St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1937-12-10
CHAPTER Is
(COnclusiOn)


slowly raised his hands. Clark and
Toots did likewise. Craddock's
face, as he looked at Clark, was
livid with hatred. If ever he had
looked at death, Clark knew he was
doing so now. So this is it, he
thought.
"You can't get away with this,
Interest" he calmly said. "There
are detectives downstairs waiting
for me, and they'll hear any firing
done here"
Craddock grinned evilly. "Wil
they?" he asked, and looked sig
nifcantly at the guns in his hands.
Clark allowed his gaze to follow
Craddock's and noticed for the first
time that the weapons bore silenc-
ers. T.,
"You still can't get away with
it. You can't kill us ALL"
"That's what you think, dummy.
1 am going to do just that thing,
believe it or not.
"These are stolen guns. When
they find your carcasses one Of
these rods will be in your hand and
one in your pals there. 1t will
look as if there had been little
misunderstanding between you
boys. Your friend out in the hall
won't be able to tell that he saw
US come in. Sam, here" he point
ed to the darker of the two white
men, "-sneaked up on your watch
dog, and his blackjacking is very,
very effective. We came in the
building by way of the back stairs.
Well leave the same way. One of
my boys is down there now to see
that we aren't disturbed. Pretty
nice, eh?"
"You still think of everything,
don't you, shyster?" Inky said.
"Just like you did when you sent
Charlie Simms up on that bum
rap"
ooh, so you know about that,
Ell? Who are you? Not that it
matters, anyway"
"Guess," Inky sneered.
"I'm not good at puzzles, and
you make one too easy to worry
about" Craddock looked at Allen
and The Louise. "My pals" he
said, and again his face went ivid
with fury.
81 couldn't help it," The Louise
sobbed. "These guys" Craddock
lashed out with the gun in his left
hand and hit the man a terrible
blow over the head. The Louise
collapsed with a pitiful groan.
"You are a brave man." Clark
said. He could scarcely restrain
himself. But he knew that one
false move and he would be blown
down by one of the guns in the
hands of the fish-eyed killers. God,
he prayed, for Verda's sake, don't
let this monster win.
But God seemed very far away
at that moment.
Craddock was speaking to Allen.
81 thought you were getting yell
low. I had you Swallowed and when
l heard you had come here 1 came
over, too. 1 got here just in time
to listen to most of your -
embarrassing story. 1 wish 1 had
the time to take care of you right.
I'd pour oil on your sinking hide
and burn you alive"
Allen looked YEARLY at his erst-
while master. Cali right, all right.
Go on and dish it out. don't give
a damn, anyway. I've done your
dirty work for you and I'm sick of
it. Sometimes I wish / had stuck
my knife into your CUTS, Interest.
1t would have saved lot of people
from hell. Like poor Mamie Lukes,
who is up in Lakewood dying with
t. b. because you wouldn't give her
five hundred lousy dollars to go to
Arizona after all she'd done for
you. And that kid, Teddie Diddble,
that was plugged in the back. He
told you he'd kill you if you ever
touched his sister again, didn't he?
How about Babe Drinkwater?
What became of him when he tried
to get out of running REFERS in
here from Philly any more?"
go on" Craddock said, "Have
your fun"
"Fun-that's it. 1t was all a
helluva joke to you, wasn't it, In
terest? Smashing, crashing, wreck
ing, running, dirtying everybody
that didn't do your filthy will. Yes,
it was all game to you. You've
got everything on your Shiny hands
from murder to light blackmail.
But there's one guy" he pointed
at Clark that's licked you. He
took the only thing you ever loved
away from you. And / saw your
dirty, rotten, maggot-eaten soul
hung out to dry when he did it! It