Textual identity is not textual authority. “Catalogue primary/default” selects the default catalogue representation; it does not mean that this wording is automatically Howard’s most authoritative text.
Characters in this exact text
HoolihanChief Hoolihan — chief of police assisting Steve HarrisonOn Pagefirst: Harrison telephones the police chief.Fang YinFang Yin — lord of Peking whose agents oppose the Mongol plotMentionedfirst: The mandarin agent identifies his master.the mandarinFang Yin's mandarin agent — unnamed Chinese/Manchu agent who engineers the defeat of the Mongol antagonistOn Pagefirst: He steps through the tapestries after Yarghouz is killed.HansonHanson — plainclothes policeman assigned to guard James WilloughbyMentionedfirst: Hoolihan lists the guards.HarperHarper — plainclothes policeman guarding the west side of Willoughby's houseOn Pagefirst: Harrison crosses the grounds and calls to him.JacksonJackson — plainclothes policeman ordered to take Hanson's guard positionOn Pagefirst: Harrison orders him to take Hanson's place.James WilloughbyJames Willoughby — millionaire philanthropist targeted for murder because of the secret encoded on his gold toothOn Pagefirst: Opening sentence.Job HopkinsJob Hopkins — wealthy former chemist whose corpse and gold tooth become central evidenceOn Pagefirst: Joey Glick identifies his corpse as the next target.Joey GlickJoey Glick — underworld stool-pigeon whose warning to Harrison is cut short by poisoningOn Pagefirst: Harrison meets his informant.LaveauxLaveaux — plainclothes policeman assigned to guard James WilloughbyMentionedfirst: Hoolihan lists the guards.McFarlaneMcFarlane — plainclothes policeman assigned to guard James WilloughbyMentionedfirst: Hoolihan lists the guards.the yellow manMongol courier at Hopkins' tomb — unnamed Mongol who carries the stolen gold tooth and is killed by Fang Yin's sideOn Pagefirst: Harrison finds the body after the tomb raid.the MongolMongol intruder at Willoughby's house — unnamed Mongol killer who enters the upper floor of Willoughby's houseOn Pagefirst: Harrison discovers Harper unconscious and searches upstairs.the driverMongol taxi driver — unnamed Mongol operative who tries to drive Harrison into an ambushOn Pagefirst: A taxi draws up for Harrison.an old Chinese tooth-pullerOld Chinese tooth-puller — unnamed keeper of the three chemists' secret and grandfather of the later warlordMentionedfirst: Willoughby recounts how the gold teeth were made.Richard LynchRichard Lynch — one of the three former chemists; murdered before the story and his gold tooth takenMentionedfirst: Joey Glick describes his supposed hit-and-run death.SpikeSpike — stocky bald-headed man who handles Joey's body after his deathOn Pagefirst: Harrison calls him after Joey dies.Steve HarrisonSteve Harrison — private detective and central protagonist of Lord of the DeadOn Pagefirst: After the attack on Willoughby.Yah LaiYah Lai — later warlord seeking the coded poison-gas formulaMentionedfirst: Willoughby/Barolass discussion identifies the threatening warlord.Yuen ChinYuen Chin — Chinese warlord who employed Willoughby, Lynch and Hopkins years earlierMentionedfirst: Willoughby recounts China twenty years earlier.
Surviving manuscript evidence
The records below describe surviving physical typescripts, carbons, manuscript material and documentary catalogue evidence for this exact textual state. TSS numbers identify physical catalogue units; they are not story or draft IDs.
Draft 3 — surviving incomplete Howard carbonHoward carbon copy
Extent27 pagesCompletenessIncomplete
Physical extent: 27 surviving carbon pages; one page missing
TSS: 21335–21361
Untitled Howard carbon typescript. Twenty-seven pages survive; one page is missing from the physical witness.
Additional documentary notes
- Untitled Witness: First Cuts describes Draft 3 as untitled. (witness level)
- Carbon Copy: The surviving Draft 3 witness is a carbon. (witness level)
- Missing page: One page is missing from the surviving carbon. The source does not supply the original manuscript-page number. (during Harrison's confrontation with the Mongol taxi driver, before arrival at South Park)
- Published Text Restoration: First Cuts supplies the missing passage from the story's Strange Detective Stories appearance and marks where the published-text bridge begins and ends. (gap created by the missing manuscript page)
- Publication Specific Name Restoration: The published magazine had changed Harrison to Rollins in the supplied passage; First Cuts restores Harrison. This is evidence about the published version/editorial reconstruction, not a surviving Draft 3 manuscript name form. (published-text bridge only)
Source: Hardboiled Manuscripts, Volume 1 v0.75, The Teeth of Doom Editorial Notes pp. 111–112; Draft 3 pp. 151–174