Books › Blue Book v055 n01 [1932-05], 1932 › scan 78
Scan 78
Blue Book v055 n01 [1932-05], 1932
40 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1limp body and scrambled to his feet. The street was now a bedlam. Children were screaming. Women who had rushed from various doorways were adding their shrieks to the tumult, and men were cursing. A crowd was gathering rapidly. The shrill blast of a police whistle tore the air. The tall young man stood for a moment staring down at the form of a little girl writhing on the dirty sidewalk. The tall youth was kneeling beside the wounded child when two policemen came pounding up with drawn guns. . . .
3Presently an ambulance had come and gone, bearing three wounded children to the emergency hospital. Two stalwart policemen stood guard over the still form of the murdered boy on the steps, and a patrol wagon clanged away with the tall youth and his suitcase inside.
5Less than a dozen blocks away four men stepped from a big closed car parked at the curb and walked casually away. One of them carried a violin-case. . . .
7In the private office of Lieutenant Lucius Gardner, the tall young man sat in a chair before Gardner's desk. The bullet-riddled suitcase, now open, lay upon the desk, and a brace of revolvers lay beside it. Half an hour had passed since the tall youth had finished telling his story of what had happened before the house on Fourteenth Street.
9The door of the office opened, and a man entered, laid some papers and photographs on the Lieutenant's desk and departed. The detective picked up the things the man had brought and scrutinized them closely. His eyes then lifted to the face of the tall youth.
11"So," said Gardner grimly, "your name is Allan Vare, eh? And you haven't the slightest idea who tried to rub you out awhile ago, nor why?"
13"That's right," nodded the tall youth.
15"Cut it out, you rat!" snapped Gardner. He rose and thrust a rogue's-gallery photograph across the desk, holding it before the eyes of the chap who had declared his name to be Allan Vare. "What good do you think it's going to do you to keep up a bluff? I suppose this aint your mug, 'Gun' Shelton, alias Thomas Horner? I suppose you didn't finish a two-year stretch in Atlanta about six months ago?"
17"You suppose correctly," retorted the youth. "That picture looks a lot like me, I'll admit, but my name is Allan Vare. I hail from Griswold, Iowa, originally, and I was never in jail anywhere in my life. I only arrived in New York from Oklahoma this afternoon. I'm a peaceable citizen and—"
19"That looks like you are a peaceable citizen," interrupted the detective, pointing a big finger at the two walnut-handled forty-five revolvers lying on the desk. "I suppose you use them things for watch fobs or paper-weights."
21"I've been with a Wild West show all summer," stated the youth in an unruffled voice. "I'm handy with guns and horses—always have been. I went with the show to earn money to pay for the winter at the University here. I intend to finish my course in civil engineering this term."
23"Yeah?" sneered Gardner. "Well, bozo, here is your picture and description. If you won't come clean before seeing them, maybe your fingerprints will do the trick."
25"You have the fingerprints of this—this hard guy you claim I am?" asked the tall youngster with eagerness.
27"Don't you remember when they were taken?" jeered the detective. "My, my, what a rotten memory you must have."
29"I'm getting rather tired of this," retorted the youth, flushing a little. "Suppose you take my fingerprints right now and get this over with? I've got things to do."
31"Oh, have you?" inquired Gardner. "All right, bozo. Come along."
33FIFTEEN minutes later they were back in the private office. There was a worried, mystified expression on the detective's face. The fingerprints of Gun Shelton taken from the files were in no way like those of the tall youth.
35"Looks like you win, guy," growled Gardner. "But by thunder, you were sure cast in the same mold as Gun Shelton—and that's tough luck for you."
37"How so?"
39"The birds who tried to burn you down this afternoon thought they were pouring lead into Gun Shelton," replied Gardner. "You can bet your life on that. As soon as they learn from the papers that they didn't get you, they'll be having another try at it. Nature sure did you a dirty trick when she gave you that face. If you'll take some good advice, you'll get out of this town and get quick. That is, if you want to stay healthy."
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.