John Wytes

Origin
Doctor John Wytes, Wytes relays the story of a strange urn in his possession to his niece, Lillian Wytes. He explains that, while he was living in the jungle and studying voodoo, is asked for help by Clifton Shaw. Clifton received a threatening note signed with a tiger's paw. Wytes advises Shaw to forget the ridiculous threat. Clifton takes the advice, but not very far. Outside, he sees what he thinks is a black tiger cub. A beautiful exotic woman suddenly appears, seemingly from the cat. The woman is Tiger's Paw, and she ferociously attacks and kills Clifton. She says afterward he was a fool to not heed her warning.

The next day, the commissioner tells Dr. Wytes that Clifton shouldn't have died from the slight woulds he received, as they consisted only of a few scratch marks. The pair surmise he must have been poisoned.

The commissioner takes Wytes to meet Clifton's brother, Fred Shaw. Fred introduces Linda Day, his fiance, to Wytes as well. Fred talks about how his father lost his life in a similar manner while hunting in India.

Following the same cat Clifton saw before he died, Wytes finds an identical note to the one Clifton had shown to him. This note was addressed to Fred Shaw. The commissioner catches up with John to tell him the medical examination revealed poison of a voodoo variety. Wytes goes into the library in the Shaw home, finding a book on the Shaw family history. It confirmed a curse placed on one Judge Harold Shaw of Capetown in 1145 after he'd sentenced a woman named Agnes Webb to be hanged for the practice of voodoo. It was she who placed the curse.

Tiger's Paw appears to threaten him for meddling. Wytes tries to follow her through the building, suddenly hearing a scream from Fred Shaw. The commissioner and Wytes arrive at the same time. Fred explains the woman appeared to attack him, but fled when Lillian showed up. With the woman gone and Fred Shaw bemoaning his doom because of the family curse, Doctor John Wytes goes to work on something to help in his laboratory.

John's work took over an hour. He returned to the Shaw home when he was finished and waited for the Tiger's Paw to show up. The cat appears, followed by Tiger's Paw. She demands what he's doing. He says he thinks he can stop her, causing her to attack him with a scratch. He has trouble breathing as Tiger's Paw leaves him. She goes to the room where Fred Shaw is to kill him. He shouts for help. Tiger's Paw wrestles him to the ground and scratches him as Fred realizes Tiger's Paw really is Agnes Webb.

Doctor John Wytes comes up from behind Tiger's Paw, restraining her. He tells her he created an antidote to the poison. She realizes this leaves her powerless, and fades away. Doctor John Wytes administers the antidote to Fred Shaw, who thanks Wytes for saving his life. The commissioner walks in, flabbergasted that he just observed a tigress as it faded away.

Wytes finishes the narrative to his niece by telling her the urn is a bottle of the antidote. He doubts Tiger's Paw had a spell so powerful, it has not been really broken yet.

Public Domain Appearances
Fantastic Comics #11