Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Wire Devils
The Wire Devils
The Wire Devils
Ebook270 pages4 hours

The Wire Devils

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Harry Maul, also known as The Hawk, is a safe-breaker, forger, jewel thief, and one of the cleverest 'gentleman' crooks, wanted by the police and also by criminal gangs. He follows another band of criminals, cracks their communication code, keeps outsmarting them and getting to their target before they do.
Frank Packard (1877-1942) was a Canadian novelist best known for his Jimmie Dale mystery series. As a young man he worked as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. His experiences working on the railroad led to his writing a series of railroad stories and novels. Packard also wrote number of mystery novels, the most famous of which featured a character called Jimmie Dale, a wealthy playboy by day and a fearless crime fighter by night. Jimmie Dale novels brought the idea of a costume and mask for hero's secret identity, and also established the concept of a hero's secret hideout or lair.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 6, 2017
ISBN9788027221615
The Wire Devils

Read more from Frank L. Packard

Related to The Wire Devils

Related ebooks

Cozy Mysteries For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Wire Devils

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
4/5

2 ratings1 review

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Wire Devils is the 1918 equivalent of a Tom Clancy high-tech mystery-thriller. The protagonist of the Wire Devils is Harry Maul, alias ‘The Hawk’, a master criminal who has made his way to the western town of Selkirk City located somewhere in the Rockies. The antagonists are The Wire Devils, a group of technically sophisticated organized thieves who have hijacked the railroad’s telegraph system and are using it to further their own nefarious ends. The book opens with a breaking and entering. The Hawk, using skeleton keys, enters a small station without a night operator, sits down at the telegraph sounder, cuts himself into the main circuit, waits a few minutes and then, as the sounder begins to chatter, copies a telegraph transmission consisting of a jumble of letters. The jumble is a Caesar shift cypher with varying null patterns which The Hawk proceeds to decrypt. It details the plans for a Wire Devil heist which is scheduled to happen that very evening. What follows is a series of robberies all of which are foiled by The Hawk. That is, each time the Wire Devils set up a robbery, The Hawk interferes with its success. The Wire Devils become very aggravated by The Hawk’s intrusions and make repeated attempts to eliminate him. Naturally, all of this crime on railroad property has the railroad detectives out in force. They are aware of the existence of both the gang and The Hawk and believe him to be the Wire Devils mastermind. As a result, the Hawk finds it necessary to avoid and outwit both the gang and the law. Packard worked as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railroad before he began writing railroad and mystery fiction and, not surprisingly, The Wire Devils is filled with technical information conveyed to the reader via narration and character dialog. The railroad theme allows for the casual introduction of facts of railroad practice and the use of the telegraph as an instrument of crime provides Packard a platform for discussing telegraphy. This includes many aspects of telegraphic practice, issues involved in building an undetected line tap, and methods one might use to intercept a telegraph message without being detected. The text is a testament to Packard’s ability as a writer of popular fiction and his well phrased word pictures and plot twists still holds the reader’s interest. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in railroad fiction.

Book preview

The Wire Devils - Frank L. Packard

>ebook_preview_excerpt.html|۲F@~#^&F 9ul#$$S.O0{%ڙ HSQ. /k}I<{r_ݫO'_}x\_^_}rWK`aOU'|9_Cn}󢊽\xwӼ\l?i5{m}syֵ|v~zۏUSXEUq.Ӝ㛇y qAo!;|4wG/\_j¿曶1X؇C1>qUETq[I;4j}9zY,W76\W1PA}x3|`X}O!Vq=DC܈0Vwgu$..̻VւgUG)W7~2>C_2S>?8mj}_{-H Vjyj4Cij#y1vI篺G=U+xxh;-ӉRX:ENeppKK,P"lǹ:ixדOq0A TyN]n"Sд4[QU6]UniX/NjVI8>R)Q07#z"vmExp;˨0AZ)oؤ b%Ը^fb\B@i b,؛p[tti@5 )-ą̈7j9B$xy.#NXB7<W[s)ԌS3-e:FPctMK ed§ *nྡྷ' Yzկ˫A^x~/Ij/'_^}\Woq$r kJ43 {uh`$iG|G'i¬ȭ- MwWjf!4A3kOUZ04N2N̎fz/R48)(zW TdݲGՠ l'L `c2򘥕tV x ɴLj %ԃSiu6FFyI {7 (;h]Y w>s2X}R/=CN_#~)?M7,᏾=\J[W\蕮&%PK'3-iJp&ǣ`yrcHNA>w#5 t0>rS^r;nVȈpXlV?x_o~}YUb y_~Swן^?Vz|?VO}Ç?q~U}|޾㯻/w|~l}FX% Mvu ߀L3D 斚\0'5DLc`񡵴 \0T.qX>'0/Ս4q>&Kv(3urAd!(N R3ߺBէXھhn4ZDxX[0LOX2G,3^Y8# J.Ik>Y:qnvDzդgRtܰ XL $-uqqZo,%UKZ7S4b f-' _4i 5vg) e wX-R9ԜsQzqhP/i`MnRVai#fj`iNZpokL~񴿋N<NjTJ4Ol$\# #NM-WiCGxPr 0.R,C|2t50YXKُ,$y+"$ɲ jw7x&zfrPDdJHWwp@y0Iq<ǔ 8vBoVhq/r(48o=u~?5 vw{ "Yo0 $Mp]z_IjRHa. 5.g[E$ zd"ep=C wA5ڋTd1Y0oa4?nom6`f cjypb+2R$h is[`(Gs{ 7A} }J|A_ح\϶:|sRu)K&2czbJmZ'S?eO\52Vt |l2,9n`UpKLZ C7#/]vۘǞzJ>s`ɐPҢ@MRQΕ$WT@xZ[ҁI~aӈLS і# 33,y %j%w%6'1< o`gPl"*4 &dN3fACHysRЃ?}^oL7y>=yX?z꼁 .j9ȳR_k]z/\mл {!֒m > P9sQ^![ O-K}k~^fE݃C'݁o{m 󬭥,KGXF4 KxjLW,zX&{ GmֱzӞg{,CɔF,P/jפm:fW_ƫK#I6s@y3DB>ͬmleNש8Wį,pĵ2ml s@H{WLd*7U{,Z\!o>Z5Ts |6,'m mNՕF'ǏLOI&C+d'{઴ iCqsr6 dNEl NnTiMgldy[RxvLٗ<k3Am}0Ze㰌SZQT덓vIYPgŅSƥ5~qKe\o,Op.Q- -F7vi+A2/=9e \1hFGX[`H/VR-A% R.)?%ȽHR54K)V^&ɋ4>Ь*t[vr4eq9OA׵3.Hns|H9> !V:fVunVP5(Em@0/,b1t %{6Aעjʁ*h xR4a\<%a4u"-v8EXK|jA&t0e7$5SO,O9sYY 'CҹWW Jf:2NMCC9g|#F|9ٵ ə׳U.&tFZ~=ؕ֟t:P)/֙R$2S}e߳= #K!s>d!IVCgQ>^U-"gaǔS%VSF"''*-9[{x9dI٧f;;u@UAz%uҨC:CۤʒrO|HPsN?UIm EoRN~5kߥY/DK'g?u)vsX.}gޕhJg"7Ji8cS#xeeDpmJAg:Y~Lt%%7;e-ߝ-iZ 6~7 jS)9O.|ݙ}W~Sl#>(3vp2zR /:Jȅ]G'KvEw[fZ-"Өk3Z5gHlLBg4sw8c0:G[Oo,OO.y7- S6FEK#g}ߛ$Ey>K%$sjܤbFʞQm7?f:#kW6y<&/v=vJfٵ% 1i9{9?=E`1n0Y|L!kcL;ddb:e"%9ֿ? s<'Y0}JmT+g7+M9Og%x7bF&RtAo@(a6O=[mo EL tޡ -LM+B@QF<(г^cp'i?u?Bl-g4{OOqj*$KOQ3j oX y WoU85AWsݤ<ԧg`o^(6z$g`!?C!mzzi\{C;C ͋3s{ ٝ5𔞗On/cɡ/p7LŶNE)CD-GϺ߅Tot^)ғM)~vǢ#9-|j%Ug*CJpӶ<_垞v״!a&oJOc ?KZ~ZCҖ1fcjX4N á8z"ˏ|'7˚tj4|%jg$Vѐc ˣhI2(^@1yBN Wiʵ'"#HDtڛ!#_6%A"s.t̲\Ul*ߓ?*ml-tC&)xFtDUeȊjHţmv`Eٔ"r%SYr0 zܑ1\.c2}t``EG;P |g}R~W0jLx$Y9zޝ 8ohv.wz]Sƕjּ/R2u2L\}~#nīȣcC!v$Ԑ3G2fDmE4s%x4xG<{v ݋D{eMmՖJc$fD(^H3:mCx'ˠV*^eDN/;O; C ,*zE;Q<\ Ыro/X'l^3r.Į\ъ KcG+2PM=/.}Lc9Qokгs#D정$GkEYǍ:3hJ:rSӡؔinh(<&P
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1