Glossary of frontier fiction: D(dinger - dray)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

dinger = something outstanding of its kind (cf. humdinger). “It would shore make a dinger of a hide-out.” W. C. Tuttle, Thicker Than Water.

Dinkey engine, steam shovel, c1914

dinkey = a small locomotive. “Cut our best cable two years ago and twice they’ve run the dinkey off the track into the slough.” Vingie Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.

dip = a candle made by repeatedly dipping a wick into tallow. “By the time ‘a dip’ had been constructed the full weight of the disaster had fallen upon the defeated and despairing woman.” Dell Munger, The Wind Before the Dawn.

dirk = a short dagger of a kind formerly carried by Scottish Highlanders. “They go loaded down with six-shooters and dirk knives.” John C. Bell, The Pilgrim and the Pioneer.

dished = shaped like a dish or a pan, concave. “Under its lee lay an abandoned gravel wagon with dished wheels.” Frank Norris, McTeague.

divvy = a share, portion. “I’m onto a lay now that promises to pan big. If it does, I’ll divvy square.” Frank Lewis Nason, To the End of the Trail.

do for = to injure, beat up, murder. “I thought sure Retief was going to do for you when I heard about it.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

do up = beat up. “Everybody he knew he either loved or hated, and was ready, according to his feeling, either to do anything for, or to “do up” on a moment’s notice.” Florence Finch Kelly, With Hoops of Steel.

dobe / ’dobe = a derisive term for the Mexican silver dollar (from Spanish, adobe). “Uncle Sam’s strongbox yielded up over a thousand dobes.” Andy Adams, Cattle Brands.

dodger = a small handbill or circular. “The editor issued an ‘Extra’ of dodger-like appearance, and it is doubtful if he would have used larger type to announce an anticipated visit of the President.” Caroline Lockhart, The Lady Doc.

dog = a short, heavy piece of steel, bent and pointed at one end to form a hook and with an eye or ring at the other, used for many purposes in logging. “A sharp, heavy logging ‘dog,’ had lost grip of a moving log under the strain of hauling, and flicking round had ripped a great wound down Fitz’s leg.” Martin Allerdale Grainger, Woodsmen of the West.

Four-wheeled dog cart

dog-cart = A one-horse carriage, usually two-wheeled and high, with two transverse seats set back to back. “As they thus talked and loitered, Ben Davison came driving by in his dog-cart, with Clem Arkwright.” John H. Whitson, Justin Wingate, Ranchman.

Dog Soldiers = a militaristic band of Cheyenne Indians who resisted western expansion into Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. “He bade them each mount behind an Indian,—his body guard, or staff, called the ‘Dog soldiers,’ because they worshipped dogs, having crowded about to protect their chief.” Cy Warman, Frontier Stories.

dog tent = a small tent shaped like a kennel. “He led a nomadic existence, moved continually from one piece of work to another, his temporary habitations ranging from modern hotels to dog tents and shacks.” A. M. Chisholm, Desert Conquest.

dogger = a worker performing a menial task. “No wonder nature kicks you out with all manner of illness. You are mere doggers of the machinery.” Honoré Willsie Morrow, The Heart of the Desert.

Dominecker = a black-and-white feathered chicken, considered cowardly because it will run from a fight. “A game-cock like you can do up a dozen yellow-legged Domineckers.” Mollie Davis, The Wire-Cutters.

Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Adiós Hemingway

This crime fiction novella is a bit of a departure for BITS, but a recent article in NY Times Magazine about its Cuban author got me really curious. Padura Fuentes, a life-long resident of Cuba, has gained an international reputation while steering a middle course between officially approved publication and unofficial.

His police detective, Mario Conde, is a man hardened by his experience on the mean streets of Havana. He has been witness to the aftermath of revolución in Castro’s Cuba, faltering now with the end of Soviet support. Not proud of himself as a cop, he has sunk deeply into disillusionment. What keeps him going is drinking with old friends and a desire to be a writer. In fact, writing—and living in poverty—seems the only honorable use of his energy and intelligence.

Plot. The former Lt. Conde is lured from retirement when the remains of a shooting victim turn up on the grounds of Ernest Hemingway’s residence, Finca Vigía. The place is preserved now as a museum honoring the man who once kept a home in Cuba. Hemingway may even have been living there when the killing took place. The plot thickens as an FBI agent’s badge is found in the grave.

Hemingway at home in Finca Vigía, Havana

Solving a 40-year-old crime is more than a challenge. Conde begins with a boyhood memory of having seen Hemingway shortly before he left Cuba to return to the U.S. To reconstruct the famous writer's last days in Havana, Conde tracks down the few still living who knew him. His sleuthing also takes him to a library and involves snooping through the author’s old papers.

In a parallel storyline, Padura Fuentes cuts from Conde to Papa Hemingway himself on a night in 1958. He is prowling the grounds around his home with a dog and a Tommy gun. It is a place redolent with memories for the aging writer, including a nude swim in the pool with Ava Gardner.

The unraveling of the mystery comes as the two storylines finally converge. Eventually Conde’s hunch-work and skill at interrogation reveals some well-hidden secrets, though they leave him just short of being able to reconstruct the scene of the murder. For that, Padura Fuentes turns back to the fatal night in 1958, and we see how all the floating pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly into a single image. Nicely done.

Breakheart Pass (1975)

This western originated in a 1974 novel by Scots adventure and suspense writer Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone). Set in 1870s Nevada, it takes place entirely on a train as it climbs the snow-covered slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The film might well have been called “Hell on Wheels,” as many on board do not make it to their destination alive. Charles Bronson, at the height of his career in tough-guy roles, has top billing, among a supporting cast of notables.

Plot. A medical relief train is on its way to a fort high in the mountains that has been reportedly stricken by an outbreak of diphtheria. Aboard the train are the governor of the territory (Richard Crenna), his girlfriend (Jill Ireland), a military officer (Ed Lauter), and a U.S. marshal (Ben Johnson), who is transporting a prisoner (Bronson). Two cars of the train are filled with cavalry.

We learn early on that a gang of thugs has overtaken command of the fort and is awaiting arrival of the train. The train itself is plagued with mysterious deaths and disappearances. The fireman falls from a high trestle and, climbing down to have a look at the body, Bronson determines that the fall was no accident. Then the cars carrying the troops derail and plunge over a cliff.

Whatever nefarious scheme is afoot becomes clearer as Bronson discovers that the medical supplies are in fact rifles and dynamite. And we gather that they are intended for a band of Indians waiting ahead at the Breakheart Pass of the film’s title. Several of the passengers and crew are acting strangely. Even the train’s cook seems to be in on the conspiracy.

The identities of the villains aboard the train and of Bronson himself are eventually revealed in the final scenes. Indians, the gang of thugs, and finally mounted cavalry converge on the stalled train, as bullets fly and dynamite explodes. In the final shot, Bronson stands with the locomotive, the snow-covered ground around him littered with bodies.

Mystery train. The film has the feel of an Agatha Christie mystery. The set up is much like one of her stories of murder in a country house, where all the suspects are under the same roof. There’s also her Murder on the Orient Express (1934), adapted to film in 1974. A difference is that Bronson’s character is part of the mystery. For a long time we don’t know who he is, and right to the end of the film we don’t know for sure what he’s up to.

The Old West illustrated

First Lt. Blueberry novel, 1965

Christoph Roos over at his excellent blog is an authority on book illustration, comics, graphic novels, and so on, with a special interest in the Old West. His self-named blog is subtitled “Phantastische Bilder Zwischen Traum und Wirklichkeit” [Fantastic Pictures Between Dream and Reality]. Roos is a German-speaking artist and blogger, who lives in Switzerland.

Readers here may be surprised to discover the breadth and depth of work by European graphic artists devoted to Old West themes. In recent posts, Roos has featured Czech artist Zdenek Burian (1905-1981) who illustrated editions of western novels by the Irish-American writer Thomas Mayne Reid (1818-1883) and the German writer Karl May (1842-1912).

Zdenek Burian, Scalphunters, 1937

Zdenek Burian, Northern Star, 1936

Zdenek Burian, Friend of the Solar Gun, 1935

For a more recent example, a hugely popular western series was a French-Belgian production, “Lieutenant Blueberry,” which began in the 1960s and still has a following in Europe today (see Fort Navajo cover above). Roos has a page devoted to its artist, Jean Giraud. (For more information on this series, there is an extensive entry in English at Wikipedia.)

Artist: Jean Giraud

Roos is an illustrator himself and has posted samples of his own western comic sketches. Like other illustrators working in Europe, his style demonstrates the high drama in the way the Old West is imagined, in both the action and the landscape.

Sketch by Christoph Roos

Roos also discusses photo images from western movies, like his recent tribute to Robert Duvall with stills from several of his films. The best way to sample his blog (even if you don’t know German) is to scroll through posts using the label “western” [or click here]. At the end of the page, click on “Ältere posts” to get more pages.

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Image credits:

Christoph Roos’s blog

Coming up: Charles Bronson, Breakheart Pass (1975)

Glossary of frontier fiction: D(d.f. - ding)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading offrontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

d. f. / dee-fool = damned fool. “Air you a-jumpin’ on us ’cause Marthy Thomas is a d.f.?” Nancy Mann Waddell Woodrow, The New Missioner.

dang my melt = literally, damn me; dang me (from melt = spleen). “Dang my melt if I can see how them wild-catters can keep on takin’ money from folks.” George W. Ogden, The Long Fight.

Daniel in the lions' den, 1890

Daniel come to judgment = someone who makes a wise judgment about something that has previously proven difficult to resolve (reference to the Old Testament prophet Daniel; the phrase first appears in Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice). “When it came to doing the Daniel-arrived-at-judgment act, he had Blackstone and all the other calf-bound antiques begging for mercy.” Hugh Pendexter, Tiberius Smith.

dark as Egypt = totally dark (maybe a reference to the plague of darkness cast on Egypt by Moses in Exodus 10:21). “Flatray counted four other cabins as dark as Egypt.” William MacLeod Raine, Brand Blotters.

Grace Darling, c1839

Darling, Grace = an English woman (1815-1842) who in 1838, along with her father, saved 13 people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire. “As Grace Darling she smooths the fever-heated pillow of the Crimea.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

dasher = a plunger for agitating cream in a churn. “He took the dasher into his own hand and began a brave onslaught on the over-sour cream.” Dell Munger, The Wind Before the Dawn.

dasher = a board of wood or leather in the front of a carriage to keep out mud; a dashboard. “There was a swift lurch that sent him flying over the dasher.” Hamlin Garland, Main-Travelled Roads.

David Harum = fictional character in a popular novel of the same name, published 1898, about a sharply devious horse trader. “It was with many misgivings that I called out in a loud, breezy voice and David Harum manner; ‘Hello, Governor, how will you trade mules?’” Oscar Micheaux, The Conquest.

daystar = the morning star, the sun. “It was his day-star and his life, the one pleasure that brought no suffering with it.” Harry Leon Wilson, The Lions of the Lord.

Charles Sealsfield, The Cabin Book (1842)

1844 edition

Was the first western novel written in German? Many Americans know of Karl May (1842–1912), but even before him there’s the remarkable story of Charles Sealsfield, the pen name of an Austrian, Carl Anton Postl (1793–1864). After breaking his monastic vows, he traveled to America in 1822, and though he eventually settled in Switzerland in 1832, his career as a novelist began in the English language.

His first novel, Tokea, or The White Rose (1828) is set in Louisiana, its title character an Indian chief who rescues an orphaned white girl. It is a big-hearted historical novel with cameo appearances by Stonewall Jackson and the pirate Jean Lafitte. The novel was well received by American readers and was later published in London and translated to German as Der Legitime und der Republikaner in 1833.

Sealsfield seems to have fallen in love with the American frontier and continued writing in German a series of novels set in Texas, beginning with Das Kajuttenbuch, oder Nationale Charakteristiken, published in 1842. It was first translated by C. F. Mersch and published in New York as The Cabin Book, or Sketches of Life in Texas in 1844. That edition incorrectly identified the author as “Seatsfield.” Another translation was published in London as The Cabin Book, or National Characteristics in 1852, followed by an American edition in 1871.

Morse rescued

Plot. A group of mostly single Mississippi plantation owners gather in a modest house built by a former sea captain. An oddly built structure, it resembles a ship’s cabin, from which the novel gets its name. The men spend a long night in gentlemanly banter, drinking, and telling stories. A newcomer among them, Edward Morse, is a Marylander who has been on the Texas frontier. He tells of getting lost on the endless flat prairies along the Gulf coast and being rescued by a wild man described as a bear hunter.

The man, Bob Rock, is acting strangely and seems to be having a psychotic episode. He takes Morse with him to the local alcalde who has a large cotton plantation. There he confesses that he has killed a man and tells a story of shooting a traveler for his money belt and burying the body under a massive tree. He is overwhelmed with guilt and wants to pay for his crime.

The alcalde calls a jury of other plantation owners who hear his case, and over the alcalde’s objections, they determine he should be hanged. The alcalde argues that Texas needs men of Bob’s fierce nature to fight for independence from Mexico. But the other men do not share his opinion.

Silver Lode (1954)

McCarthyism hit full tide in 1954 with the Army-McCarthy hearings, and this western by veteran Hollywood director Allan Dwan tells a story that parallels those years of suspicion and public witch-hunts. The villain of the movie is even named McCarty.

Plot. In a frontier town in Nevada, Dan Ballard (John Payne) is about to marry his sweetheart Rose (Lizabeth Scott). In the short two years he’s lived there, he’s become a well-respected local rancher. The wedding is interrupted by the arrival of four men, led by Ned McCarty (Dan Duryea), with a warrant for his arrest. Seems he’s wanted for robbery and murder in California.

The town’s citizens stand by Payne, including the bride-to-be and an old flame, Dolly (Dolores Moran), who hangs out in the saloon. At first outspokenly supportive, the tide of opinion begins to turn against Payne, especially as the sheriff is shot by Duryea and Payne is discovered standing next to the body holding two pistols.

Payne flees, firing the pistols as he goes and casualties accumulate. Taking sanctuary in a church, he is followed by Duryea who traps him in the church’s bell tower. When it looks like it’s all over for Payne, Scott comes running from the telegraph office with a wire exonerating him, and a ricocheting bullet fired from Duryea’s gun puts an end to Duryea instead. The trailer shows the plot of the film in a nutshell:

Parallels. Duryea’s constant hectoring seems pretty obviously modeled on the rhetorical style of Joseph McCarthy himself. In its story of a man fighting outlaws single-handed on his wedding day, the plot of the film also has a lot in common with another movie, High Noon (1952). There’s even the hero’s attachment to two women, one his respectable young bride and the other a former lover. In this film, the two women actually conspire to keep the hero alive.