Luke "Whispering" Smith is a railroad policeman in frontier-era Wyoming and on a hot pursuit of a notorious gang of train robbers (based upon the actual "Hole in the Wall" gang). But can Smith outwit these elusive and clever train robbers or will they get the better of him? Frank H. Spearman was an American author who was known for his Western books and especially for his fiction and non-fiction works on the topic of railroads. His western novel Whispering Smith-the title character of which was modelled on real-life Union Pacific Railroad detectives Timothy Keliher and Joe Lefors (though the name of the titular hero was apparently derived from another UPRR policeman, James L. "Whispering" Smith)-was made into a movie 8 times.
Frank Spearman's book, Whispering Smith, was the best selling novel of 1906 and remained popular for many years. More than five films were based on it, the most famous staring Alan Ladd in 1948. The book is considered to be the phototype for modern western fiction. The main character, Whispering Smith, was loosely based on several railroad detectives and the nickname belonged to one...James L. Smith. Regretably, the real detective was nothing like Spearman's fictional hero. His actual exploits are recounted in "Whispering Smith: His Life and Misadventures," by Allen P. Bristow. Spearman's original story continues in popularity although over 100 years have passed and several publishers are reprinting it.
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