Pulp Fiction, 1942 · page 96 of 116
10 Story Detective, July 1942 — page 96: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 94 from "10-Story Detective" This is a story prose page with an accompanying illustration. The text discusses a murder investigation involving characters named Raft, Gregg, Shor, and others connected to what appears to be a fixed horse race. The narrative reveals that Raft murdered Gregg by stabbing him in water, then changed clothes to cover his tracks. Sergeant Swanson and the narrator (apparently a police officer) discuss how Raft's scheme involved blackmail and manipulation of betting odds. The page concludes with the narrator announcing he's returning to vacation. The illustration shows a dramatic scene of confrontation between two figures, with one appearing to threaten the other near a doorway.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
——— the bad boys of the tracks. Shor had always been playing along with his fellow rats. They were set for their big killing tonight. “The trouble started when Shor, in a weak moment, passed on the tip to Betty Boyer to keep from raising a fuss ever his getting fresh with her. She could have ruined his club. She passed on the tip to Mark Gregg. He was never one to keep his mouth shut, and anyway he figured he could pick up a little extra by touting. “Raft heard about Gregg shooting his mouth off and it bothered him. The more people who played that double, the more the odds would be depressed. The size of the odds would make a difference of a lot of thousands, and there was only one way to shut Gregg up. Raft must have thought he’d done a pretty slick job, stabbing Gregg in the water and then hurrying into his clothes and getting back in time to cover the case with his squad. “The irony is he did it all for noth- ing, because Gregg had talked te enough beitors to force the odds way down on the machines. But Raft had another headache besides that. Shor, of course, had caught wise at once who had murdered Gregg. Chances are he tried blackmail, holding out for the entire haul in return for his silence. “Well, that could work the other way around too. With Shor dead, 10-STORY DETECTIVE—_—_______—_--__~ Raft would eliminate a constant black- mail threat, besides retaining for him- self the entire profits. Along with that, get rid of me, who seemed to he hot on his trail, and he’d be sitting pretty. If my throw of that chair had been less accurate, he would have got away with it.” Sergeant Swanson clucked his tongue. “But how did you get wise?” “Not exactly wise, but I considered the possibility when he came to my hotel room to cross-examine me. Tc begin with, you would have come yourself. My position as an officer en- titled me to at least that. Raft said you couldn’t come because you were busy at headquarters with suspects, and then in the next breath told me the suspects had been released. “And I didn’t like some of his ques- tions. He was trying to pump me for information about how much I knew about the rigged race. I figured there was a chance he was keeping an eye on me simply to see how much I knew or would find out. Then, when you told me over the phone that you hadn’t detailed him to tail me, I was fairly gure.” “And yet you went unarmed into that room with him?” I shrugged. “A trifle careless, I'll admit, but it did force him into a play that proved his guilt.” I stood up. “And now I’ll go back to vacationing.” MIiGoOo (C(O) S (C(O) im