Strange Escapes is another of H. Bedford-Jones’s short story series from Blue Book magazine. It is an eight-story series that appeared under his Gordon Keyne pseudonym and ran from February 1938 through September 1938. None of these stories were cover-featured, so a cover tied to his “Warriors in Exile” series from the January 1938 issue was used for the reprint volume from Steeger Books.
This adventure series tells of strange and thrilling escapes from prisons or captivity, with an interesting framing story. These are a mix of history and fiction. We meet a pair of convicts in the first story: Cotterel, an innocent man convicted of murder, and Manning, a forger. No first names are given. As Manning sees that Cotterel is thinking of escaping, which may fail and get him sent to Alcatraz, he tells him of a different escape in each story to lift his spirits.
The first is centered around Mont St. Michel, also known as the “Ocean Bastille,” and one prisoner who works to escape. Bedford-Jones actually used this location twice for other stories: “Rodomont: A Romance of Mont St. Michel in the Days of Louis XIV” (Adventure, Sept. 30, Oct. 10, and Oct. 20, 1925) and “The Ocean Bastille” (Popular Fiction Magazine, February 1932).
The second story uses the real story of the escape of Porfirio Díaz (1830-1915), a Mexican general who became dictator of Mexico from 1876 to 1911. In 1862, he was captured in the Battle of Puebla by the French but escaped.
The following stories tell of a man escaping from England’s Fleet Prison, next a trio of Austrian soldiers during the Napoleonic era who escape along with a dog from the French, heading to Switzerland. Then we have a prisoner of France’s Toulon prison colony who works to escape, next an Englishman who escapes from the Moroccans.
In the next-to-the-last story, where we learn of a Confederate escaping from Union hands, Cotterel is released to get a new trial, thanks to the efforts of Manning. In the last story, Cotterel returns to visit Manning, and, in a twist, Cotterel tells Manning a story of Sir Sidney Smith (1764-1840) escaping from the French during the French Revolution. And he has engineered Manning’s freedom from prison as well.
Overall, this is yet another interesting series from Bedford-Jones. The framing device makes this series more interesting than just being a series of unconnected stories. And I like that he actually gives finality to Cotterel and Manning at the end.
I have never been disappointed by anything I’ve read by Bedford-Jones. Another winning series by him.
Your comments