The Washington times., 1930-11-10
Wh0t Hos Happened BefOre
NOID Go On With the Story
. CHATTER THREE

Ing. And on one OF the upper
I 4lO0Ts, the whole Of which he
! held out. was his pet hide-aWay.
There he smoked his opium pipe
veveEy afternoon. There was his
sanctuin saI1ctorurn. Even his
] most intim ate lielltenants
couldn't crash the armored door.
Here he had priceless privacy.
The d0ormen were gunner.
The elevator men were eunl1aen.
Inside the apartment an ex-
convict served night and day as
Ms valet. his chef, his Friday.
IIae apartment had no windows.
No neighbors ever sTnelled the
Aroma Of the fresh poppy in its
Gpulent odor or the aftermath
pf stale hop. Ventilation was
: nv c0rnucopi0s belling outward
I % the free air.
! When silk freeman came
home. In q rolltp desk that
: didn't even have . lock on it,
were bundles Of bills -banknOtes
currency: grands half-granGS,
C-notes thousand and thous-
andS Of dollars worth. He would
spend hours writing out deposit
slips. The money came in all
day long. The men who paid it
In attached little memoranda
TO sheaves. They never even
ss&W the face Of the man they
save the plumber to. But never
- dollar went astray in transit.
Efeeman's two body guards
/ dept there, too. They came
with him and went with him.
They were never far away
when Is the Broadway lights
began to twinkle he would loll
before Browns drugstore. in
the rear Of which he had q
suppressed telephone. They
never took their eyes off him.
He never packed a gun. No
punk copper or over-ambitious
assistant distri CT attorney
would ever give him a bum
fall like they slipped Al Ca
none in Philly. Even when Silk
Freeman owned judges and
bulls, he didn't trust them.
Sure Of Himself
He ran more big-time racketS
ia his head than all the rest Of
the metropolis put together. He
ykaS sure Of himself. He could
lay the hip" every afternoon
md float on the wings Of the
poppy and he could be keeneF
than bankers who wouldn't
have Lit a cigarette. He made
] men do what he wanted and he
made women do as he pleased.
And yet on this day. Silk
Freeman didn't have himself
under control.
In their graves in Chicago,
Kinky King and Goldie GoEiO
could have told him first-hand,
and fourteen other tough guys,
not the least Of them the Edge
water Kid-the only love Of
PClack Annie's red.headed and
red-blooded life could have
told him. But, wise as silk
Freeman was. he didn't quite
ret have the answer.
He did. But he tried to laugh
40 off In love? Silk Free.
MANN love? This man who
would cut your CUTS out and
count 'em up like pinochle
seArds-in love? Preposterous.
But-was It? With the mil
Lpn-and-one matters he had to
occupy him, his mind kept wan
dering back to Room eiSht-o-o,
! Hotel Napoleon. And what and
who was there? A crimson
crowned tramp from Chicago
who had eaSed In on him out of
nowhere. She had talked up to
him. She had played hard to
ret. He wasn't used TO that.
Who In hell was this broad
that she should distract the
perfectly oricntated noodle Of
: SILK Freeman? Who was she?
Never mind. She was In Room
eaght-o-o. And he couldn't drive
that out Of his famous skull.
was he hooked? Silk Freeman!
n. oh, it wasn't In the deck.
But, then, why
he strolled into Browns.
Ack to his phone, and called
the number. Annie was there
because she had no other
mace to go. She recognized the
voice.
''I'll be there In a few min
yIteS, fire-top," he said.
"I'll be In" she answered.
PRETTY up. We're goin' step
pfn'."
''I haven't got much In the
way of clothes. Where I came
from the men treat their babies
pretty, but they dom take 'en
shcppin' much. I'd disgrace
you"
A Free Hand
Downstairs Is q dress joint
It's run by q blister named
1 Imogene. I'll give her q buzz.
!; Go down an say silk sent you.
she'll fit you out like Peggy
Hopkins. And when I get there,
! look like MRS. Astor's pet pup.
IN 60 home and tux 1t up.
''Imogene win hear from me.
! said Annie. ''I'I be there like
o plush pony"
$50 win silk. Hop to it,"