The Adventures of Jimmie Dale

Jimmie Dale is a wealthy playboy by day, with a Harvard education and membership to New York City’s ultra-exclusive private club St. James. But at night he puts on a costume and becomes The Grey Seal, who enters businesses or homes and cracks safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, grey paper "seal" behind to mark his conquest, but never taking anything. He was just doing it for "the sheer deviltry of it" at first, but when a woman catches him, she blackmails him to war on certain crime organizations.

By : Frank L. Packard (1877 - 1942)

01 - The Gray Seal



02 - The Gray Seal, conclusion



03 - By Proxy



04 - By Proxy, continued



05 - By Proxy, conclusion



06 - The Mother Lode



07 - The Mother Lode, continued



08 - The Mother Lode, conclusion



09 - The Counterfeit Five



10 - The Counterfeit Five continued



11 - The Counterfeit Five, conclusion



12 - The Affair of the Pushcart Man



13 - The Affair of the Pushcart Man, conclusion



14 - Devil's Work



15 - Devil's Work, continued



16 - Devil's Work, conclusion



17 - The Thief



18 - The Thief, continued



19 - The Thief, conclusion



20 - The Man Higher Up



21 - The Man Higher Up, continued



22 - The Man Higher Up, conclusion



23 - Two Crooks and a Knave



24 - Two Crooks and a Knave, continued



25 - Two Crooks and a Knave, conclusion



26 - The Alibi



27 - The Alibi, continued



28 - The Alibi, conclusion



29 - The Stool Pigeon



30 - The Stool Pigeon, continued



31 - The Stool Pigeon, conclusion



32 - Below the Dead Line



33 - The Call To Arms



34 - The Crime Club



35 - The Innocent Bystander



36 - On Guard



37 - The Trap



38 - The 'Hour'



39 - The Tocsin



40 - The Tocsin's Story



41 - Silver Mag



42 - The Magpie



43 - John Johansson-Four-Two-Eight



44 - The Only Way



45 - Out of the Darkness



46 - Retribution



47 - 'Death to the Gray Seal!'


A wealthy playboy by day, at night he puts on inconspicuous dark clothes, a mask and a black slouch hat and becomes The Grey Seal, who enters businesses or homes and cracks safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, grey paper "seal" (with gum on the back) behind to mark his conquest (so others will not be blamed for his crimes), but never taking anything. He was just doing it for "the sheer deviltry of it" at first, but when an unknown woman known only as Tocsin (from chapter 7, after he finds a ring belonging to her with "Sonnez le Tocsin" on it, French for "Ring the alarm bell") catches him (before the first book) she blackmails him to war on certain crime organizations. In the first story, she had left him alone for a year with no new cases. She soon makes up for lost time.

As the Grey Seal, he wears a mask and carries a girdle full of lock picks and such meaning no door or safe can defy him. A case starts with Dale receiving a letter in a roundabout way from the woman with very complete instructions on what he is to do. There is never any explanation how she gains such incredible knowledge of every crime, every house and every criminal and even how she knows everything about Dale, though she too has an underworld identity. He memorises each letter then tears them into the tiniest pieces and discards them. He has searched for clues as to who she is but has found none. Though Dale carries a gun, he does not kill, not even when a thief stole a letter before he read it and learned his identity. It is mostly used as a threat. The Gray Seal originally has the respect of the Underworld, thinking him another thief but when he exposes to the police a crooked lawyer who helped many of them as well as some crooks, they want him dead.

Educated at Harvard and with a house on the expensive Riverside Drive, Dale is a member of the very select St. James Club, having inherited a lot of money from his late father when he sold his safe making business. The elderly Jason is his butler and the young Benson his chauffeur. He also owns an old house with three exits (one hidden) in the Bowery (Manhattan) which he calls his Sanctuary and keeps some changes of clothes and make up there under loose boards for when he becomes the hard faced dope fiend, "Larry The Bat" who has access to all the Underworld because they trust him. In the earlier stories and a later story in the second book, he has an old friend, Herman Carruthers, editor of the (morning) News-Argus newspaper, a source of information and someone who hopes to expose the Grey Seal's real identity one day. The newspapers criticise the police hard for their continued failure to capture the Gray Seal.

Chapter 20 of the first book explains all about the Tocsin and the evil Crime Club, an organisation of master criminals with their fingers in most things crooked. Shortly afterwards, the Magpie, a criminal discovers that Larry the Bat is the Grey Seal, spreads the word, and a mob of criminals race after him to kill him. He is cornered in his Sanctuary, with the Tocsin but as it burns down, they manage to escape and it is believed that both are dead.

Jimmie Dale uses the new identity of Smarlinghue, another dope fiend and a poor artist in the second book, and he has a new Sanctuary. He has spent six months building up trust in his new identity with the Underworld. However someone wants the Tocsin dead and instead of a life together, she goes on the run thinking if she stays with Dale, he will be killed too. She sends more letters for more missions to Dale and the Underworld finds out the Grey Seal is still alive. After some more adventures, she explains all in Chapter 22 (second book), and after the villain is finally killed, they escape in a boat together for hopefully a new life together.

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