10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 == direct traffic again. Remembering his. orders, he glanced at the bank. There - were cars parked at the entrance, but that was not unusual. The bank was a busy little place, even if it was far downtown. A big sedan was coming slowly down the avenue:‘toward O’Keefe. He lifted his big hand and held it there to allow cross street traffic to proceed. Suddenly O’Keefe stared at the bank in amazement. Men were backing out of it. Men who held sawed-off shot- guns ata ready position. The burglar alarm began to clang its warning, and as if in a mocking answer, the roar of guns broke out. O’Keefe slid his service revolver into the palm of his hand. He forgot all about the traffic. He leveled the gun, drew a bead on one of the gun- men and fired. The crook dropped his shotgun, spun around once and col- lapsed, “T got that one,” O’Keefe muttered. “Now let’s see if there’s another of them divils—” That was O’Keefe’s last thought. _. The sedan he had held up was beside him. A gun roared. O’Keefe pitched to the pavement. His world of seeth- ing traffic became a roaring mael- strom of sound, Louder it grew—and -slower—until for him, it stopped. O’Keefe was dead. IVE minutes later an ambulance - rolled up. Following it was an of- ficial car, siren blasting its way through the stalled traffic. Deputy Commissioner Halliday climbed out. He was followed by a slim, well-knit figure in plain clothes, “Never knew what hit him, com- missioner.” The ambulance surgeon 2 stood up. “A sawed-off shotgun used at close range did the job.” “Thanks,” Halliday said tonelessly. “Go over to the bank, doc. You may be able to help the other ambulance men. Some one has been hurt there g? 2 St — $n ; age nay nit: ye . ‘ z . ” zr A ° ne ~~ = Voth . = . e > et ge oy i Pe ~ ££. TNS Ses ane, . i Ze. soy Pe oe 2 = ~ - ie “s . - © Noe ee ee ae nf a, ~ = ee a f Seven, ~ 5 a fo a mit on Te Sete Se ee Se Ss a he Kg, .& Saige ne Suzy Se ae =i a, <> ~ = a fa-> as a a 5a % — panion. “I’ve known O’Keefe for many years,” he said slowly. “He was one of the best.” “That he was.” Captain Stone, the slender man in civilian clothes, knelt beside the dead man. “But look here! His service gun is underneath him. He fired one shot, commissioner, and O’Keefe was one of the best marks- men on the foree. He wouldn’t fire unless he knew his bullet would hit its mark.” — “Then come over to the bank,” Hal- liday said erisply. “If we could only find one member of this cursed Shot- - gun Gang, we'd get a lead on them. O’Keefe may have dropped some one. I hope it’s Johnny Murtha. My men have a strong hunch he’s the boss of that gang.” Gaping pedestrians opened a path for them. They walked into the bank and stopped in a moment of horror. Two men lay on the tiled floor. Both were obviously dead. A pale and shak- ing bank official hurried up to them. “It was that Shotgun Gang.” He licked his lips. “There must have been half a dozen of them. It all happened so—so quickly.” “The gang murdered those men, of course?” Stone queried. “Yes! Both of them are employees —friends of mine. Sanderson, my cashier, stepped on the burglar alarm, and they shot him. Burrows was a teller. He pulled a gun, but he never — used it.” “How much did they get?” Halli- day asked. “T don’t know. We haven't had time to cheek up. But I don’t care about the money. It’s those men—they’re dead. Can’t you police do something about that gang? It’s getting so people - don’t even want to walk into a bank.” Radio cars began to converge on the scene, Stone frowned as he turned to see them pull up. A uniformed ser- geant leaped out of one ear and raced inside. He saluted Stone. “We were called away, sir, on a shooting affair on Lafayette Avenue. | — comicbooks:c¢ <_