The Washington times., 1930-12-02

lice Commissioner had sapient-
ly spilled that he knew who the
young woman was and that she
was a showgirl-but that was
only blind shot, because show
girls and gangsters are sup
posed to flock together.
Nc red-head on Broadway
missed her share in the scan
dal, and ach showgirl was pes
tered and ridden by reporters
and detectives. And few could
alibi their own private affairs.
+. A fearful Story.
Red hair became very un-
popular.
One girl got on the front
pages and into a police cell
when a beauty parlor owner
. told how she had ordered that
he dye her flaming red hair
black. She was only able to
clear herself after she had tear
fully told her story-and the
story involved a broker who
was married, and whose wife,
too, was uniting "a mysterious
redheaded showsirl."
X
Tommy Gillespie read the
newspapers and wrote his own
theories. Annie had told him
she had intended to dye her
incendiary red hair. And she
had told In, too. that she
would murder Freeman. OBJ
viously ST hadn't. But Tommy
believed that she had put him
on the spot, somehow, for the
murderers.
A Busy Bird
Anyway, she had gone the
route for him, her Tommy boy.
His enemy was tripping on the
threshold of hell. The girl had
not double-crossed him. Tommy
knew it. He would shout it to
a hundred million people II
necessary.
Still they wouldn't under
stand. He couldn't quite
either. But this much he knew
she of a dirty world had
come clean with him!
And how the D. A. turned up
evidence! He found so much.
everyone agreed that Freeman
had really lived too long. He
had been engaged in a compre-
hensive dope traffic-he had
smuggled Chinks-he had ex-
torted and perverted and cor
rupted-he was a very naughty
citizen! The police had clues,
the newspapers had lunches,
the prosecutor had plans and
the burg had a headache.
Wise to the Game
Frank McQuade, for 35 years
a police reporter at head
quarters, numbered among his
acquaintances more racketeers,
gunner, thieves and heels than
the chief of detectives or
bail bondsman. Hard-boiled,
cynical, wise. In his time he
had covered many murder n1ys-
teries-the Rosenthal Staying,
the Elwell killing, the Dot King
tragedy-the best of them. He
had dug up evidence in many a
case that his paper had never
printed. And, way back, years
ago, he had sat in at that con-
ference where $4,000 was slap
ped down to engineer the es.
cape of Harry Thaw from Mat
teawan.
On the morning when Silk
Freeman was laid out and Slith-
cred by slugs in the lobby Of
the terminated Victory Hotel,
and Polack Annie was copped
by a harness bull, McQuade
called his office from the re-
porters' room in the shack just
behind police headquarters.
There was q reason in q
thousand peoples noodles why
the B. B. should be bumped
off," he told his city editor.
HE was hooked UP in every
kind of racket in town. But
think the woman angle was
all cockeyed. You want
theories? Okay, boss-I'll get
you 40 good, alright theories
and everyone'll be surefi:e
and wrong = Yeah. 7
know it's a good story and you
can't libel Freeman"
So McQuade waddled around
the corner and threw in q
drink. And after he had taken
six he called his office back
in time for the home edition.
The Real LOwdOwn
Here's the real lowdown on
why the Big Boy was shot"
He explained to a rewrite man.
You mean killed-he just
died." corrected the rewite
man.
yeah? Well, here it is Just
the same: Silk Freeman was
running every racket in town.
And he was gettin' ambitious.
He was laying plans, big plans,
to start muScling in on the
muScler-from coast to coast.
He was going to let them work
their big and little rackets, and
he'd work the workers, big and
little. He'd already started in
on Chicago, and it was q tough
Chicago bunch that clipped him.
They did it in regular Chicago
style. He wanted to be the
racketeer Car and he got what
the Gear got. Capone's behind it.
III