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The Death of a Dummy (part 2) -- Smash Comics #57 (FEB 1945)

Last week, we were introduced to Egbert the Dummy.  Today, we conclude the story of Egbert's thrilling adventures with Midnight, champion of Big City justice.

Assuming himself secure in his hideout, crime boss Killer Kride is laying into his lieutenants.  This comes as quite a shock to the duo, who anticipated being praised for bumping off snitch Iggy the Pig.  They learn Kride wasn't ready for Iggy to be killed because "the Pig" was the only person who had the list of Kride's safe deposit boxes.  Though Kride's organization had millions of dollars of stolen loot, now no one knows where it is!

Wackey and Gabby first discover that Egbert has been stolen, and then, that their supposedly "one-of-a-kind" dummy was anything but!  
I guess the Hero's Code is like the Pirate's Code?


Midnight arrives outside Kride's hideout to the sounds of the latter's continued ranting.  Midnight demands the list of safety deposit boxes, and Kride (predictably) orders his thugs to, "take him!"  The pro forma fight ensues wherein Midnight--despite being both outnumbered and out-gunned--easily wins.  Kride pleads that if Midnight wants to beat the truth out of somebody, he ought to start with the henchmen.  Ever so slowly, our hero begins to piece together what must've happened:


After dropping the henchmen off with the local cops and essentially saying, "Lock these guys up, and I'll tell you why later!" Midnight hauls Kride back to Dave Clark's apartment, where our hero searches in vain for his pals.  This quest is interrupted by a phone call from Gabby begging Midnight to come bail them out of jail!  With Midnight momentarily distracted, Kride tries to make a break for it out a nearby window.  This is a mistake.


Midnight next hauls the now-unconscious Kride down to the police station with the intentions of: (A) dropping off the crime boss with the cops, and (B) finding out where Sniffer Snoop had placed the body of Iggy the Pig and finally locating the safe deposit box list.

As soon as Midnight enters the station, however, a bevy of cops spot him and assume he's just, "another wize guy with a dummy!"  (No word on why none of Big City's finest seem to recognize Midnight at point blank range.) Apparently, the Big City PD rank-and-file took pranking pretty seriously, because it looks like every cop in the precinct bum rushed our hero!  Once things settle down, one apologetic flat foot offers this explanation for their behavior:


After being showed the stockpile of "dummies," everyone (except, of course, Midnight) is shocked to learn that one is the actual corpse of Iggy "The Pig" Ratso (yes, we finally learn Iggy's last name on the last page).

We end with the cops making a gentlemanly agreement with Midnight to bury the story about how a precinct full of law-officers couldn't tell the difference between a corpse and a dummy.


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