Review: The Frontier Legion - Jackson Cole (?)

I read this novel when it first came out in paperback during the Sixties and loved it. I was reading all the Jim Hatfield paperbacks as they were published, and THE FRONTIER LEGION was one of my absolute favorites. Then I read it again in the Nineties and still liked it, but I wasn’t as impressed with it as I was the first time around. Now I’ve just read it again, after another thirty-year gap, and my reaction falls somewhere between the previous two: I don’t think THE FRONTIER LEGION is the very best Jim Hatfield novel, but it is really, really good. Why did I pick it up for a third time when I hardly ever reread a book, you ask? Well, I had a bibliographic reason this time around. I was trying to see if I could discover any clues as to who actually wrote the danged thing!

Let’s back up a little to some of the things I didn’t know when I first read the Popular Library paperback edition sixty years ago. For starters, I had no idea who painted the cover. Now all I have to do is look at the hats those hombres are wearing to know that it’s an A. Leslie Ross cover. A good one, too. For another thing, I had no idea that THE FRONTER LEGION was reprinted from the sixth (May 1937) issue of the pulp TEXAS RANGERS, where more than 200 Jim Hatfield novels appeared between 1936 and 1958. Oh, I was vaguely aware of pulps in those days because I was a Doc Savage fan, and the 1937 copyright date in this book was a giveaway that it probably appeared in one, but the details were still well beyond me. I didn’t know that the author, Jackson Cole, wasn’t a real person at all but rather a house-name hiding the true identities of the men who wrote the Hatfield novels.

A. Leslie Scott created this series for publisher Ned Pines and editorial director Leo Margulies. Scott wrote the first two novels, followed by one by Tom Curry, one by Samuel Mines, and then another by Curry. That brings us to THE FRONTIER LEGION, which for many years has been attributed to Scott as well. The thing is, it’s very obvious to anybody who’s read many of Scott’s novels that he didn’t write this one at all. For one thing, the Jackson Cole responsible for this novel gets a couple of things wrong: Hatfield’s commanding officer is Captain McNulty, who’s posted in the West Texas settlement of Alpine, instead of Captain "Roaring Bill" McDowell in Austin, and although he rides a golden sorrel stallion as he does in all the other novels, there’s no mention that the horse is named Goldy. These aren’t hugely important details, but I can’t believe that Leslie Scott would get them wrong. Also, this is the only novel in the entire series where these two discrepancies exist. This leads me to believe that whoever wrote THE FRONTIER LEGION didn’t contribute any other Jim Hatfield novels.

Yeah, yeah, all this is fine for bibliographic nuts like me, you’re likely thinking, but what about the story? Is THE FRONTIER LEGION a good yarn? Well, it starts off with an absolutely great train wreck and robbery carried out by an outlaw gang commanded by a brilliant but vicious mastermind known only as Allison. Allison’s gang has been wreaking havoc across West Texas, and Jim Hatfield has been assigned to break up the gang and bring Allison to justice. He’s on his way to carry out this mission, and that’s why he’s on this train to start with.

As usual, Hatfield is working undercover, which allows him to infiltrate the gang and get close to a beautiful saloon girl who has some connection with the owlhoot boss. He also has to deal with a young man who’s seeking vengeance on Allison for an earlier atrocity. Even the no-good varmints who work for Allison don’t know his true identity, which makes it very difficult for Hatfield to corral the true villain.

The author keeps this plot galloping along at a breakneck pace with plenty of well-written action, an occasional touch of humor, and a poignant moment here and there. The descriptions of the West Texas landscape aren’t anywhere near as vivid as you’ll find in Leslie Scott’s work, but they get the job done. It’s a very dramatic tale that generates a lot of suspense. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to any Hatfield fan despite the things that don’t quite line up with the rest of the series, as well as to any fan of rousing Western adventure yarns in general.

As to the author’s true identity, I have a pretty strong hunch I know who he was. But I’m still investigating, so I’ll have more to report on that in the near future, I hope.