The Crime College: A new
wrinkle is revealed in this adventure.
Doc sends an injured criminal to a doctor with a note entitling him to
ten thousand dollars. The criminal will
get the money but only after graduating from Doc's
This tale is all about perfume and sperm whales. In particular, the treasure in this adventure is the secret formula used in a process that stimulates ambergrisproduction in whales. Hezekiah Law has it. Captain Wapp, Braski, and Ropes want to steal it.
Long Tom goes undercover as one of Captain Wapp’s hired killers. Readers should note Long Tom’s nickname of “Sass.” The name comes from his habit of chewing sassafras bark. Dent is tossing another log on the fire here. Sassafras is also used in the perfume industry. There are certain essential oils obtained from steaming the root or fruit. Sassafras tea was a popular drink in the past. It has been discovered that certain compounds in it causes liver damage and is now banned by the FDA.
Captain Wapp is obviously head of a whaling ship, the Harpoon.
Whale hunting
was still a going concern before World War II.
Dent
obviously grabbed the name of our whale herder from the Bible.
Hezekiah was a ruler of the Kingdom of Judah
around 700 BC. Mention of Hezekiah can
be found in the Book
of Chronicles, (2 Chronicles 32).
King Hezekiah put up a fight against the Assyrians. Hezekiah Law puts up a fight against Wapp and
his gang of pirates.
Captain Wapp’s name may
be a bit of onomatopoeia. He is described as an extremely short and
stout man. Perhaps he looks something
like a whale himself. The sound made
when a whale slaps its tail against the water could be described as a “wapp.”
Hezekiah Law is allied
with the Patagonian natives. Dent is
reaching out and pulling in some legends about the Patagonian giants. The first European travelers reported seeing
natives who were anywhere from nine to fifteen feet tall. Dent brings their height down to a more
believable seven feet.
Doc travels to Patagonia by way of Miami
Florida and Colon, Panama.
Blanca Garde could be a
play on blanca garda which means white guard in Spanish.
At one point in the
story we learn that Captain Wapp and his crew are at the Casa El Caballero, an
establishment that is painted red. Casa
El Caballero translates into something like the “House of Gentlemen.” Could this be a house of prostitution?
August 14, 1935 – The Social Security Act becomes law.
August 15, 1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash in the Alaska Territory.
August 30, 1935 - The Wealth Tax Act becomes law. This act increased the taxes on the country’s wealthiest individuals. It created a small furor amongst the rich with many protestors labeling Roosevelt a communist.
