Show FICTION A WOMANS PLAGE PLACE hi ma by JOHN T CAVANAUGH CAVANAUG II eo i 14 S 00 0 Is back man u 11 ging aging editor pepper drislane exclaimed as ho he licked clicked down the receiver excitedly ex c c police chief lawton had just shouted into the tha telephone this guy Is looking for blood dont take any unnecessary risks risk in the edit editorial 0 rial roo room m of the hartfield herald drislan e sat with his head in his hands arid and mournfully looked over his city staff two old men and seven girls thirty years in newspapers and this has to happen to me a chance to make head ine history and here I 1 am saddled with a bunch of sob sisters the Salus trl case had been spectacular ta ular from the start the self styled big shot of the numbers ra racket ket had challenged repeatedly there ain aint t nobody going to pin a rap on me this gazaros gaz abos got protection all the way to the state house and back and dont forget IM it but jerry cowan erstwhile re P portor lal star of the herald and managing editor drislane chose to forget it to the tune of pinning a 20 year federal sentence on the numbers king then the sripup slipup while waiting for the train that would carry him to prison Salus trl outwitted the guards slugged the marshal and was on his way with the news of his escape jerry and drislane knew Salus trl would be back the heralds constant and merciless headlines had bad galled the gangster bored right into his pride sure hell be back the reporter p orter told his editor and when he does hell head tor for our office first that was two years ago now jerry was on assignment in the pacific meanwhile the managing editor edito waited of course he was lumpy jumpy who be when each corner comer might turn into a hall hail of hot lead and now the chief of police had passed the word that Salus trl had been spotted in Bay wayside bayside side just 11 miles this thid side of hartield the managing editor was dismally fingering the last cigarette in ids his squashed pack when publisher jim feldhorn Geld horn came into the room drislane blinked his eyes and dropped the cigarette doggone if it another girl attractive and well built but still another girl gildhorn Geld horn hustled bustled the young women woman over to an empty desk and hurriedly left on a newspaper a girl reporter worth the powder it takes to to camouflage her nose drislane had bad exploded when the publisher unobtrusively attempted to install the last girl on the city staff all I 1 hear these days Is ive got an appointment with the hairdresser the dressmaker the butcher the baker these girls have an with everyone but me and their work he ranted Is this a newspaper office or a sorority house hous e chief said thin mike bales the papers only bachelor coming up to the managing editors desk im going to hop down to nicks for a shave generally mike shaved every second day and today was a first 1 darn muttered drislane were off again and take another three weeks to see who Is really queen bee of this hive the managing editors head was poked under his desk in search of his lost cigarette when a pair of shapely legs approached mr drislane he heard a feminine voice say id like to be assigned to the Salus trl case abruptly a hush fell over the herald editorial room and light expectant reportorial heads poised over their typewriters as the managing editor took several seconds to come up from under his desk in the face ace ot of the gathering editorial clouds the new girl bravely continued with her request and began to fumble with a gold locket which was looped around her neck the picture I 1 have from jerry she offered but got no further the thunder broke loose and drill lane hissed his lace face purple on a newspaper a woman he finish but resignedly collapsed in his chair with effort he continued feebly miss whatever your name ls is go get a manicure get a cup ot of coffee the managing edi editors tos head was poked under his bis desk in search of his lost cigarette when a of get anything but tor for right now just get As the girl hastily traced mike mika bales rapidly retreating footsteps drislane sighed even jerry cowan away out in the pacific is getting balmy on top of all this imagine his wanting to saddle me with his hill fiancee some upcountry up country jane who probably know a dateline from a clothesline gleefully he pictured himself setting up ambush for or the next time the publisher came in with another girl after an hour hodr of planting imaginary booby traps all over the newspaper plant the managing editor had mentally destroyed the publisher and all the girls on the staff a dozen times over just when he was halfway through his masterpiece of stuffing gildhorn Geld horn and the girls through the news press to be delivered as supplements to the 5 edition mike bales with a face full of lather tore into the room chief chief the reporter panted they just got him just got who when where drislane roared at the barber shop said mike furiously shoving a piece of copy paper into his typewriter ill have the story written for the last edition in a jiffy downstairs downstairs STAIRS the presses were A silent and waiting as the managing editors pencil poised over the reporters scoop nat former numbers czar who escaped local police two years ago today was captured in nicks barber and beauty shop on main street through the efforts of miss loretta hewes a member of the heralds editorial staff the story read the gangster who has hidden from the police since his spectacular cul ar escape from the united states marshals office in 1943 was recognized by the reporter as she walked through the barber shop to the beauty salon at the rear of the building miss hewes upon seeing Salus trl continued through the shop sho and left by a riar rear exit and soon returned with a squad of police officers the reporter said that she had identified the gangster through his picture which she had carried in a gold locket given to t 0 her by her fiance jerry cowan formerly police reporter on the herald and now on assignment in the south pacific 11 having threatened the life of bt my fiance Salus trl was a potential threat to my con conling coming ling marriage so I 1 carried his picture knowing that I 1 would run into him some day miss hewes said now that he Is captured I 1 know that I 1 can plan to marry jerry as soon as he returns 11 speechless t the h a managing editor scanned the copy then poising his pencil he be added to the message in the meantime I 1 will continue dinue working at the herald as as onolice police Fe reporter porter 1 11 |