10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

94—______—_____10-STORY DETECTIVE out of a tug on the end of his line that I got when I felt that film go taut in my hand. I damned near shouted out loud. For a minute I was so panicky I couldn’t think what to do. Then I gave the film a little jerk. There was a moment’s pause; then the jerk was returned. I let go. I had a terrible desire, then, to ‘fling up the window, stick my head out, and find out who had grabbed the film. Would he hold it to the light and see what it was? If he did, would he recognize it as the celebrated bank robbery that had been in the papers for the last two days? Would he know enough to go to the police with it? Would he remember what apartment window it had been hanging from? I almost went nuts asking myself these questions. I couldn’t sit by the window any longer, so I got up and paced the room. This made the gang - gore, so I grabbed myself a pint and began nursing it. I had to do some- thing to keep from going crazy. Time seemed like something gone dead. My nerves grew like tight hot wires inside of me. The poker game went on and on, the men completely oblivious to the suspense that gnawed at my insides. I think I was just about on the verge of some screwball move when the knock came on the door. Hard and sharp it was. The room went suddenly quiet. The expression on the faces of the men rélaxed to a general deadpan stare. They gawked at each other like a lot of fishes. Jake growled in an un- dertone: “Who the heil is that?” Instantly there was a wild scram- bling for guns. The card table col- lapsed, sending cards, bottles, glasses, ash trays crashing to the floor. Like cornered rats, a group of the men made a rush for the kitchen door. There was a fire escape in the back. Some one in the hall outside began a series of driving crashes at the door. Hammy and another man _ grabbed Tommy-guns and sent with- ering waves of bullets splintering through it, Jake began screaming in- structions in all directions. I heard the sickening sounds of breaking glass coming from the kitchen. Just about then [I decided I ought to be doing something to distinguish myself from these crooks when the - cops came in. Otherwise they’d blast ‘me off the map with the rest of them. I made a leap at Jake Kroll. He was the nearest to me. We grappled. Hammy wheeled upon us. “That’s the stinking stool pigeon that’s re- sponsible!” he snarled. “I know it— Jake—those films—” He swung his gun around, waist . high. A spray of bullets whizzed past my ear. Kroll attempted to conk me with the butt of his Luger pistol. He was cursing like a madman. I got one arm around his neck, strained, and the two of us reeled dizzily to the floor. He landed on top, and his weight sent the breath out of my body in one convulsive blast. Then more bodies began to pile up on top of us. Just before I passed out, I heard Hammy shrieking about try- ing to get a bead on me. Just after that, I guess, the room became full of COps. That's the whole story. I’m glad Shorty’s widow is being taken care of with the news reel proceeds of that film. I knew those pictures would be worth plenty. They were worth a lot to me—proved I didn’t fire a single shot during the holdup. Besides that, they were the means of my meeting Gloria—er—Miss Hodge, here. It was funny. When I woke up in the hospital they told me about this gal that grabbed the film and took it to the cops. They asked me if I’d like to meet her. She came to see how I was getting along. Of course I was crazy to see her. She’d saved my life. Imagine my surprise when she came in—young, beautiful, everything! As for this reward money, well, I guess I can use it. In fact I know I can use it. There’s an awful lot of swell places around this city to take a girl like Gloria! Comichbooks (E()