Cover of Jack O' Judgment

Jack O' Judgment

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 39 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"Jack O' Judgment" by Edgar Wallace is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story introduces a grim world of crime and intrigue, centering on characters embroiled in moral ambiguity, particularly Colonel Dan Boundary, a businessman with questionable ethics, and Stafford King, the chief of the Criminal Intelligence Department. The narrative unfolds amidst the backdrop of murder, deception, and a mysterious figure known as Jack o' Judgment, whose actions seemingly orchestrate the events surrounding the lives of these characters. The opening of "Jack O' Judgment" immerses the reader in a chilling crime right from the start—Snow Gregory, a drug addict and gambler, is found murdered, only for the investigation to reveal a playing card, the Jack of Clubs, which becomes symbolic in the unfolding tale. The narrative shifts quickly to Colonel Boundary, who is drawn into paranoia when he receives another playing card marked with "Jack o' Judgment," seemingly threatening him. In parallel, we meet Stafford King, a calm and methodical detective tasked with unraveling the intricacies of Boundary's dealings. As the story progresses, it hints at deeper conflicts and multilayered relationships, especially as they concern the gang led by the colonel, foreshadowing a battle between law enforcement and the underworld amidst quests for power and redemption.

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  • Detective and mystery stories, English

Read the opening

Chapter I

THE KNAVE OF CLUBS

They picked up the young man called "Snow" Gregory from a Lambeth gutter, and he was dead before the policeman on point duty in Waterloo Road, who had heard the shots, came upon the scene.

He had been shot in his tracks on a night of snow and storm and none saw the murder.

When they got him to the mortuary and searched his clothes they found nothing except a little tin box of white powder which proved to be cocaine, and a playing card—the Jack of Clubs!

His associates had called him "Snow" Gregory because he was a doper, and cocaine is invariably referred to as "snow" by all its votaries. He was a gambler too, and he had been associated with Colonel Dan Boundary in certain of his business enterprises. That was all. The colonel knew nothing of the young man's antecedents except that he had been an Oxford man who had come down in the world. The colonel added a few particulars designed, as it might seem to the impartial observer, to prove that he, the colonel, had ever been an uplifting quantity. (This colonelcy was an honorary title which he held by custom rather than by law.)

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Contents

Show all 39 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX: "Swell" Crewe Backs Out
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII
  24. Chapter XXIV
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter XXVII: The Capture of "Jack"
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX
  31. Chapter XXXI
  32. Chapter XXXII
  33. Chapter XXXIII
  34. Chapter XXXIV
  35. Chapter XXXV
  36. Chapter XXXVI
  37. Chapter XXXVII
  38. Chapter XXXVIII
  39. Chapter XXXIX

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About this edition

This free edition of Jack O' Judgment by Edgar Wallace comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #24767, released 2008-03-06. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery, Novels, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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