Detective Comics #5

Issue Details

Synopsis

UNDERCOVER IN GRADE SCHOOL Slam visits his school's neighborhood, where there is an urgent need for a detective. Students' lockers are being constantly broken into, but nothing is being stolen. To unravel the mystery, Slam and Shorty join the staff, with Slam as a new teacher and Shorty dressed up like a student. They both have such a terrible time that immediately after class, they march down to the principal's office to tell him they quit! But then they meet Miss Cambel, the young and beautiful history teacher. Just like that, Slam and Shorty have a change of heart. On his way back to class, Shorty spots a man jimmying the lock on a locker. He pounces on him, and Slam comes over to investigate. They quickly learn that it was just the janitor helping to open a locker for a student who lost their a key. They ask him about the locker break-ins, which the janitor confirms, although nothing was ever stolen. Slam, Shorty and the janitor come to the same conclusion; the thieves were looking for something specific. The bell rings, so Slam and Shorty return to their undercover work. Shorty joins the other kids as they enter the science classroom. Three burly looking men are acting as substitutes for the day, or so they claim. When Shorty corrects one of them about a science question, he is put in the corner with a dunce cap. After class, Shorty overhears the three talking about a suitcase full of money. One of them stashed some stolen loot in a locker when the police were closing in, but they forgot which locker it was. Shorty runs to the principal's office to tell about what he heard. The crooks follow him there and hold them both hostage. The principal is forced to the intercom. Each student is ordered to open their lockers and look for a case, which should be brought immediately to the principal's office. A boy finds the case and brings it to Miss Cambel, who offers to deliver it for him. Slam meets her in the hall; he thought there was something suspicious about that announcement and was headed over to investigate, so he joins Miss Cambel when they enter the office. The crooked trio are there waiting, and as soon as Slam assesses the situation, he tosses the case to Shorty, who flees down the hall with it. The crooks give chase. Shorty manages to make it to the gymnasium before they catch up and flank him. Slam has followed them from behind and grabs Shorty while he's still holding the case, and uses the acrobatic equipment to outmaneuver the crooks. He lets go of Shorty and grabs the men in a strong arm-hold. When the police arrive, they find the crooks, members of the Blackmoore Gang, hung up on some swing ropes. The loot is returned, Slam is rewarded with a kiss from Miss Cambel, and Shorty with a kiss from old Miss Quail. THE PATH OF THORNS A long day of riding has Buck weary and stiff. He lets himself relax under the cool shade of a willow tree. Suddenly the sound of hoof beats makes Buck look up; a horse and rider top the ridge, and when the rider notices Buck, he swerves off the trail and disappears through the brush. Suspicious, Buck starts to chase after him, but is met with gunfire, forcing him to take cover. When the shots cease, he resumes the hunt, but the rider has given him the slip leaving behind only a torn cloth on a bramble bush that Buck takes with him. Buck meets the Sheriff just as he's leaving his office. Old Warner down at the Bar 2W range was robbed, and the Sheriff was headed out to investigate. Buck tags along, and together they visit Warner, who says that his assistant, Jack Darsey, was the victim of a hold up on his way back from the bank. Darsey says he didn't get a look at the bandit's face because he was yelling from a hiding spot, making him toss the money behind a boulder. As they move to search the bunkhouse, the sheriff suggests to Buck that it could've been an inside job. There was only one man inside the bunkhouse, Mr. Kane, and he mentions that he witnessed Dorsey sticking something under his mattress earlier. Buck sifts around underneath and comes up with a wad of bills. He shows Warner, who notices right away that it was the same amount that was stolen! A search of the ranch reveals no trace of Darsey, so Warner rounds up a posse to track him down. Buck is just about to join him when he notices an old black shirt hanging on a peg. There was a tear in the sleeve. Buck calls Warner and the Sheriff back to ask about the shirt's owner. Kane says it belonged to Dorsey, he must have been wearing it when he shot at Buck. But then one of Dorsey's oldest friends, Simon, spoke out; indeed the shirt was Dorsey's but he hadn't worn it in a week. But Simon did see Kane with it on earlier in the day. As the crowd rounds on Kane, he pulls out his revolver, only to have it shot out of his hand! Dorsey stepped into the room, having overheard the ruckus, he thought he'd lend a hand. After being questioned, he had headed to the telegraphers office to send out a wire. He just got a reply, Kane's real name was Lopez, and he was wanted for bank robbery. Warner was about ready to put Jack Dorsey in jail before; now he wanted Jack to be the new ranch foreman. Buck mentions that he should probably throw a new shirt in to sweeten the deal. THE CLAWS OF THE RED DRAGON PART 5 Witnessing the murder of the sentry momentarily shakes Bruce to the core, but he regains his composure enough to hide the body; if a corpse was discovered the house would be searched for the killer, and Bruce would be found for sure. He hides the body behind the folding screen in the library just as Joe Stucchi comes in with two members of the Tong. With the body next to him, Bruce waits behind the screen. As soon as the men turn to face the wall safe, Bruce inches towards the exit. They let out a yell upon seeing the jade dragon gem is missing. Bruce quickly steps out into the hall just as the alarms sound. He ducks guards, keeping out of sight until he reaches the servants' quarters. Then he is attacked by a guard in possession of many keys. These would likely unlock whichever rooms Sigrid and her father are being kept in. The man charges Bruce, who meets him with a swift strike to the face. The man tries to pull out his gun, but Bruce is swifter, knocking him out with a finishing blow. Three rooms are unlocked and searched before Bruce finds a frightened Sigrid in the fourth. She relaxes when she recognizes him. They move the unconscious guard into the room and lock the door so he won't be discovered. All that is left to do now, so it seems, is to find Sigrid's father. THE ELM PARK MYSTERY Two men are murdered in Elm Park, and the only witnesses, an old lady and an elderly gentleman, both describe a different person as the culprit. The officer on the scene contacts Luke, the local detective. He finds in the records that the victims, misters Brown and White, were business partners with a Mr. Green. He heads out to Green's office, where he learns that the three business partners had entered into a deal with Joe Black, another businessman who became ruined because of the deal. Black swore he'd get vengeance on the three of them. Luke tells Mr. Green not to take his morning walk tomorrow, and to leave everything to him. The next day, the police are hiding in the bushes while Luke waits for the killer to appear. He spots Black and lures him over by asking him to take a look at an interesting newspaper article. When Black is close enough, Luke signals the cops to arrest him. THE BALINOFF CASE PART 5 Bart Regan once again ditches Sally to meet the guys in the lab, who have figured out the message hidden in the statue. The experts discovered a cipher in the hieroglyphics on the statue. The coded messages they recovered should be easy to crack now. After they decipher the messages, Bart's chief sends him on a mission to New York to capture Olga and the other foreign spies. He's on the plane when the woman sitting across the aisle pokes him. To Bart's surprise, it is Sally Norris, determined to get an answer out of him: Does he still love her? He tells her that he does, of course, but his life now belongs to the US government, and she'd be putting herself in danger if she stayed with him. As soon as their plane lands, he tells Sally to take the next plane back to Washington which she agrees to do, albeit reluctantly. However, her plans change that evening while she is getting ready to board. She spots Olga stepping off a plane and decides to abandon her travel plans, opting instead to follow her. She hails a taxi and tails Olga to a hotel in the city. Checking the guest register, Sally finds Olga's room number and takes the elevator up. Before she can reach the room, however, a hand grabs her from behind and pulls her into another room. Sally is terrified until she glimpses the face of her captor: Bart Regan. He is understandably surprised to see her here since she was supposed to be headed back to Washington. But right now, there was no time for explanations, the spies were here to assassinate a diplomat and Bart had to stop them! He tells Sally to stay put, but she's not having it. Guns have been drawn in the diplomat's room. Olga and her two cohorts are about to commit a horrible act, when the door is knocked down by an onrushing Bart Regan. He grabs the guy with the gun, while behind him Sally grabs a vase and smashes it over the other man's head. An irate house-detective pulls out his gun and brings order to the chaos. The diplomat reports that he isn't hurt. Days later, in the US spy headquarters, Bart finds that both he and Sally will now be taking assignments together. The chief believes that she's proven herself capable. Sally adds that since they can't get married, she can at least keep an eye on him this way. THE DOPE TORPEDO There has been a startling increase in dope being smuggled out of the Mediterranean, aboard ships belonging to the Largo Line. Even with this knowledge, the narcotics division is baffled when the vessels arrive at port with no trace of any drugs anywhere. Commissioner Stone from the narcotics division tasks Cosmo with finding out where the dope goes. Cosmo disguises himself as a sailor and takes a taxi down to the Largo Lines port. He waits until one of the deckhands is alone so he can chloroform him and take his place. Aboard the ship, Cosmo performs his duties as assigned, while always keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Many days pass without incident, and then they reach the small Mediterranean port of Querida. As the crew loads the usual cork and grapes, Cosmo notices some of them are carrying up long round cylinders. He watches as the objects are taken into the captain's cabin. The ship returns to America, docking in New Jersey. The cylinders are moved out of the captain's quarters and down below deck. Wanting to learn where they go, Cosmo takes a chance and joins the other men in moving the cylinders. Down in the ballast room, the captain and first mate oversee as the crew safely lower the cylinders to the deck. All the crewmen but Cosmo return to their posts, he has hidden himself behind a large boiler. The captain and first mate step toward the aft area of the ship's bowels and press a hidden button, opening up a secret hatch. Inside is a torpedo tube, and the captain loads one of the cylinders. He adjusts the gun through an open portal and prepares to fire it towards the Jersey coast, when Cosmo rushes into the room with his gun drawn. He sends a message to the Coast Guard with the ship's current coordinates. The commissioner shows up later with the authorities to place the smugglers under arrest. Earlier, they caught some men on the coast, who were waiting to receive the torpedo-smuggled dope. MYSTERY OF THE WHOLESALE KIDNAPPINGS PART 1 Young private detective Larry Steele and his father, a former college professor and prominent psychologist, are poring over an article about a champion diver who is missing. Larry had spoken to the man, Johnnie Weston, a week earlier. He was supposed to start work on a new film. Larry puts the article away; tonight he's supposed to attend a party hosted by Andre Du Bois, a movie superstar. Larry arrives at the large stately home of Andre du Bois. Andre himself greets him, the other guests have already been seated for dinner. Andre is informed by his butler of a phone call so he excuses himself. But when Andre reaches the telephone, there is nobody on the other end. Instead, two tough looking men grab him from behind and drag Andre into their car outside. The butler, meanwhile, straightens up the room to remove any evidence of a struggle. Afterwards, he returns to the dining hall to inform the guests that Andre's sister was the one who called to tell him that his mother was sick. As a result, the butler continues, Andre du Bois had left the premises. Larry and the other guests start to file out, his instincts telling him there is something strange going on. Next morning, Larry is on the studio lot where shooting for the new movie is being done. The director, Bill Graham, tells Larry that he hasn't heard from Andre at all, and it isn't like him to be late for filming. Larry goes to give Andre's sister a call. That's when he learns that she hadn't called Andre at all last night. He and Bill rush back to the Du Bois residence, the maid answers the door this time. Larry asks her where the butler is, she responds that he never came in today. She allows Larry to use the phone so he can call the operator. He's not that surprised to learn that no calls have been made to this residence last night. It only confirms what he already suspects, that Andre Du Bois was kidnapped! The maid shows them the headlines in the paper, a boxing champ, Kid Riley, had gone missing as well. Bill wonders if the disappearances are all connected. Suddenly a newsflash sounds over the radio: The body of Kid Riley's manager was found mangled, just west of Chicago. It looked like he was thrown from the train. Larry and Bill head out to the airport to see if the butler has tried to skip town. A vivid description is given, and the airport management does indeed recall such a man. He had taken a flight to New York at midnight, so Larry and Bill make plans to follow him. While Bill goes off to call his pilot, Larry heads home to pack for the trip. He finds his father gone, and the maid tells him that his dad got a call from the New York hospital saying that his wife was sick so he took off to be with her. Larry becomes more determined than ever to get to New York! A MOST FISHY ROBBERY Witnessing some robbers escape after a bank stick-up, Speed follows them to their hide out on the waterfront. The crooks see him coming, however, and lie in wait for him at the bottom of a dark stairwell. Speed gets captured, his hands are bound, and he's left to rot in a cellar with a bunch of hungry rats. He escapes after managing to slip one of his hands loose. But when he reaches the top step, a trapdoor is triggered and Speed falls into the water below. Finding himself near the boathouse, Speed swims over to where the bad guys have their boat moored and hides in a compartment beneath the deck. The crooks appear with some boxes that they load onto the boat. They pilot the vessel to the market area without ever noticing Speed, then on arrival they carry the boxes up to the dock. Speed gets a hunch that he knows what's in those boxes. He calls the chief of police and gives them the crooks' location. Now it is time for him to wrap things up. He pulls out his gun and enters the building. He finds them in the room upstairs, they flee when they see him, all save one. One of the robbers tries to cover his pals' escape by firing at Speed. But Speed is quick to dodge and riddles the man's body with bullets. Speed races after the others, leaping into the back of their boat as they take off. With a lasso, he catches the two men in the loop and forces them to stop. When the police arrive, they report that nothing was found in the boxes except fish. Speed takes a knife and cuts into the fish, showing that the crooks had been stuffing the stolen gold inside!