The Washington times., 1930-11-07


buildings and judges and Rolls
Royces and o borough president
and q bank or two; he was cut.
ting In on legitimate and ne
fariouS enterprises from hand
organs to ocean-going liners and
from heroin to art works.
He would finance anything
from a corner newsstand to q
stadium. He was in on the
crooked boxing bonanza. fixed
races and baseball games In
the bag: he controlled Q bound
less bootlegging system and
dope ring and gambling mon
opolieS; he worked with stock
swindlers and bond thieves; he
was behind the fabulous Grim
inal bail bond trust, and he
had a municipal franchise for
a fleet Of omnibuses.
FITTED LIKE A MANTLE
His nAonicker, "Silk," fitted
him like q mantle of that fine
delicate, glossy and fibrous sub
stance which first hung about
the fat shoulders of that fas-
tidiouS and fantastic Roman
emperor, Heliogabalus. Freeman
had fibrouS qualities Of strength,
personality and inelasticity, with
a sheen and gloss over it all.
They tear fangs from rattle
snakes with Q silk handker-
chief.
His eye was shrewd, yet Ian
gurouS. and it .mirrored the
congenital bargaining impulse.
His nose was delicate and a bit
hawk-like. His lips were thin
and bloodleSS lie rarely smiled
and never laughed, and his
smile was more feared than his
frown.
He was as mysterious as he
was notorious. Everybody on
Broadway knew him-and no
body knew him anywhere. He
hung out in two restaurants
(in neither Of which he had
any financial INTEREST," and had
private telephones in each: he
could be seen often loungiug
before q drug store which was
no hangout for any of his
class, and in Hotel Napoleon
(Which was his and where he
harbored never less than 30
gtrls-Some broke, some mad
over him, some so Stewed or
coked-up they didn't know what
town they were in) and in his
own armored apartment on
Park Avenue, in q building
which was his and where he
''hit the stem" and beautiful
girls cooked and lit his oil.
A Hophead
For Silk Freeman was a chop
head" The thrill Of the ex-
hilarating poppy had him
clutched. Each day at about
four o'clock he got the yenyen.
When in the Spasm Of the deep
breath from the slender pipe he
was shrewder than a railroad
president ever waS-normal.
Then he schemed out his big
deals and his broad campaigns.
And after that he slept. They
say he slept. No one had ever
seen him sleep. No one knew
when he slept. He was up and
about at all hours Of the, night,
and around again too, early next
morning for his StoogeS.
He must have had contact
with a thousand people every
day. Whenever he was, what
ever he was doing, strange look
ing men were pusSyfooting ir,
buzzing in his ear, handing him
papers or getting papers from
him.
He kept an office in one Of
his big SkyScrapers. There book.
keepers Tailed figures, Secre-
taries answered calls and talked
in the lingo Of the runaround of
trade. The names on the door
were blinds. The Big Boy, as
they called him (and it was alb
breviated to B. b. rarely came
there. His day wasn't long
enough. And when he added
the night to it, there still wasn't
time to live the lives he had
pyramided for himself.
His office was in his hat.
His hat cost $25. And it sat
on q 25,000,00O head. The
head had sandy hair, the kind
that would never grow gray.
He didn't know what he was
worth. As long as he could
dodge the inevitable asSaSsina-
ton which must be his finish,
he was a rich man. When that
would come, many of his assets
would die with him, for there
was no other man who could
juggle Silk Freeman's play
things and keep them off the
ground. He had neither wife
nor child to get rich for. He
just couldn't help it. He was a
gambler In his heart and a
loanShark in his soul.
He was no coward. True, he
carried two bodyguards. He
had earned them. He had
double-crosSed the world. He
had WEIGHED on all his debts,
straight or crooked; he had put
the hah-hah on his every
pledge and promise and obli-
CATION, figuring that a man
who served q sense Of honor
was a man who was afraid to
diSown 1t. He had taken what
ever came his way or whatever
and whoever he could meet IN
his way-and his pockets went