksgiving Dinner” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Nov. 26, 1918. “Thubway Tham’s Understudy” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Dec. 31, 1918. “Thubway Tham’s Baggage Check” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, March 15, 1919. “Thubway Tham, Philanthropist” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, April 1, 1919. “Thubway Tham’s Chrithtmath” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine. “Thubway Tham’s Glorious Fourth” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Nov. 8, 1919. “Thubway Tham’s Holdup” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, April 22, 1919. “Thubway Tham Meets Mr. Clackworthy” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, Feb 18, 1922. “Thubway Tham’s Inthult” originally appeared in Detective Story Magazine, October 21, 1919.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
Johnston McCulley will be forever famous as the creator of Zorro, the Robin Hood-like hero of old California. But few realize how truly prolific and creative McCulley was throughout his long career as a writer.
McCulley (1883-1958) made the first true specialist pulp-fiction periodical, Detective Story Magazine, a special home for his work. In its pages he launched series after series…The Avenging Twins (who appeared in a series of eight adventures between 1923 and 1926), the Black Star (fourteen stories from 1916-1930), The Crimson Clown (seventeen stories from 1926-1931), The Man in Purple (three stories in 1921), The Spider (eleven stories between 1918 and 1919), Terry Trimble (four stories between 1917 and 1919), The Thunderbolt (three stories between 1920 and 1921) but most especially Thubway Tham (who appeared in more than one hundred and eighty stories between 1916 and 1948, at first in Detective Story Magazine, but later in such places as Thrilling Detective, with later reprints in The Saint Mystery Magazine, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, and others). The Thubway Tham series, you will note, starts before and lasts longer than all of McCulley’s other mystery series combined! Clearly Tham was a favorite character, one to whom the author returned time and again.
Thubway Tham is a small, short-tempered gnome of a man, a professional pickpocket with an annoying lisp. But he is no mere thief…he is the king of his chosen profession, a master “dip” who works only in the subways of New York City. Like all such villains, he faces a cunning adversary in Police Detective Craddock, who is always half a pace behind. Craddock has sworn to put Tham behind bars, where he belongs. But Tham is clever enough to always remain one step ahead of Craddock and everyone else.
Despite being a criminal, Tham always comes off well: the people whom he relieves of their wallets are often deserving of it, and he has a tendency to take on other, much worse crooks to give them their just desserts. And, of course, there are scoundrels aplenty in his world: a rival pickpocket who moves in on his turf in “Thubway Tham’s Baggage Check;” Shiftyd Shane, the holdup man, who calls Tham a coward because he doesn’t use a gun; and Mr. Clackworthy, a slick grifter from Chicago, who looks down on dips as the lowest of thieves.
Call him an early antihero. Tham endears himself to readers because he has a moral compass. He knows his place is in the gutter of the world, but that doesn’t mean he can’t strive to better himself—or others.
If there is one theme running through these stories, it is that Tham is a thief with a heart of gold, even when it isn’t always in his best interests. When he takes in a would-be apprentice in “Thubway Tham’s Understudy,” Tham knows very well that the boy may be his undoing. He does it anyway, and he nearly ends up in jail for his trouble. In “Thubway Tham’s Insult,” he takes offense at an actor’s attitude toward thieves and decides to teach the fellow a lesson. In “Thubway Tham’s Baggage Check,” he is disgusted by amateur thieves and plots to relieve them of their ill-gotten gains. Thieving should be left to professionals; amateurs are not permitted to dabble in Tham’s trade. In “Thubway Tham, Philanthropist,” Tham encounters an elderly couple living in squalor near his home and decides to help them, much to his eventual regret.
Tham also has time for charity on other holidays. On Thanksgiving, he gives a holiday dinner for nineteen newsies. On the Fourth of July, he takes time off to celebrate and gives advice to easy marks on how to protect their wallets and saves a lost little boy. On Christmas Eve, he sees an amateurish pickpocket steal a wallet on his beloved subway, so he steals in back and tries to return it to its rightful owner…with less than happy results. His heart really is in the right place.
So, give Tham a chance. Once you get beyond his lisp and gruff exterior, you’ll find a worthy and loyal friend. But keep an eye on your pockets; he’s a master of his trade—as Mr. Clackworthy and so many others find out!
I edited Tales of Thubway Tham (a collection of 10 stories) in 2005 as part of the Pulp Classics line from Wildside Press. Since then, I have had nothing but positive feedbwack about the clever little “dip.” We followed up that volume with a second collection of 10 more stories (plus a humorous anecdote). All of those are included in this volume… plus a few more tales. Those looking for the very first story in the series, “Thubway Tham,” can find it in The Victorian Rogues MEGAPACK™.
We are working on a volume of Mr. Clackworthy stories as part of the MEGAPACK™ ebook series. Tham and Mr. Clackworthy cross paths several times; both series ran in Detective Story Magazine at the same time.
Enjoy!
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE SERIES
Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our messa
ge board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series
MYSTERY
The Lady Sleuth MEGAPACK™
The First Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Second Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Bulldog Drummond MEGAPACK™*
The Carolyn Wells Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Charlie Chan MEGAPACK™*
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective MEGAPACK™
The Detective MEGAPACK™
The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Story MEGAPACK™
The Father Brown MEGAPACK™
The Mary Fortune Mystery & Suspense MEGAPACK™
The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™
The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™
The George Allan England MEGAPACK™
The Girl Detective MEGAPACK™
The Second Girl Detective MEGAPACK™
The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK™
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Noir Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Penny Parker MEGAPACK™
The Philo Vance MEGAPACK™*
The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Raffles MEGAPACK™
The Red Finger Pulp Mystery MEGAPACK™, by Arthur Leo Zagat*
The Sherlock Holmes MEGAPACK™
The Thubway Tham Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Rogues MEGAPACK™
The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK™
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure MEGAPACK™
The Anne of Green Gables MEGAPACK™
The Baseball MEGAPACK™
The Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Second Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Third Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Second Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Classic American Short Stories MEGAPACK™, Vol. 1.
The Classic Humor MEGAPACK™
The Dog Story MEGAPACK™
The Doll Story MEGAPACK™
The Horse Story MEGAPACK™
The Military MEGAPACK™
The Peck’s Bad Boy MEGAPACK™
The Pirate Story MEGAPACK™
The Sea-Story MEGAPACK™
The Thanksgiving MEGAPACK™
The Utopia MEGAPACK™
The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™
THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION
1. George Allan England
THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION
1. Winston K. Marks
2. Mark Clifton
3. Poul Anderson
4. Clifford D. Simak
5. Lester del Rey (vol. 1)
6. Charles L. Fontenay
7. H.B. Fyfe
8. Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe)
9. Dave Dryfoos
10. Carl Jacobi
11. F.L. Wallace
12. David H. Keller, M.D.
13. Lester del Rey (vol. 2)
THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION
1. Henry S. Whitehead
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The First Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Second Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Third Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Fourth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Fifth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Sixth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Seventh Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Eighth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Ninth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The A. Merritt MEGAPACK™*
The Andre Norton MEGAPACK™
The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK™
The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Dragon MEGAPACK™
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK™
The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK™
The First Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK™
The First Theodore Cogswell MEGAPACK™
The First Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Second Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
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The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The H. Beam Piper MEGAPACK™
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The Lloyd Biggle, Jr. MEGAPACK™
The Lost Worlds MEGAPACK™
The Mack Reynolds MEGAPACK™
The Mad Scientist MEGAPACK™
The Martian MEGAPACK™
The Milton A. Rothman Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Second Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK™
The Plague, Pestilence, & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™
The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Second Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Ray Cummings MEGAPACK™
The Robert Sheckley MEGAPACK™
The Science-Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The Space Opera MEGAPACK™
The Space Patrol MEGAPACK™, by Eando Binder
The Second Space Patrol MEGAPACK™, by Eando Binder
The Steampunk MEGAPACK™
The Time Travel MEGAPACK™
The Second Time Travel MEGAPACK™
The Utopia MEGAPACK™
The Willam P. McGivern Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
The Wizard of Oz MEGAPACK™
The Zanthodon MEGAPACK™, by Lin Carter
HORROR
The 2014 Halloween Horrors MEGAPACK™
The Horror MEGAPACK™
The Second Horror MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Second Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Second Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Cthulhu Mythos MEGAPACK™
The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK™
The Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Second Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Third Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Fourth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Fifth Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK™
The Haunts & Horrors MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
The M.R. James MEGAPACK™
The Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Second Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Third Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Machen MEGAPACK™**
The Mummy MEGAPACK™
The Occult Detective MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Uncanny Stories MEGAPACK™**
The Vampire MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Weird Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Werewolf MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hod
gson MEGAPACK™
WESTERN
The Andy Adams Western MEGAPACK™
The B.M. Bower MEGAPACK™
The Max Brand MEGAPACK™
The Buffalo Bill MEGAPACK™
The Burt Arthur Western MEGAPACK™
The Cowboy MEGAPACK™
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The Western MEGAPACK™
The Second Western MEGAPACK™
The Third Western MEGAPACK™
The Western Romance MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
YOUNG ADULT
The Bobbsey Twins MEGAPACK™
The Boys’ Adventure MEGAPACK™
The Dan Carter, Cub Scout MEGAPACK™
The Dare Boys MEGAPACK™
The Doll Story MEGAPACK™
The G.A. Henty MEGAPACK™
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The Pinocchio MEGAPACK™
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SINGLE-AUTHOR
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Burt Arthur Western MEGAPACK™
The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK™
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The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
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The Second Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK™
The Stephen Crane MEGAPACK™
The Ray Cummings MEGAPACK™
The Guy de Maupassant MEGAPACK™
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The Frederick Douglass MEGAPACK™
The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK™
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The Mary Fortune Mystery & Suspense MEGAPACK™
The Thubway Tham Megapack Page 1
