Show 0 Adventurers' Adventurers Club The Thin Edge of 0 Doom By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter of New York city walks alks away with r FREDERICK the blue ribbon today with a yarn that will curdle your yo blood make your hair stand up and bring you up put out of bed In m Inthe inthe the middle iddle of the night in a cold cold sweat And Freds Fred's s adventure show how the real hot not to is another one of those yarns that goes them to come com to adventures dont don't come to the birds you'd expect Fred served as a soldier with the British army in France and Belgium He got himself into many a tight spot during the war But But the big ad- ad adventure adventure venture of his career came to him while he was working at the com com- comparatively comparatively comparatively peaceful job of or medical technician It was on September 9 1932 that Fred received a call from a prominent physician summoning him to a case in m an apartment building on Park avenue When Fred got there ne he was met by a woman the widow of a wealthy New New York lork mer mer- merchant merchant merchant chant who told him that her son had been suffering from a men men- mental mental tal disorder and needed to be taken care of Patient Had Homicidal Tendencies The woman took Fred to her sons son's room He was sitting by a win win- window window window dow looking out at the street He paid no attention to Fred and ald when Fred spoke to him he got no reply but a vague mumble mumble and and a furtive look Fred pretended to be interested in things around the room He sort of hoped the young fellow might respond to that sort of treatment tre But the lad just sat in his chair and sulked and paid no attention to Fred at all About thirty six-thirty that evening the doctor arrived He looked over ove his patient and then he warned Fred to watch him closely He Hes s de developing de- de developing developing homicidal tendencies the Doc said and its it's hard to tell what hell he'll do But he may become dangerous at any minute So Fred decided hed he'd have to watch his step that night The evening wore on and on-and and still the young fellow sulked About midnight Fred persuaded him to go to bed A cot had been set setup setup setup up in the room for lor Fred but before he lay down on it he locked the door from the inside and put the key in his pocket He lIe waited until he was sure his bis patient was asleep and then he lay down himself That Doze Was Vas Almost Fatal Says Fred I was very tired having just finished a strenuous case that same morning and I must have dozed off That doze nearly cost me my life I awoke suddenly with a nameless feeling leeling that all was not well and there not two feet from the foot of my cot creeping toward me was my patient Fred says no words that he knows could describe the demoniacal fury of the young lads lad's distorted features And he says in his right hand was an OPEN RAZOR To say that I went cold with horror wouldn't be telling the half of it But that feeling only lasted a second or two Then I managed to pull myself together again The young fellow must have sensed that I was awake for forwith forwith forwith with a bound he was wa at my side His arm went up and started to come down again He lie meant to decapitate me with that razor But my left hand shot out and seized his right and I got a death grip on his wrist to stop the murderous swing But now the madman's left hand was reaching for Freds Fred's throat and there in m that locked room began a terrible battle The young fellow fought ought with all of a maniacs maniac's superhuman strength He was armed with witha a razor and Fred thought that sure enough this was going to be his finish Still he struggled and still the maniac fought on Nearly Split by the Razor He made no sound Fred says but kept spitting in my face as though to blind me Finally with a furious heave he flung me to the floor and tore loose his right arm the arm the one with the razor in it The arm went up and I could see the razor gleam in the light that filtered in through the window Emitting a grunting sound like lil e a woodchopper swinging an axe on a block of wood he brought that razor down to split me in two And then something else happened Fred says its it's a strange thing the way a mans man's mind and body will ordinate co-ordinate in a moment of stress lIe He put every ounce of strength he had into one great effort of pitching himself away away- out from under that descending razor He lIe rolled violently to toone toone one oue side and as he did his Ius right hand landed on one of his shoes Fred doesn't even remember thinking his next move out He thinks he must have acted almost entirely by instinct But he clutched at the shoe as a drowning man would a straw sprang to his feet whirled around and swung the heel at the mad young fellows fellow's temple He did id that tl at all in one motion motion and and did it so swiftly that it was all over before his mind mm half caught up with what he was doing The heel of the shoe landed landed right right where Fred wanted it to land The young fellow lellow slumped to the floor and lay still Fred struck him again gain with that shoe He looked as though the first blow had knocked him unconscious but he might have been playing possum and Fred wasn't taking any chances And then the fight was over Fred stripped the sheets from the young fellows fellow's bed and tied him hand and foot He fie unlocked the door and there outside were the the young oung lads lad's mother and the maid both of them almost frantic They had heard the sounds of the struggle but couldn't get through the locked door They took the young fellow to a sanitarium the next day Fred never found out how he managed to get hold of that razor Fred grabbed that razor raz r by the way and kept it for lor a souvenir of a ghastly nights night's ex ex- ex- ex But Ill I'll bet a lot of money he doesn't shave with it it e Service |