Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-04-09

the minarets and towers Of the worsa,a
greatest city. Ee struck q can bwlgdgng
rising like q buried giants ffmwer
pointing % the sky. II Scored kT,ke
room and office and, near TO the Son.
it discovered 3 man working En one
Of q brightly Tic suite Of offices
He was small but well-proportioned.
His hair was black. His eyes beneath
a broad. slightly jutting forehead. were
brown and soft. His nose was slightly
pointed. His mouth was firm, his chin
square. He worked at q large tahle
on which were three piles Of papers
and clarinet. The papers were depo-
sttions, affidavits, investigators reports.
transcripts OF testimony. He worked
as rhythmically as a machine.
he would pick up a paper and read
It page by page, instead OF line BY line.
Occasionally, he made a note. Finished
q paper, he would place it upon the
highest pile. Take up another. Repeat.
he had been doing that all night.
He was David HobSon, brand new
district attorney, swept into office on
the high wave Of his own efficiency
as a racket smaSher. Before the on
siaughts Of his keen, logged mind had
gone down the vice, labor, restaurant
and market racketS. He had sent 40
master minds" of the underworld into
the prisons for terms Of from four TO
SO years.
Because Of his virtuosity on the
clarinet and his habit OF playing it for
relaxation. the legend was that he had
played the racketeering rats into
prison. So he was known variouSly in
the press as, The Pied Piper" and,
The Man With The Pipes"
That morning he was indulging In
his favorite sport OF hunting through
~ =.
Top man, the man whose brains,
power and savagery dominated that
racket. When he identified him, he
stalked him through his "torpedoes,"
his collectors, his records even through
the men he had slain.
And having enmeshed the big ONE
he bagged all his satellites his lobby
COWS, his tools, his gunner in a swift
series Of raids These he put through q
course Of courteous but implacahle
which had become known
as, THE HobSon Singing School"
inevitably, they sang, giving damn
ing information through fear, revenge,
desire for immunity or a tightening Of
their sentences. And there was your
top man" in prison for a long term
and that particular racket smashed.
But the game he now stalked was the
OlggeSL ne naQ ever hunted. his name
was Michael Dale with residence on
Park avenue and he was a being Of
,wo personalities as distinct and sin
ster as those Of DR.. Jekyl and Mr.
Hyde.
Ostensibly. Michael Dale was one Of
he richest men in the worlds richest
.ity after having started life as g
tevedore. He began his rise as a minor
along the docks. He had
'ome far along in the organization
which had been pretty well smashed
n the election which had landed David
Iobson in the district attorneys office.
Twenty-odd years ago, Michael Dale
lad been a leader Of an assembly dis
riot But then he had forsaken politics
o amass fabulous wealth. Today he
vas a director in, but the real owner
I 80 immensely rich corporations.
he had one child, daughter,
.leanore. who had been presented TO
ociety the year before in a coming
ut party remarkable for its munl-
lcence.
CTO Be Continued