The Wingham Advance-Times, 1937-01-07, Page 6PAGE SIX THE WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES Thursday, January 7tH, HJT
^ff Off TIMA ff
by Lawrence A. Keating
■v*
SYNOPSIS
Detective Dan Colwell of the Grab-
cr-Vael detective agency is assigned
the job of shadowing McDonald
■whose wife fears gangster enemies
are ^dotting to murder him. McDon
ald is killed in spite of Colwell’s
watchfulness. Now, with McDonald
dead, the smuggling ring which he has
led has become disorganized. Colwell
risks his life to gather evidence by
playing one against another.
* * *
Dan replaced the receiver. His eyes
met the rich brown eyes of Helen
Fane, who looked questioning. He
shrugged. They talked of Otto Grab-
•er’s hunting alibi until
"buzzer sounded.
“This fellow won’t
long,” Colwell told the
be any rough house, I guess?
He moved to the door, peered,
through the solt and saw Sommers
with a hulking blond giant. Colwell
admitted the man, who clumped in
side and dropped his kit of tools, smil
ing the shy smile of Swedes. “I gat
right at it,” he announced. “I don’t
Stay, long, mister.”
“That’s right don’t stay long,” He
walked to the inner office where
Helen waited. She was burrowing in
her purse. Suddenly she whipped out
a gun.
look.
“Sit
The
steel beams. His flashlight slanted in
to the dark. His grumbling indicated
Ole was having no success.
Methodically the fake steamfitter
ripped one board from each beam
section. Methodically he dropped on
his knees and poked his flashlight for
a look.Minutes passed but the tab-
leau in the inner office did not
change.Graber had found the safe
empty,of course.
Finally Ole stood in the doorway
the corridor
interrupt us
girl. “Won’t )> r-
His face took on a hard, tired
down!” Helen commanded,
steamfitter, stepping cat-like
after .shoved a weapon into his back.
He hesitated, then obeyed. The
Swede without a word returned to
the corridor door. He fumbled a mo
ment at the lock and bolt and swung
It wide. Otto Graber sauntered in.
“Good work, Helen.” The florid
face of the man woroe a jeer and
his blue eyes danced. “How are you,
Dan?” He swung a thigh on Colwell’s
desk and sat facing him, “Come ac
ross with it.”
..Dan scowled from Graber to the
girl. He dropped his eyes.
“Quess I’m a sucker,” he said.
■ Graber leaned and plucked the gun
from Dan’s shoulder holster. Then
he got the second weapon from his
hip pocket. “I want that snow, Col
well, and we’ll tear up the place if
you don’t produce it, quick!”
“Forty grand buys it.” {
Graber’s face darkened. “You’re
asking trouble then? Ole, tear up the
floor. It’s likely between the floor
and the ceiling below. Sit tight, Col
well, because if Ole doesn’t find it
we’ll be wanting next to tear you up.
The safe,” he said with a wave of
his fat hand, “is empty. You forgot
to ask the salesman what the com
bination is. Just a front. But I’ll op
en it to be sure. I got the combin
ation easy — made out we were part
ners.”
Dan did not move or change ex
pression. There was a wrench of
splintering wood in the outer office
as Ole's crowbar began the descration
of the pine floor. A board here and
there gave onto blank spaces between
mopping his brow with his sleeve. “It
ain’t here. 1 bet it’s under’ the floor
in there.”
“No use bothering,” Dan suggest
ed. “It isn’t in the office at all but
you wouldn't have believed that be
fore. I could get it in a hurry in case
you brought the forty thousand,
Otto? ’
Graber leaned with a curse and hit
Dan on the head with the muzzle of
his gun. The steel bruised Colwell’s
scalp and hurt. Otto struck again
where the adhesive tape crisscrossed.
stay—not Helen either.”
“Aw! What’s the matter with
en? She’d have to wait for me some
where, anyhow. And,” he added with
suspicion, “how do I know you'll be
alone? The guy that brings the stuff
in ... I don’t want any tricks, Col
well!”
“There -won’t be any.” He fingered
the new bruises on his head while he
gazed thoughtfully at the girl, “She
does ornament the place at that. 1’11
tell you: I’m keeping my gun out,
see? You and Helen don't. When the
stuff comes. Those are my terms.
Take it or leave it.
Graber hesitated. “Hurry up,” he
snapped briefly.
When Colwell saw Ole across the
river on the boardwalk he picked up
the telephone. He looked around. “Put
your money on the desk, Graber.”
Otto did. Dan gave a number.
‘Hello, Ah Wei? You savvy which
Right. I got
no can read
((•
laundry Mr. Colwell?
’em laundry slip here but
Hel-
Sit down!” Helen commanded;
In
w * *
Dan turned pale, sucking his breath.
“Don’t do that,” he protested an
grily. “You knock me out and you’ll
never get it! Nobody else can tell
you, you fool!”
Graber rose and paced up and down,
his lips twitching. The Swede watch
ed from ;he doorway. Finally Otto
halt’ed, feet apart, hands on hips, and
the automatic still in his fist. “You’re
tough, Colwell. I never thought you
had’ much guts. But—” He sighed
•resignedly. “How soon can you get
the stuff here?”
Dan’s pulse speeded. He did not
, relish another beating such as Lefty
and Graber had administered in the
Kennebec Hotel. The question seem
ed to indicate that Otto knew he had
j met his match and that he had at last
concluded to pay.
“I can get it here in ten minutes.
But before I send for it, Ole goes.
I want to see him across the river
on that boardwalk. Just you and I
. DIRECTS SOVIET RAIL STATION
siiiM
Claudia Mironova ,regarded as art unit in the all-women staff which
expert traffic manager, is station* Moscow cites aS an example of the
master at Kutuzova station on the "equality** enjoyed by women of the
Moscow Circuit jRaihvay. She U a Soviet Union,
Chink. Savvy? Send ’em quick this
number' 1124 Lawyers and Doctors
Building. You know right one? All
right—quick!” 4
As he talked he shook the contents
of the.waste basket, scrutinizing scrap
after scrap of paper. At’last he found
an ordinary laundry slip with Chinese
characters painted on it.
Presently the buzzer sounded. “Sit
tight,” Colwell warned. “Let’s have
the deal over and no funny business.
You’re getting a bargain as it is.” Gun
in hand, he walked to the door and
after a preview through -the slot, op
ened it a few inches. “Thanks, Ah
Wei. Here’s a buck for your trouble.
So long!”
He brought the fat parcel back and
placed it on the desk beside the mon
ey. “Now Otto, don’t look so greedy.
You’ll get it. Let’s say you hand me
the cash as I hand you the package.
Sure this is the stuff you want?”
“If it’s the snow, the whole two
hundred and fifty grand worth!”
“Oh, it is, Otto, it is.” He made
the exchange and stuffed the bills in
to his coat pocket while Graber
breathlessly ripped’open the package.
He sighed vast relief. “We made a
deal, eh, Otto?”
The man straightened. “I’m heatin’
it.” He turned for the outer office but
Helen, rising, spoke.
“Wait, Graber. You're pinched at
last. I marked most of that money?’
He whirled. “Huh?”
“Graber, we’re federal officers!”
Color drained from his face like
wafer from an upturned bottle when
the cork is drawn. For the space of
twenty seconds Otto was paralyzed.
His fat lips twitched but gave forth
no sound. His arm around the pack
age loosened then contracted with a
crinkel of paper. He was stunned.
“Hold him, Irita. Her name’s Irita
Doran, Otto. Not Helen Fane,
“Sure, we’re feds, all right,” Col
well grinned. “Didn’t you even sus
pect it? Looks like we made a sweet
pincb-“penalty’s tougli on a witness
ed cash transaction! And the same
gag ought to take in your friend, Lef
ty Quillen, eh? See now why I made
the price so low, Otto—to have it
very, very attractive? Just stand there
till I get my bracelets?* He tagged
at a drawer of the desk. “Why, Otto,
didn’t you read what it says on my
front door? 'The Federalist? And you
overlooked a plain warning like-—"
Me had been over-confident — the
tremendous gratification of victory
after months on this most ticklish of
all cases, Graber’s passion mounting
faster than Colwell's words came out
made the matt a bulk He went be-
He could Scarcely have known
what he risked but he succeeded by
his very madness. „
Wham! Crash! •.
Helen screamed. A bullet flicked
Colwell's sandy hair and splashed
cracks in the outer window. The se-
, cond slug struck Dan's belt buckle.
It would have wounded him.
pact sent him off balance
crashed against the wall.
He came up with his gun
The office reeled with thunderous de
tonations, It was a cubbyhole of
lancing crimson blasts,
scream split all that sound,
glimpsed them struggling,
was bestial. Dan feared
again. He charged.
Graber’s gun arm crossed
chest. She was his shield,
flopped loosely, her chin op his wrist.
He clenched her with such ape-like
Strength that air burst from the curv
ing red lips,
again!
Knife-like
scalp. That
went down a
ness switched off like a light, a crum
pled a motionless heap on
It seemed years later
heard the insistent tinkle
Hazy realization came to
that it was . . the telephone. Then
he remembered the battle. There was
a pool of his own blood beside him
on the floor. He groped to reach his
feet.
Graber had got away. •
It seemed incredible. It seemed an
impossible thing! \
He groaned aloud. Irita was due
now for murder. That was positive
—and it would not be long happen-
cv I& •
"Hell.” Dan listened at the receiv
er. . His dazed ezes rolled. “Lefty?
VVliat? You’ve got it—already? Wait.
Wait’ll I think.”
Quillen 'had bis cash: he wanted
to come for the stuff now. “Listen,”
Dan .mumbled, “I—I haven’t got it
any more. Hold on—I know I pro
mised. But Graber came in like a
cyclone. I was talkin’ to Helen, see?
I’m crazy about her. On the level, I
am!”
He nodded. “Sure, I figured she
was nothing to you. But I—I want,
her!” he whispered hoarsely.
“Otto skipped with the stuff, grab
bed her to shield him backing out.
He’ll kill her sure. Listen, Maybe you
still can get that snow, Quillen. Won’t
cost you a cent. What do you say?
You know Graber’s ways! You must
know where he’ll head! Come on—
you get the snow, I get the girl. What
do you say? Take it?”
Again he listened, panting. Hope
flamed in. his bloodshot eyes. “Sure,
Graber flies—that’s so! He’s got a
plane . . .
“Right, Lefty. Meet you at the field
in fifteen minutes. Hell, I tell you
I want Helen, that’s all!”
He hung up. Clinging weakly to
the desk, Colwell uttered a prayer
that had all the fervor of his soul in
it. He stumbled drunkenly for the
door.
“If Lefty’s wrong!” he mumbled in
anguish. “If Lefty’s wrong . . .!”
They left their hurriedly chartered
cabin ship at Norcross, a city of con
siderable size. Ewing had no airport
nor even a landing field
the chart.
It was seventeen miles
The deal with a taxicab
quickly made. The two men sprang
in. and the car rolled away. Colwell
waved a ten-dollar bill before the fel
low’s eyes. “Keep over forty-five and
this is yours. Get us there in a hur
ry!”
He sank back. His glance at Lefty
Quillen made him ponder again for
the dozenth time, on the strangeness
of his sudden partnership. But there
was no other chance so far as he
knew. Graber’s camp was not in Ew
ing, and a man could search these
timbered hills for weeks aimlessly
without discovering what he sought.
Quillen would do: he was as anxious
as Colwell to confront Otto.
Their glances crossed, “Remember,
I get the snow! That’s on the level,
ain’t it?” There was ;m evil threat
in
The inl
and he
flaming.
J
Wellington Mutual Fire
Insurance Co. 0
Established 1840.
Risks taken on all clashes of insur
ance at reasonable rates.
Head Office, Guelph, Ont
ABNER COSENS, Agent.
Wingham.
Dr. W. A, McKibbon, B.A.
PHYSICIAN And SURGEON
Located at the Office of the Late
Dr. H. W. Colborne.
Office Phone 54. Nights 107
HARRY FRY
Licensed Embalmer and
Fimeral Director
Furniture and
Funeral Service
Ambulance Service.
Phones: Day 117. Night 109.
•
DR. R. L. STEWART
PHYSICIAN
Telephone 29.
J. W. BUSHFIELD
Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc.
Money to Loan.
Office — Meyer Block, Wingham
Successor to Dudley Holmes.
THOMAS FELLS
AUCTIONEER
REAL ESTATE SOLD
A Thorough knowledge of Farm
Stock. *
Phone 231, Wingham.
•
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M.R.C.S. (England)
L.R.C.P. (London)
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
J. H. CRAWFORD
Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc.
Successor to R. Vanstone.
Wingham . Ontario
It Will Pay You to Have An
EXPERT AUCTIONEER
to conduct your sale.
See
T. R. BENNETT
At The Royal Service Station.
■ Phone 174W.
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PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
Phone 19.
R. S. HETHERINGTON
BARRISTER and SOLICITOR
Office — Morton Block. (
Telephone No. 66
J. ALVIN FOX
Licensed Drugless Practitioner
CHIROPRACTIC - DRUGLESS
THERAPY - RADIONIC
EQUIPMENT
Hours by Appointment.
Phone 191. Wingham
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Located at the office of the late
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Phone 150 Wingham
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OSTEOPATH
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Office adjoining residence next to
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Phone 272. Hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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CHIROPRACTORS
CHIROPRACTIC and ■
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North Street — Wingham
Telephone 300. I
— -------------------------:-----------.--------------------------------;—;----------
shown on
the girl’s
her head
the floor,
that Dan
of a bell,
his brain
pain slashed Colwell’s
was all he knew. He
dead weight, conscious-
to Ewing,
driver was
the way he said it.
(Continued Next Week)
The girl’s
Dan
Graber
to shoot
Graber shot again—and
Motor .
slalom course
to 40 dognaos.
Visitors, after
Chemistry Master: "What is the
most outstanding contribution that
chemistry .hast ^iven tn world?**
$lMi “Blondes?’
tlOTEl.S
I’ltimbcf; “I made up my mind pot
to forget my tools this tlmci so I
left them behind on purpose?* —-
Smith's Weekly, Sydney.
Banff Prepares for Ski Championships
< '^r/VOUQUAV^
z . *
7 X
The spectacular skiing depicted
in the above drawing of Mount
Norquay hoar Banff .in the Can
adian Rockies will become an ac
complished fact nt Co Dominion.
■Championships of the Canadian
Amateur Sid Association to be
held there from March 5 to 8. Only
four miles by good motor road
from Banff, which is situated 4,«
500 feet above sen level on the
main line of the Canadian pacific
Railway, Mount Norquay is but
One of the many fine, skiing dis
tricts which is earning a world
wide reputation for the Canadian
Rockies. ’•
Competitors and visitors to
Banti! for the men’s Dominion
championships and the women’s
Western Canadian championships
.^aveaomo jplwwat surj^iHs in
store for them. The best Can
adian and American skiers will
compoto on trails and jumps dif
ficult enough to try the nerve of
the best of them, Pleasure, skiing
is particularly attractive through
out the beautiful mountain dis
trict. All the local and many im
ported amusements will fill in the
spare hours,
'With the assistance of the Do
minion Government, the slopes of
8,275 Mount Norquay have had
jumps, downhill runs, and slalom
courses built on thorn, equalling
the best in the* world, The down
hill run, starting 7,500 feet up the
mountain, drops 3,000 feet in a
mite and a halt dumps of ago
feet or more are expected from
the new jump built on the stylo
of the ones at Garmisch, der-
Miny, and lake Placid, The
is at anglo of 30
Entcrtaihmchv for
, ...... the day’s' skiing
programme has been completed,
will include skating, hockey
match ojs, curling, moonlight
sleighing and tobogganing, snow
shoeing, danclhg, itiid — of all
things for a winter resort — out
door swimming in a naturally
warm sulphur pooh
Tians are also being made to
detain some of the competitors as
guests of Banff to show them
other less .accessible but possibly
better skiing grounds, notably
Skoki, which is' 14 miles from
Lake Louise by ski trail} Sun
shine, which is eight miles by
motor and eight miles by ski.
from Banff; and Assihlboine,.
Which i* 26 miles by akl trail from.
Banff,