Show GED by COURTNEY RYLEY COOPER R 4 copyright by courtney ryley cooper service CHAPTER IV continued G there came the swift deep cracking of revo revolvers lers ers tint not one but a dozen a frosted door panel tingled and spread its crashing glass to the floor there were shouts the sound of many running forms the wild cry ry of some sinie one cursing above the clo clitter itter of gunfire a third shot took half the glass from the transom tin and with eliat the guard clicked the lock hick of the lie oregon boot swung to his feet and with a leap reached the cige cage door lie he ol it he swung it wide mide and darted through then with the over oner streng strength th of excitement cit ci ement slammed red it heavily behind him film and ran forth to tile the corri corridor doir not looking bark back joe barry moved forward the door had struck and rebounded too swiftly for the snap lock to find its receptacle now cow it swung wide to its full extent struck against its stop and then moved lazily back on the rebound A form passed joe it was the prisoner in the lie oregon hoot pint mit lie be did not seek flight ile he merely stood there and ns as the door came to the jam jain liis his big hand band closed over it meshing it into its proper position joe barry larra turn turned away like an animal lie ie had seen a cage door wide open before him like ilke an animal he had been ieca afraid to risk what freedom held for him wilder grew the sounds sound from out side i hundred i voices shouting now there were more shots frota from the side of the mezzanine corridor from the rotunda from the stairway where here some one evidently stood at bay looff out I 1 it was one voice above all the rest resl ries iles got a shot I 1 left I 1 you up there on the mezza nine pull down on mail him 1 then another voice sounded close in on him down doin there in the rotunda then a lone shot came from the stairway followed immediately by the booming of a dozen guns gulis the man in the oregon boot looked sift swiftly ly about him toward the policemen li cemen guards and attaches in the rotunda rotund ii struggling with the street mob which now as flooding into the building the big muscles of his right shoulder bunched joe staring saw him slowly pull back the door all rl right ht kid 1 he commanded lam it joe gasped the door had been closed let now it was open dazedly he understood that great hand had raised just in time to catch it and hold the hasp a fraction of an inch from its receptacle now it stood open beckoning lam it dut but you alel 1 the prisoner grinned with this lie ile eyed the steel boot on Ms his right ankle suddenly he scowled lam it I 1 said think yon can wait all dayl day I 1 his free arm went forth and caught joe by the shoulder whirl ing him through the door keep your head he whispered jam in with the crowd and iet I 1 et lem em ease you out mincing furtive joe reached the some one caught him by an arm swinging him angrily about and half throwing him against a crowd of others much the same as he milling miffing forms being herded by excited men in uniform out of the building therel there 1 a voice sounded malse it snappy out of the another policeman caught him and pushed him forward ile he half turned joe about so hint he could i lonk ik toward the broad castle like stairway stall way the crowd there had find parted for art an instant to reveal the spra sprawled ded form of a man A sleek man with form fetting clothing and gleaming hair the head was rolled hick hack the eyes open staring upon things filings they could not see lly ily nile fracke had find kept his boast lie had bad beaten dannemora Dann emora emorn go go go on dont stand around all day dayl I 1 they were moving joe again with a hundred oth atu ers rs keep shouted a poil policeman ceman get off those steps joe obeyed now ho he wits on the last tier now on the sidewalk keep moving you oft off the block 1 A mounted man had ridden to the curbing and was a gloved hand nt at the throng there off the he block joe narry larry ent on at the end of the block he be passed more mounted men a car rounded the corner before him its siren screaming its loaded with polk polke e men then a patrol went clanging by joe larry harry walked on within his brain there dinned dinnee and shrieked the command to run ills his neres twitched with the desire ile he could all but hear thal ali e words ruti run run for G ds sake rut but the man only continued to walk alk with the thousands of other free persons vho aho cluttered the sidewalks lie he only continued to look about him with narrow frightened ebes ejes lie be only licked at his lips and walked on far uptown an hour later wearied by repression his legs aching from tile the exertion which had held them to a strolling stride joe halted as lie he passed a small crowd before a radio store stoie e A voice was mas shouting at him from the throat of the loudspeaker loud speaker station police alarms during a desperate effort at freedom today at criminal courts building hymie frankc twenty eight new york gangster was w killed to shoot his way out with a I 1 revolver slipped to him by a confederate in the halli hallway av as bradke was being led from a detention room to the courtroom for trial during the confusion resulting a man ti believed also to be a confederate conf of frankes Fradl Frad kes ses escaped from a detention cage in maal magistrates strates court Us ills description follows joe barry menty four dark hair and eyes height five feet nine v weight one hundred and forty five joe larry carry looked up A few feet away stood a man in blue and brass diligently taking down the description in a much handled note P hemle bradke had kept his boast he had beaten dannemora Dann emora book the voice above ceased ceas ed giving way to the lilt of a jazz orches tra the policeman opened his coat and tucked the memorandum within joe barry licked his tips lips then they both walked on CHAPTER V INSTINCTS which joe barry did not know he poss pos possessed essed now had assumed control his brain was a turmoil his bis exterior calm lie wanted to run he wanted to hurry to a railroad station and catch the first train out of town ton but he be only wondered wandered along a side street looking in a window here and there at ladt li entered a turkish hath and walking silently to the clerks desk pulled out the money which faymie bradke had given him placing it to in the tin deposit boz boi which the clerk as silently extended him As an escaping animal seeks the camouflage of vegetation that will match its protective coloration so joe barry by instinct had gone to the one place and the one thins thing which for a time at least would mean his freedom ue lie did not know that the main ingredient 0 of escape was not the breaking of bonds but the actions which followed with the first tenseness of the breakaway over he slowly had begun to revert to the ordinary things of life which he be had kimen the police did not find him in the poolrooms pool rooms and cigar stores and speak eables which they searched as his natural habitat because he be never had known them the po lice in fact were looking for a rang ster a pal and confidant of faymie bradke whose hose hute hate of dan demora had caused him to h attl single handed against the enforce ment power of the greatest city in the world they were not nol looking for a man who did innocent things lic because enuse lie he was an innocent man find and whose mounting desire ever since lie he realized that freedom had been literally thrust upon him was to be clean jo larry barry longed for just that darlig life his one extravagance had find been the comparative luxury ul of it turkish sh will balli now i with the soil of jail upon him anti and the odors of the cell block still in his nostrils he had merely followed a natural impulse at the sight ot of a sign As for the clerk who aho handed him his ley key upon its rubber ring lie be was just another fellow with will a hanz handover over bearded soiled unkempt seeking tile the purl tying qualities of hent heat and aad soap snip and water after the pollution of liquor joe snapped the rubber band about his wrist and turned first for the barber shop all this had bad been done hazily almost subconsciously the condition continued until he stepped from the chair after the gance of a haircut a shave and a shampoo A crumpled tabloid newspaper neis paper was on oil a chair he sighted a picture on the first page passed it over with a glance then looked at it more sharply A word above the picture had jerked him to attention heavy black lettering followed by a bulky exclamation ESCAPED there came to joe the overpowering realization of this omnipotent tiling thing known to him as the police ile he had been free only a short time but the news of it was already established and old old enough for one of its carriers to be crumpled discarded eien by barber shop loungers every one must know him now he clicked his teeth with rapidly tightening jaws ills his barber had pressed against him in a survey of the photograph thero them guys are certain certainly lv getting etting free nith mth their hardware tre he said cold first thing thin we know steal the city hall tough baby aint her he then the barber moed on leaving joe barry still staring at his dmn photograph must the man be blind that lie he could not have seen the resemblance at last joe car bar ry glanced into the mirror the person p erson lie saw was not the in man an who glared at him from a rogues rognes gallery photograph on that tabloid page there was the difference between youth and age in noi inocence cence and granite hardness for the features of the man in the picture were liard hard with linte hate he had looked what the picture portrayed him to he be a sullen gangster hating his captors the face that he looked upon in the mirror was only tired and caged fagged a boy worn by grief alef and looking piteously at the world as if trying to understand the barber returned and handed him his check to be settled on liis his dep departure arturi from the big bathhouse joe parry went onward to the elevator and to the locker floor there to be assigned his bed to divest himself of its his clothing and to give his orders to the floor boy bos as he handed over his shoes for shining and his clothes for the tailors til lors iron the door opened to take him to the clatter and heat beat of the bathrooms deep in the basement no one noticed him the sweating men in the steam room the shouting figures which plunged plunge about the pools joe barry wondered what the rubbers would do they who had bad time to study men under their energetic ma gions but they only asked him after the soaping sniping and showering was oer if lie he would hae oil or alcohol finally lie he was back on his floor door and the boy was preceding him to pull back the blankets on his bed dulled relaxed for the first time in days he felt the soft touch of a clean pillow the smoothness smooth riess and gentle warmth of blankets crept about his shoulders when lie he awoke it was with the knowledge of new light fight joe larr carry y threw the covers from him almost excitedly and swung to the side of the bed it was as it if lie he had forgotten something of vast importance riis HIS subconscious mind was telling him to hurry as if there w was is a train to be made or an all engrossing appointment could not wait lie ile dressed and washed with the air of a ninn man whose minutes must be counted up ile fidgeted at the counter downstairs and wrote scratch lly on the account pad when the clerk passed it over for him to enumerate the amount of ilia his tips then lie be reached eagerly for the trifle less thin than ten dollars In liars which was due him and hurried from the building yet he did not know where to go he be did not truly real ize why lie must rush S so there was something to be done something thin to be done doine half halfway wIty down the block he halted his lower jaw sag ging that screaming thing with will in his brain was calling to him to run to run and because of that eliat lit ho only walked along tin an unnoticed early morning worker mo moving 1119 across town toward where lie he did dot cot know common sense rise held him from the railroad stations slat ions the very tact fact that these were denied him film sent him film into the subway and to a jersey city ferry and at jersey lie just walked moving whore where the lie crowd took him at last halting before the traffic he saw 11 suburb an bus move toward him indol unwarily unta rily lie he raised his hand in 10 sig not nal the big vehicle halted the door opened find and he was within hound bound anew upon an aimless alu iless jour ney others had gotten golten on walh him it had glen him time lime to think all the way he said to the conductor and handed him a fl cue e dollar bill ile he received change without counting it there was too ton much relief now to think ol of money precious though it might be ile he was moving where he did not care only that it be away from new york when the end of the line arrived joe barry stepped forth and looked about hin him with more of confidence ile he was away from new york and its canyons of buttressed fear here lie he could plan with something of calm early that afternoon lie he walked slowly past a bank in a small pennsylvania town and looked within wit liin this was to be his trial certainly bank era rs would watch the newspapers and be alert for the sight of criminals immediately joe fought against the nord ord lie he was not a criminal lie he told himself h in but he hu laughed bed mirthlessly it was a grimace and an expulsion of breath little more he was adjudged a criminal and he was be ing hunted as a crini criminal loal a murderer if that made it any clearer and what dif difference Terence did it make if in his own mind be knew himself to foe innocent that was bad reasoning it made him shaky then suddenly he whirled walking swiftly find and turned in at the door of the ban bank c good afternoon he said ard and waited the banker looked up oh hello he said and smiled sm 1 1 e I 1 back to make that other deposit d ds posit joe barry cleared his throat no im sorry ive got to draw out some money certainly certainly then the banker passed over a saving account withdrawal slip and made a remark about that most casual of things the weather after a time joe picked up tip the pen ills his hand band had stopped shaking then almost before he realized it lie he was out of the bank free and money in his pocket ile he had drawn only half of his deposit but it was enough there would be no need to take tak e the risk of going to the othor other hank bank all custodians of money mf might bt not be alike ile he had money in his pocket two hundred did dillars lars he could buy it a ticket all the way across the continent with that and still have something to live on after lie he had made the journey Us ills brain was filled with the thought thou ht of the clat ter of trains the rush and roar of miles slipping away beneath him strange cities where one could lose oneself ships ship at anchor looking for eager hardworking young men more and more glorious became the thought of the alie far away then it all was gone for joe carry barry realized that he was standing still half turned from the chipped sidewalk which led to the blackened rall railroad rond station before him was a wooden fence and upon that fence the rain wash ed tattered posters ofa departed cir cus a two days later joe barry stood on the curbing of a down goinn tow n business block in the quiet old town of frederick md aid his own troubles for the moment forgotten prom from far down the street there came tile the faint music of a band rising through gli the steady overtones of its bass drum with this the crowd ed cd sidewalks forgot other things in an undulating bulge toward the curb like the sweep of a wave |