Show 0 I 1 n club N VJ A M A N 4 too much courage by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter its a fine thing borsand girls to have one of those 0 is cast iron copper plated nervous systems that dont don t get all in in a litter the minute something happens steeplejacks Steeple jacks have them and so have structural ironworkers iron workers who spend most of their working day twenty stories above the street balanced on a ten inch iron beam playing baseball with red hot rivets ive always sort of envied birds like that for their courage and again at times ive been glad 1110 I 1 dont have nerves like theirs after au all our nerves are about the best warning sig nals we have and you know what usually happens to the guy who pay any attention to the signs take the case of bill woods for instance william H woods of brooklyn N Y bill an ironworker but hes got an iron ironworker workers s nerve put him in a burning building and my guess is that he t begin to get excited about it until the fire actually began creeping up his coattails coat tails im judging him now from the way he acted in that restaurant in brooklyn on april 30 1934 this adventure starts with a cup of coffee its quite a story boys and girls a story that starts out with a walking tour through the streets of brooklyn bill and his friend charley young had been taking an evening stroll and eleven found them at boro hall park charley suggested that they drop into a cafeteria for a cup of coffee before they hit the hay bill agreed and they crossed the street they went into the cafeteria took their checks from the ma celue at the door and went over to the long counter they ordered coffee and the counterman turned to get it but no sooner had bad he turned than he swung back toward the door and said the matter over there the first intimation bill and charley had that anything was wrong they looked in the direction in which the counterman was staring several men were scuffling over near the door then suddenly from the center of that milling group came the sound of a shott bedlam breaks loose in cafeteria following Follow mg shots in the moment that immediately followed says bill no one stirred everyone in the place had stopped eating and all eyes were turned toward the door that moment of indecision last long how the man fell over backwards and was still ever for suddenly another shot rang out loud and deafening in that enclosed space no one knew what had happened but you mistake that sound at that second shot bedlam broke loose in the cafeteria women screamed men jumped up from their seats tables were overturned everyone thought of just one thing and that was getting under cover everyone was running about in frantic haste to get a door between them and that revolver everyone that is but bill woods in all the hullabaloo he be alone kept his head and it nearly cost him his life bill looked around for charley he was gone evidently into a milling crowd of people who had run toward the back of the cafeteria and were trying to crowd into the washrooms wash rooms those who there were crawling on their hands and knees trying to get under a table bill noticed that and decided to get under cover himself there was a radiator with a screened grill in front of him and he dropped dow down n behind that there followed a brief silence punctuated only by the sounds sound s of st struggling ng men then another shot reverberated through the room that was when bills curiosity and his nerve got the better of his common sense he stood up to hakea take a look bill made a fine target tor for the man with the gun over by the door a man gun in hand band was standing back up against the cashiers count counter erg while half a dozen younger men tried to wrestle the gun away from him one of the younger men says bill picked up a heavy sugar container and hit the older man over the head I 1 saw the glass break and the sugar scatter over the floor but the man with the gun seemed invincible they beat him down they were too many for him in the end though and finally he fell behind the cashiers counter desk and then thinking all danger was past I 1 walked over to the bill walked over until he was within ten feet of the fallen man when to his amazement the man started to sit up the gun still in his hand rose until it pointed straight at bills midriff too late biu bill began to wish hed been one of those nervous individuals who had taken refuge in the washroom he stood petrified afraid to move he drew in a deep breath and waited to feel the bullet bite into his flesh at that distance the the floor miss man on timely arrival of copper saves bills life then the only thing that could save bills life happened through the restaurant door came a police sergeant with drawn the a pistol he got situation at a glance took deliberate aim at the man with the and shot him gun through the stomach that was the end the man fell backwards ack wards and was still A over backwards him red circle of blood slowly widened beneath more policemen came they began asking questions the cashier of the restaurant had been creased over one ear b by i bullet and y a one young man shot through the shoulder was I 1 lean ean ing against the counter trying to staunch the flow of blood they told the story the man with the gun they said drunk he had walked had been over to a table and accused laughing at him an another man of 0 argument started and the was when old drunk drew dr ew a gun that lady adventure stepped in and started S cocktails one 8 for everybody in the shaking UP thrill ws with the agu gun n house and d a deadly one for the man O |