Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

u Imvoc witli tlic cars parked in tlic quiet sitle-streets. Windows and wind-scieens were smashed, wings buckled and coach- work ripped to ribbons, whilst the very engines ilid not escape attention; and when the theatres a)]d night clubs emptied, the garage at which Bugs had called became filled wilh casualties for the repair shop. The outrage received publicity in the newspapers, and from that time onward motorists were chary of leaving their aufos in street parks. So the super- garagn in theatrcland prospered mightily, and Bugs drew his pre- arranged portion of the profits. J5ut Bugs did not rest on his obscure laurels. The fillip to the garage business was a mere beginning, child's play in comparison to the network of plans he was laying for the foundation of supreme power. About him he collected a coterie of daring and notorious men, scum of the underworld who recognised his genius for organisation, and banded themselves under his loadershiji—men such as Nails Markey, who had been through the whole, category of crime; Jimmy Kirk, the sleek, shining gvmmaii with the cold grey eyes; Arkansas Smith, whose talents had been envied in Chicago. The truck business provided Bugs Ray- mond with his next venture in the city'.i commercial life. lie olfcrcd the Premier (Jarriage Company what he was please.1 to eall "protection," and an imchal- lengcd field for its activities—^at his own price. The offer was accepted, and Bugs and his hirelings .^et to work. The Premier Comjiany's rivals went to the wall, or else went sky-high. Their equipment was taken over, or demol- ished overnight in the event of any re- fusal to sell out. A certain small oo'i- tractor with an oil-tanker, insisting on maintaining his independence. was blown to smithereens when the fuel he was carrying mysteriously exploded. In the space of a few weeks, th" a\ithorities Siiw gang-rule rearing its ugly head to dominate the city's indus- tries, and v.ero powerless to hold it in check. The forces of disorder were hard to locate, and harder to break, and Bugs Raymond was clever. Where lie could not i)lindfold, he bribed. Bugs waxed rich on the spoils. He .<poike in terms of "ten grand," "twenty grand," and oven "hundred grand," which meant tons, twenties, and hun- dreds of thousands. He himself, the former truck drivei-, could sec no linnt to the wealth that he might coin, the power that he might yet wield. Moreover, h<: took his place in Society. (Corruption, bribery, these factors com- pelled men who were prominent in the city's atiairs to hail him as an equal. Once he attended a mayoral dinner, at which judges, politicians and commer- <ial magnates were present. He learned enough to incriminate a good many of them,- and halfway through the function the smiling Jimmy Kirk and several others of his ilk held up the assembly at the point of the gun, taking private papers as well as everything of value. The affair was hushed up, for by that <'Oup the reputations of public men were laid at the mercy of Bugs Raymond. The following night, the hotel where he and his underlings congregated, Bugs supervised the examination of the articles whicli had been appropriated. "Say, Bugs," declared Nails Markey, producing a letter from the pile of loot, ■■ liero's a little love-note to one of our most prominent judges, written by a girl in the chorus of tho ' Follies.' That oughta be good for a few thousand dollars." " Nix, Nails—nix I" nnswered Bugs, August 2<Jth, 1991. BOY'S CINEMA glancmg at the missive. " We ain't blackmailers," he added with a twisted grin. "We make our money by protec- tion. Send that letter back—or, better still, tear it up. His wife might see it." Nails obeyed reluctantly. He was a flat-faced thug with a certain low cun- ning, but he had never been able to fathom Bugs Raymond's outlook on the racketeering game. Daisy de Lisle entered at that moment. She was expensively dressed, and looked singularly attractive, but Bugs glanced at her with impatience as she perched herself on his desk. In his rocket-like rise to doubtful fame he had acquired something that was yet to prove his downfall—a desire to ape Society and be of Society, instead of a parasite batten- ing on its flaws. That ambition had become the keynote of his career, and to him the racket was a stepping-stone to a iiigher plane. "Daisy, why don't you try an' get some class?" he protested. "You know —polish. Now, a lady don't sit around on the edge of a desk." "I never noticed any class about you" Daisy retorted spiritedly. "Well, I'm makin' a show at acquir- ing it," Bugs observed, and it was no later than the following day that ho received an added incentive for the acquiring of what he called "class." The city wore a slightly altered look that morning, for, in place of shrill- voiced newsboys, smartly-dressed busi- ness men were to be seen on the street corners selling papers. A stranger tendered a dollar bill to one of these men, and, receiving no change, com- mented upon the fact. "Oh, it's a custom of the city," ho was told. "Once a year prominent citizens volunteer to hawk papers and collect money for the newsboys' annual outing. Your change will go to the fund, sir." Bugs Raymond had once been a news- boy, and had not forgotten it. Conse- quently, he was one of those who offered his services, and it was while he was occupying a stand in a busy shopping centre that he saw a radiantly beautiful girl eniprgo from a modiste's and cross the sidewalk to a waiting car. She was simply but exquisitely dressed, and she carried herself with that unconsciously regal air of a girl reared in an atmosphere of luxury and good breeding. Bugs, with his class complex, recognised her as a true exainnle of High Society, and. struck with hor loveliness, he hurried after her. "For the newsboys' fund, miss," he invited, overtaking her and offering her a paper before she could reach her car. She smiled sweetly, jind dipped into her handbag. "Thank you." he said, as she .save hijn a ten-dollar bill, and then he opened the car-door for her. Before the auto had vanished into the stream of traffic he had made a note of its registration number, and later that day, when he returned to his rooms in find .Timmy and Nails awaiting him, he ordered the former to ring un the Citv Hall. From the City Hall licensing depart- ment ho obtained the information he desired. The car concerned had been registered in the name of Kenneth Stone, he learned. . "Nails," he said, indicating a fat volume on his desk, "look up that ' Who's Who,' and find out all yo\i can about Kenneth Stone." Nails picked up the book and located tho name. "Here's the Stone family's pedigree," Every Tuesday he reeled off. " ' .John Stone, died 1916. Founder Stone Construction Company, built new City Hall, State Library, Madison Trust Offices on Forty-Third Street, etc., etc. Succeeded by his son, Kenneth Stone, who now controls Stone Construction Company.' "But there's a girl," Bugs put in. "Yeah, she's mentioned, too. 'Dorothy Stone, born 1907, educated Cornell University and Sorbonne, Paris. Mem- ber of La.kesidc Country Club ' " Bugs stood up. He did not seem to bo listening. "Boys," he said, "we've been playin' around on the small-time racket long enough !" "Whaddya mean—small-time?" Nails demanded. "I'd like to know just how much we've raked in. What's happened in the last year or two. Bugs? We don't only protect the Truck business in this town—we own it now I An' there ain" a garage in the city that don't " " Wait a minute. Nails !" Bugs inter- rupted. "Didn't it ever occur to you that there are other fields of opportunity aside from the Truck business? Listen. I'm goin' to have this town at my feet before I'm through. We've got the Truck business—good enough ! We're in a position to lay a strangle-hold on every industry in the city, and the con- struction companies are next in line." That night Bugs Raymond a-ssembled his gang in a down-town club of shady repute. The Waging of the War. THE first act of a reign of terror was the wrecking of a skyscraper build- ing that was under construction on one of tlie city's busiest thorougiifares. A closed-in car pulled up outside the hoardings behind which work on the building was in progress. Jimmy Kirk stepped out of it, entered a gateway in the tall fence and looked about him swiftly. High into the blue sky rose the skeleton of the skyscraper, a network of steel that was a memorial to the skill of an army of labourers and the ability of a staff of engineers, a structure repre- senting thousands of dollars in capital. Near by, a motorman was in control of a crane that was lifting a massive girder to the very peak of the building's ini- luensc frame. Jimmy watched the girder jerk higher and higher as the strong links which grasped it rattled over the pulley at tho summit of the giant crane. Then tho ciane swung round on its base, poising the girder above the framework in which it was to be riveted. The motorman in his cab suddenly became aware that something was press- ing against the small of his back. It was the muzzle of Jimmy Kirk's gun, and as the motorman looked round, Jinmiy indicated the control-lover. "Pull her over!" he commanded. "Come on, let her go! And I don't mean maybe." White to the lips, tho motorman obeyed. .The chain paid out like light- ning. Down came the girder with a running crash, battering its way through those steel spars that had already been bolted into place. A thunderous clangour filled tho air as it tore through tlio framework, rending other girders from thoir rivets and carrying with it an avalanche of twisted metal. Jimmy Kirk dashed back to the wait- ing car, his mission accomplished. Outrage followed outrage. A newly completed block of ofTices in another part of the city was blasted by a chargo of explosive that demolished an entire wing of it. Work on a big dam up in the hills was stopped by a band of- armed men, who left after a hundred s