The Washington times., 1934-11-03
CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI
We looked at one another sort
of open-mouthed.
This is getting monotonous,"
Duff complained, biting off q
hunk of tobacco. "Everybody's
work is pretty much the same
thing over and over, but I'm tired
| of walking into roomfulS OF
butchered crooks"
The catalog here had fewer
names than the other, but they
were bigger names. The SILVER
ing Kid was here-nobody would
collect all the reward money
piled up on him now; Darby
Mclaughlin, his horn trimmed
glasses crooked on his nose, ten
thousand dollars worth of dia-
monds on his fingers and tie;
Happy Jim Hacker; Donkey Mari,
the last of the boW-legged Mars,
killers all, father and five sons;
Toots Salada, the strongest man
in crookdom, who had once pick
ed up and run away with two
Savannah coppers to whom he
was handcuffed; and Rumdum
Smith, who killed Lefty Read in
Chi in 1864 rosary wrapped
around his left wrist.
No gentlemanly poisoning here
these boys had been moved
down with a 1890 rifle fitted
with clumsy but effective home
made silencer The rifle lay on
the kitchen table. A door con-
nected the kitchen with the din
ing room. Directly opposite that
door, double doors-wide open
into the room in which the dead
thieves lay. They were all close
to the front wall, lying as if they
had been lined up against the
wall to be knocked off.
The gray-paper wall was spat-
tered with blood, punctured with
holes where a couple of bullets
had gone all the way through.
Jack Counihan's young eyes
picked out stain on the paper
that wasn't accidental 1t was
close to the floor, beside the
Shivering Kid, and the Kids
right hand was stained with
blood. He had written on the
wall before he died-with fingers
dipped in his own and ToOtS
Salada blood. The letters in the
words showed breaks and gaps
where his fingers had run dry,
and the letters were crooked and
straggly, because he must have
written them in the dark.
A Lead
BY filling in the gaps, allowing
for the kinks, and guessing where
there weren't any indications to
guide us, we got two words: big
Flora"
"They don't mean anything to
me-" Duff said, but it's a name
and most of the names we have
belong to dead men now, so it's
time we were adding to our list"
''What do you make of it?"
asked bullet-headed O'Gar, detec-
tive sergeant in the Homicide
Detail, looking at the bodies.
Their pals got the drop on them,
lined them against the wall, and
the sharpshooter in the kitchen
shot 'em down-bing bling bing-
bing-bing -bing?"
ct reads that way" the rest
of us agreed.
Ten of 'em came here from
Fillmore Street." I said. "Six
stayed here. Four went to an
other house-Where part Of 'em
are now cutting down the other
part. All that's necessary is to
trail the corpses from house to
house until there's only one man
left-and he's bound to play it
through by croaking himself
leaving the loot to be recovered
in the original packages. I hope
you folks don't have to stay up
all night to find the remains Of
that last thing. Come on, Jack,
let's go home for some sleep"
It was exactly a. m. when I
separated the sheets and craWled
into my bed. was asleep before
the last draw of smoke from my
goodnight cigarette was out Of
my lungs. The telephone woke
me at Sis.
Fiske was talking: mickey
Linehan just phoned that your
Red O'Leary came home to roost
half an hour ago."
Have him booked" said, and
was asleep again by SIT.
With the help of the alarm
clock I rolled out of bed at nine.
breakfasted, and went down to
the detective bureau to see how
the police had made out with the
red-head Not so good.
Continued next Saturday.
Copyright. 1894, by Dashiell HampSt&
Distributed by King Features
Syndicate Inc.