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Ting-a-ling. Ting-a-ling was created by Paul Ellsworth Triem (John Doe (I), Mother Hansen) and appeared in “Ting-a-ling’s Mousetrap” (Western Story Magazine, Sept. 14, 1929) and “Ting-a-ling’s Shooting Bee” (Western Story Magazine, Sept. 21, 1929).

Lon Chambers goes to his uncle’s cabin. Like his uncle, Lon is “a great believer in Nordic superiority,” but Lon finds that his uncle has hired “Ting-a-ling,” a Chinese “boy” (man, really) to guard the cabin. When Lon arrives, Ting-a-ling leaves. That night Lon is jumped by three desperadoes who are looking for the gold that Lon’s uncle left behind. Lon is helpless, but Ting-a-ling appears and kills all three. Ting-a-ling is tall, lithe, sinewy, with “brilliant and penetrating” eyes, and while in working clothes looks “only mildly foreign,” but in a Western suit he looks “the very essence of the diabolical East.” Nonetheless, Ting-a-ling is well-inclined toward Lon, who admits his errors and keeps Ting-a-ling on, even giving Ting-a-ling half of the gold (which Ting-a-ling hid). Ting-a-ling speaks in a stereotypical accent and is sure that if he is buried outside of China the “Debil get him,” but is a capable hand (far more capable than Lon), a crack shot, and knowledgeable in herblore and Chinese medicine.

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