Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-24

grllmbling at the gang OF saieblowers, VINO
acknowledged him as their chief after
their erratic fashion. As a rl1e, yeggmen
own to no boss, but over this gang the
Rabbit lorded it with sometimes murder
Gus effect.
The clan had gathered in Wilmington
10 suuander their easy money. The saiS
IN the express office at Kanger had ylel'.Iu * !
them n cool $50, 900 less than three months
apo vet Christmas Eve had come and
caught them broke, or next thing 10 IT.
The second story of Welcome hotcl
those "vepgs' considered theirs by long
usare and tall spending between raids'
when their pockets buiged with easy mon
ev. that went as easily as It came: vt
when the cops elsewhere were MAKING ID
too hot for their comfort.
A 1,eocrnan's money was "a good as any
m old Herman Hoppe, who kow-towed TO
al who spent freely in the Welcome
Christmas Day was but few hours of.
The gangs desperate financial situation
called for Quick action, and, police or no
notice. action there surely would have
been somewhere but for the Rabbits
mysterious attitude. 1t was unlike the
.averc" captain to let any mere point of
honor interfere with the profitable trade
be had chosen against organized society.
Inst whv he should have suddenly de
tcrmined, at the risk Of his commanding
posItion, among his reckless gentry, TO
apply the b axes vas 8 puzzle TO the est
'..s, spirits around hun.
The assistant station agent at Ulrlch-
vile had relaycd to the Rabbit that the
Town merchants were banking their holi-
1av rercipts for the night In the big iron
.,fa in the depot. The desperadocs felt
itc urce to get after that wealth before It
a-as too late, but
THAT Jobs gotta wait TIL after Santa
Claus IS gone, WAS what the chfei had
sad. And that WAS law.
The dishonest have their true romancss
as well rs the honest. And the Rabbit had
n,,+ ono over on his fellows. He had come
out of hiding long enough while the 'rope
.lfpt "a keep an old promise 70 Mary
Seflev. / girl from Portland $ east side 2
GttInclv celebrate his solemn occasion ile
had cracked the safe in the cast side rali-
wav station The pursuit was so hot the
lone rohber hurricdly cached his loot, and
there il Is vet The Rabbit thus tore HIM
self away from his lride II less than
week That happened exactly ten months
ago This very Christmas Ive
yirilant, h4Nh-eycd postal inspectors,
besides thousands az detectives constantly
On his trail Of this ''yegg king, made Il
extremely hazardous for him to Wrlte'
ere or otherwise attempt to restore com.
t.,-icatiors with the wife during All
,hoec months. If the woman had known
a-bcre . letter would have reached him hc
might have known all. As i was, ne
was left entirely TO lTvciy and hoPelGi
imagination But even that had 'ic 81
fAct az making this fuletide worth Whiie
and the first worthwhile one the SAFE
blowers had ever experienced since 'hosG
davs way back when Santa 0laus I'Slsseu
forever out of his young bic
The ranc. gathered around an old
.o1,a-e piano IN the second floor parloT q
tao fnrco,t and suddenly ceased Their
cIo,rDish SONG. The metallic SOUND Of the
old music box was drowned n babel q
laurht1r and shrickInc as the fabol'
,ntered dragging huge cedar blsh
" hats that ioT2 4 bonfire Hcrnan
ront stand FOR il. said Reds MulIlgan,
after the noise had s.1u-ldca.
Course not. he's ccln TO give US
Christmas party broke n Louie the
!" Party Is r5cl.t. hlt you guys Is fat
term yo,Irselyts, corrected the hAOoit rs
he set UP tae bush II front corner
Sfrs. Hoppe, vie oi old herHiail. 81.
slrx,Led the trimmings ior the lTee, ~
was rot consulted l.N Billie taa Ra'1lef'
,et3 had heen charged by tie fsAD3i1 VII.
- task oi rtIstiIng he 4ecoFteI.,17.
.Iba4s for the kids, RABBIT SAID the
rsrr leader when the Job vas done 70 ne
besf of hiz ability with the accessories a.
berd This announcement set some q the
bo,- Guessing. "Reds A0IAgan alone
took +hiS remark seriously. liz Xaz}4ely re-
called something ne had oncg oelo7e i4tlfd
tbe boss sav III hIs mystic iaahlon apodG
s.rna+riuonlal halter i hls unexpected
incident pest. the piano cLattered on
sysin and high reveirz kept pace WIN II Is
III Herman responded genero i7ty 70 ING
hoIdav THIRST aLd extravaganza o. il-S
s.conj-etorv guests Herman knew ne
would pct Lis and more besides vAen pay
eiav came. i cam not often u thle lo} %
hunted ypen6sh-Et- TIT when II d4d CON-
1t Wa usually :. golden shower
The Rabbits thoughts alone "5re lai
sv-ov Tbev wandered u Portland his
wife was there when be let, but there a.
po telling where sut aud TIE lud mlgnt pe
nov WITH the detectives digging IheAf
footst4ps and ntsrccptlug theu Inal-
Tho Rabbit laucsoreIcss and longing
fo- his own accounted for bs unWonted
tindlv interest in Ht'l Margaret It
ClaIr This child cNl-t cd in a rooIn on tht,
fourth floor Of = piace b last hTQ
etree, She had been coming 70 the Wei
come after her besoyted farler, whose tond-
ness for the Welcome b2r rye had many
Tunes caused him 10 gOrget the hungry
,ccuvants of the room around the corner.
Tho Rabbit had moro than once assumed
The mans place a. sole pTovlder. He had
sent basket after basket to the family
The neglected woman wondered who this
dear angel might be. Il never occurred
~ her that il could be the tougb-looking
stranger who at times had escorted her
bttle girl to the door when her father was
TOO deep in bus cups II the y Welcome TO
terforrn that duty himself
The gang was still raising the roof when
the chief gllded out alone, almost unob-
served AN the uniformed bulls In the
town seemed scattered ID the holiday
shopping crowd on Market street. Down
10 King street went the Rabbit unmolest-
I'd. on . strange errand.
Where the markets and the farmers
were making their killing he crowd was
iostling and fighting one another and the
uniformed cops were too buslly occupied
with the traffic alone to pay much at
tention to anything else.
The Rabbit stopped several times TO
kaze covetously At handsome cedar or
pine bush The utter futility Of the thought
IN hls mind at that des pcrate moment
truck him with force There were too
many cops around Turning around, ho
F,itgIt ms y-ay olIt of In eddtlDO cr1Isu