Adventure author Wirt Winchester Young (1876-1950), who was credited as just W. Wirt with his stories, wrote several works in the 1920s and ’30s. His main series was the Jimmie Cordie series, but a shorter series follows the adventures of Captain John Norcross, formerly of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. After the war, he decides to take his regiment of black soldiers on a new adventure to China!
This series ran just four serials in Argosy All-Story Weekly from 1928 to 1931. Steeger Books has reprinted the series in two volumes. Also, the Norcross serials are also included in the new, two-volume hardback collection The Complete Adventures of Cordie, Soldier of Fortune.
Norcross has a reputation of obtaining hard-to-get items. In the first story, “War Lord of Many Swordsman” (1928), he is given a new task. He must travel into the western China (Chinese Turkestan), a fairly dangerous place at the time, and obtain a strange, brass tube. What is in this tube? That’s unknown, but a collector named Nathan Landess, who is the third richest man, has bankrolled Norcross to obtain it, and a rival has sent someone to get it as well.
Due to the danger of such a place, and there being a contingent of Zulu warriors (yes!) near the city they must journey to, Norcross decides he must go all out. He rounds up his former regiment, 150 black troops, and finds his cadre of officers, who already live in Asia (how convenient). I thought it interesting that his group includes another “Red” like the Cordie series, Red McGee, as well as The Boston Bean and The Fighting Yid. These last two appear in the Cordie series, so connects the two. Outfitted like a regular army, the regiment heads into the interior of China from India.
But along the way, they rescue a Manchu princess, Ch’enyaun, who has been overthrown by her uncle. Her city is near the one they are head to, and it’s the leader of that city who has aided her uncle. So helping her will, in a way, help their mission. And so they must contend with Chinese troops, as well as those Zulus.
In the end, they succeed and head back to America via India.
But after meeting their backer at the border and finding out what is in that brass tube, Norcross and his men decide to stay and fight for the princess, who is now restored to her city, and to have more adventures.
The next story in the volume is “Swords Are Out!” (1929). Set a year later, most of Norcross’ black soldiers have stayed to fight for the princess. Norcross is back in America, and his officers have moved on. Because of this, most of the black soldiers become more involved in the story than just being in the background.
But there is danger and intrigue. The new ruler of the neighboring city is conspiring with a Cossack leader to lure the soldiers away and attack the city they guard. Norcross returns before their trap is sprung, and there is the added element of a young Magyar noblewoman, Anne. It will be interesting to see how she is handled in future stories. She does appear in the next two, with a bigger role to play in the last. Meanwhile, Ch’enyaun marries the Manchu lord T’ang Wang. For both, Captain Norcross is their “honored elder brother.”
The third story is “City of Japheth” (1930), and we start with the return of the collector from the first story. His long-time partner, Isaac Nathan, wishes to travel to Chinese Turkestan, and only Captain Norcross can help him. His prior attempts have failed. Why does he wish to go? Because he believes a city of Hebrews exists hidden in the nearby Kuen Lun mountains. This city was founded by the followers of Japheth, a leader under Moses, who instead of going to Israel, left on their own. And taking many temple items.
And you know that it won’t go easily. A rough Afghan leader has learned that Nathan is rich, and plans to kidnap him for ransom. Which he does. And captures a young couple that he hopes to sell into slavery. But Norcross and his men counterattack and free Nathan and the couple, which helps as the young man is from the city in question. Even when they get Nathan to the city, there will be dangers there as well.
The final story is “The Guns of the American” (1931). Norcross and T’ang Wang are in Peking meeting with other war lords who want Ch’enyaun to ally with them and help conquer western China. They are unwilling to do so. As they try to return to their city, Ch’enyaun and Anne Norcross are alone and must defend the city as their husbands work to return as well. They are beset by warlords on all sides.
All four of these serials were cover featured. The cover from the first is used as the cover for the first volume, the cover from the fourth is used on the second volume, with the third shown on the back of that volume. And we also get the original interior artwork as well. I believe all four covers are included on the back of the Complete Cordie volume.
I do have to point out that modern readers may be turned off by how Norcross’ black soldiers are handled. They are written as speaking in a rural Southern dialect that may be off-putting, and while treated as free men, the attitude is not as equitable as some would like. For the time period, this was probably better than some, but not at the level of where it could be or what we expect today.
As pulp adventure stores set in exotic lands go, I enjoyed these stories. I always wondered who “W. Wirt” really was, and Matt Moring of Steeger Books was able to figure it out. This is covered in an article in the recent Blood ‘n’ Thunder 2021 Annual, as well as the Complete Cordie volume. As I had expected, he had exaggerated himself a bit.
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