Raymond S. Spears was an author of western and adventure stories. He was born in Belleview, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 in 1876. The son of John R. Spears, a naval historian and Celestia Colette Smiley Spears, a teacher. Raymond was educated in Philadelphia. A move to the Adirondack Mountains

Adirondack Mountains

The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....

 to recuperate from a throat ailment lead to a great love of the outdoors.

Raymond eventually moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to work as a reporter for the New York Sun

New York Sun

The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...

. He worked there for five years before moving back to the countryside and doing free lance reporting. He took several cross-country trips and wrote about them in Forest and Stream

Forest and Stream

Forest and Stream was a magazine featuring hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. Founded in 1873, it was the ninth oldest magazine in the United States....

. These trips provided the background information for many of his fiction and non-fiction writings.

Raymond used up to eight pseudonyms for his writings, the most used of which was Jim Smiley.

He was the president of the American Trappers' Association during the 1930s.

He married C. Eleanor Shepard in 1904. They had two children, John and Charles. Raymond died in Inglewood, California

Inglewood, California

Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...

in 1950.

Works

Source

• The River Prophet
• The Great Lakes (1913)
• Diamond Tolls
• Argosy serial The Flying Coyotes
• All in a Policeman’s Life, The Junior Munsey (Sep 1900)
• All in the Family, The All-Story (Aug 1912)
• The Arrest, The Popular Stories (Nov 12 1927)
• A Bad Element in Feathers, Adventure (Jul 1 1929)
• Badlands Bargain, Fifteen Western Tales (Nov 1947)
• Badlands Buster, Fifteen Western Tales (Feb 1949)
• The Bag of Gold Coins, Everybody’s Magazine (Oct 1927)
• A Blue-Eyed Haskell, The Cavalier (Jul 12 1913)
• The Border Line, Everybody’s Magazine (Apr 1928)
• Brass, West (May 1934)
• Brave, Short Stories (Aug 25 1921)
• Breaking In a Deputy, Western Novel and Short Stories (May 1936)
• A Breed’s Message, Complete Stories (Mar 1928)
• Brought Back, Short Stories (Nov 10 1922)
• The Caddo Flames [Pearl Trade], Pearson’s Magazine (US) (Oct 1914)
• Secret Service Stories (Apr 1928)
• The Call of the White Water, The Popular Magazine (Sep 7 1915)
• The Careless Ranger, North West Stories (Aug 1 192?)
• Casana’s Other Business, Complete Story Magazine (Feb 10 1925)
• Central Park in Winter, Munsey’s (Feb 1900)

External links