The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-10-07
Ga s s,!z1;k.I, So. &,S'5M!uahte1s
> By.VIRCINIA HANSON-I

seller had refused a twenty-dol.
lar bill, and so on, with the pros
porous citizen digging down II
the jeans and doing the favor.
1.-TWO Of our most sartorially ele-
CANT operatives began to make the
rounds. From station to station
and back again, going out, COM
ing in, watching for the little by
play. One rainy night about two
weeks ago they came down the
elevated steps together, and one
of them went into tobacconist's
to make a telephone call The
other was sheltering in the door
way against the rain when he
saw a little old man, his hat
pulled low over his eyes, come
out of drugstore halfway down
the block and run Spryly up the
steps to the station.
"On a bunch h was never able
to explain, the operative followed.
A train was just emptying itself
as he reached the platform, and
the old man, standing in the
shadow of a stanchion, was hand
ing a bill to a Hell-dreSsed, port
ly man. The operative bounced,
but he wasn't quite quick enough.
The fellow ducked into the mill
ing crowd where it was impos-
Sible to shoot, and the thunder Of
the departing train covered the
shout of warning. Halfway down
the stairs he swung over the rail,
dropped into the street and. duck
ing through the milling traffic,
darted into an alley and was
gone"
"But the operative sdD hint"
''He did, yes. The stoop, the
thick-lenSed glasses, were obvi-
ously a disguise. But the opera
tive thinks he would know him
again. And remember. we have
his fingerprints. Those two things
beat the jackal out Of his cover
TO new shelter where, to his un-
doing, a little girls memory of a
bugle call had already drawn our
attention"
Who Was Hep
You mean-here?"
L II mean here. ! was a long
time pulling it out, and I've
been a longer time proving what
/ grew to suspect. There were the
charred bills. At first it looked
like the end of the road. and that
our kidnaper and the ransom
money had both gone up in
smoke. That was the way il was
meant to look. Those twenty-five
hundred one-dollar bills were a
burnt offering to fate. But it
didn't work. Bad luck for the
murderer. Triple murderer. For
of course the man in the car was
murdered. too"
who was he? Immerman?"
Zimmerman turned himself in
at Corps Area Headquarters this
morning, after he read about the
last murder. He admits to having
robbed the taxi driver. He was
stranded in Chicago without
enough money to pay his way
back 10 the post. and If he stayed
overnight he woulA be marked
AWOL. That was his way out of
the difficulty. He says he meant
to pay the driver back, anony-
mously. Then he heard Adam tell
ing you about the insignia. He
had missed one. but had no idea
where ne lost it. That scared him.
But when he went to put on his
uniform blouse to 60 back to bar
racks that afternoon, there was
another one gone. And when you
saw him buying a pair at the
Post Exchange. he decided the
only thing for him to do was 60
AWOL in earnest"
But if the man in the car
wasn't zimmerman. tDho tDdS he?"
He looked at me. "You ought
to be able to figure that out for
yourself. There's only one person
it could have been. Therell be
dental records to prove it-there
was a plate. OF course. we don't
actually need those records. We
have also a baggage check which
was found under the insole of one
of Felicia'S shoes"
Felicia? But you said It was a
man! Gerald, are you telling me
that she-you don't mean, you
can't mean that it wasn't her
niece?"
Il think it was. at first. The
little girl Julia talked to-they
wouldn't have dared let the
Randy child talk to anyone. Then
Felicia took the niece to Chicago
and put her on the train for home,
and it was the Randy child she
brought back with her. Remem-
Der, Julia said hey didn't come
out to the beach after that, and
only took walks in the evening
Some sort of removable dye or
the child's hair, and a pair OF
thick-lensed glasses with bows
that were tapped with adhesive
under her hair. so that she
couldn't take them off. The little
| girl told me about that, herself
when I thought to ask her. Nc
wonder she couldn't see very
WE'LL Arrgh!" There was savage
ry in the fringed eyes now. THAT
Bridewell woman will 60 to the
chair, too, if I have my way
She's been groveling-Said she
agreed to the thing only becauss
her husband was going on witt
it anyway, and she wanted to e
sure the child came to no harm
But that the murders were don
without her knowledge"