Radio Mirror (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

RADIO M I RROR career over again, but this time with a difference. He became reckless, took crazy chances, seeming to delight in letting police catch him, then slipping through their fingers. He robbed the Detroit Daily News, getting a very small amount of loot, and afterwards boasting that he'd done it just so he could get his name in the papers. Vasbinder had become his closest associate, and it was Vasbinder who was with him one night in a speedboat on the Detroit River. From jawarski's story, which he told later, we can reconstruct what happened on that speedboat ride. Vasbinder was puzzled and anxious. He couldn't understand what the boss was doing, taking a ride in a boat at two o'clock in the morning. And Jawarski was acting so queer, so silent and mysterious. When Jawarski suddenly shut off the engine in midstream Vasbinder felt fear at his heart. "See that falling star?" Jawarski asked softly. "That means somebody's gonna die soon. . . . You or me, Vasbinder . . Wonder which it'll be?" "Oh, cut out the philosophizing, boss," Vasbinder said uneasily. "Life's funny, ain't it? Look at me — smarter than anybody. I done everything I wanted. I robbed more'n a million bucks, and when anybody got in my way 1 plugged 'em. And yet, where's it got me? I've spent all the dough Maybe I'm wrong — or maybe it's everybody else that's wrong. But I've made up my mind what I'm gonna do now." "What, boss?" "There ain't nobody can catch me. I'm too smart. So I'm gonna give myself up." "But — " Vasbinder stuttered. "But I don't want to give myself up, boss. I don't want to get caught." "Don't worry. You ain't gonna have to," said Jawarski, and he laughed. "Yeah, I'm going back to Cleveland, and I'm going into a little restaurant there, where some fellows I know eat regular. They used to sing in the choir with me back home — that's a laugh, ain't it? And I'm gonna sit there until one of them comes in and sees me and tells the cops. Then I'm gonna wait until the cops come and get me, but first I'm gonna kill as many as I can." "Gee, boss," Vasbinder babbled, "you're outta your head. You're nuts. I don't want to get caught." "Yeah, you're kind of dumb. Without me to tell you what to do they'll get you sure." There was a horrible sympathy in Jawarski's voice. "I'll fix it." "What you got that gun for?" screamed Vasbinder, his eyes on Jawarski's hand. "If I don't kill you the cops will," Jawarski said. "No, they won't — don't kill me, boss — " Jawarski laughed. "The next time you open your mouth, I'm gonna pump lead into it . . . Why don't you say something, Vasbinder? Want me to shoot you, Vasbinder?" Vasbinder was half choked with fear. "No — " he murmured. Jawarski pulled the trigger. He tossed the body overboard, into the river. Jawarski kept his word. He returned to Cleveland and went to the restaurant, where he ate with his boyhood chum. Half-way through the meal his friend excused himself and went into a telephone booth. What were Jawarski's thoughts as he watched, and knew that his friend was informing on him to the police? No one can tell. Those who watched him said that he seemed almost happy. Police surrounded the lunchroom, Ja warski waited until they were outside, then he dashed out of the building, shooting as he went, and wounded three policemen. He ran into an adjacent house, where he stayed until smoked out with tear gas bombs. Still he would not surrender. Half-blinded by the gas, he kept pumping lead at the police from a revolver in each hand. Suddenly he fell with a bullet through his forehead. THE police thought at first he was dead, but miraculously he recovered, and lived to be taken to the electric chair at Rockview Penitentiary, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, on January 21, 1929. The executioner pulled the switch at one o'clock in the morning, bringing to its end the career of the blood-thirsty egomaniac, the Phantom of the Coal Fields. Larry DeVol was a killer. He shot men down "just to see them squirm." Not only that, but he was so determined to continue his criminal career that he even dared to inflict terrible pain upon himself to escape from prison. Read his story — the story of Gang Busters' proudest achievement, and the second in Radio Mirror's series of this program's most exciting broadcasts — in the MAY RADIO MIRROR Just as as the Saturday Night Bath Washing your girdle only Once a Week WLfUit even nice girls are often so careless about their girdles? Girdles are constantly absorbing perspiration odor from the skin. Unless they're Luxed every day or so, this odor is almost sure to offend other people. Lux not only removes odor — it saves the elasticity that makes girdles fit. Soaps with harmful alkali, and cake-soap rubbing, weaken elasticity — avoid them! Lux has no harmful alkali. With Lux there's no injurious cake-soap rubbing. As every woman knows, anything safe in water alone is safe in gentle Lux. For Daintiness* •• Lux Girdles Often