The Washington times., 1937-11-29

Crawford tonight"
"Gable be damned! You mar
ried to me or to Big Ears?" Ter
ry snapped.
Now look, Terry, darling"
said. -Four months I've been mar
ried to you and ali you do is tel
me about your flatfoot days or
the force. I can always depend or
that Gable guy as a sort OF anaes
thetic."
Terry flushed, the way he al
ways does when I kid him about
his police stretch. Il wasn't flat
foot!" he yelled. Il was detective
"a first grade detective! Lord
why did you make women SO
dumb?"
The doctor warned Terry about
his blood pressure couple OF
weeks ago, so gave in. "Oh, all
right, you can tell me about your
Wombat-whatever that may be
on the way. And don't you dare
scream at me like that. Not in
public. anyway. Or do you want a
divorce?"
/COOLS OFF
That threw him for a loss. He
didn't Say another word until we
were ION the street and headed
crosstown toward Broad way.
When the night air had cooled
him off, he began again: We'll
the Wombat :"
"Just a minute" I said. What
in the name Of the Encyclopedia
Britannica is a wombat?"
Terry hesitated. why. wom-
bat is-er-it's some sort of for.
eign animal. Something ike a
weasel. It comes from Australia.
I guess. Anyway, that's where our
Wombat came from"
VERY enlightening, my pet.
Even if Clarke isn't up to par
I've still learned something to-
night" I said.
Shut up The Wombat was
one of those funny kind of crooks
He never tried to pull any big jobs
Just stuck to picking pockets, shop
lifting, and things like that. We
knew he was crooked. but we could
never rin anything on him.
"He was a nervous little guy
Probably a coke. Nobody liked
him because he looked like a rat
and he was plenty yellow. Some
of the big shot gangsters even
thought he was a stool pigeon. but
they had him wrong on that"
"And how did my Manhattan
Mountie get his man." I asked
pushing Terry out of the way of g
big Packard.
"Just take it easy, Will you?
The Wombat always had an ides
he'd like to make one big haul anc
beat 1t back to Australia. He mus
have been pretty lonesome in New
York.
We'll, he figured he ought tc
get in with the Geraughty gang
They used to be the slickest coun
terfeiterS east of the Mississippi
Nobody trusted the Wombat
any further than you could carry
an elephant, and the Geraughtys
were no exception.
But the Wombat had a good
idea, at that; he'd help pass the
phony dough, get his split, and
save enough to get him back home
AGING PROCESS
The Geraughtys had some sort
of process for aging the stuff they
make so that only a ~1ighty care
full bank teller could tell the diff
ference. In department store Il
was pretty much of a cinch, anc
the boys were sitting on to- Of the
world.
They only had five in the gans
and they split their territory anc
their profits. So why should the!
cut the Wombat or anybody elSl
IMP"
I'll ask you that" murmured
but Terry pretended not to hear.
"One day the Wombat hear
that Monty Reina, one Of the gang
is sick in bed. He thinks, here
a chance to get in good with him
so he swipes a bottle of Scotch il
Gimbels and beats it up to thei
Bronx hangout. The rest of tn
gangs out passing the fake dough
"The door is opened by Yvonnt
Kay, Monty's girl friend. Whel
she sees who it Is, she gets Ieery
but she lets him into the hous,
after q minute.
Now the Wombat Is q prett,
sharp guy and he noticed how sht
looks over at the radio in the cor
ner Of the living room as if She
scared. So he puts two and twC
together, and starts thinkin,
things, but he keeps his moutl
shut.
well. Monty takes the booz
and listens to the Wombat'
scheme. It's big laugh to Reina
and he tells the Wombat to ge
the hell out.
without returning tn
whisky?" I asked.
"Oh, shut up This make
the Wombat sore as blaZeS and h
sits down in the park and gets hi
big idea. For the next couple Q
weeks he watches the Bronx join
He's pretty good shadow, a
that, and none of the gang Spc
him. Finally, he gets his chanc
E and slips in and makes a wax in
preston Of the lock.
Then he beats it downtown
q place on Sixth Avenue and gel
himself a duplicate. So far. &
. good.
"If you knew the Wombat at al