{"product_id":"2940013671478","title":"The Suicide Squad--Dead Or Alive","description":"The next in line for the mayoral job was Lawrence Hall, president of\u003cbr\u003ethe City Council. But, for some unaccountable reason, Hall refused the\u003cbr\u003ehonor. In order to avoid becoming mayor, he resigned from the City\u003cbr\u003eCouncil and left at once for Florida, taking his wife and son with\u003cbr\u003ehim.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt now became the duty of Judge Samuel Rotherwell, chief justice of\u003cbr\u003ethe Superior Court, to appoint someone to fill the unexpired term of\u003cbr\u003ethe mayoralty until the next election. There were a number of\u003cbr\u003esubstantial business men and civic leaders in Hill City whom Justice\u003cbr\u003eRotherwell might have chosen. But to the amazement and consternation\u003cbr\u003eof everyone, he named--Hugo Bledd.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat was how the Era of Terror came to Hill City.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHugo Bledd owned the Hill City Race Track. He was a disbarred lawyer\u003cbr\u003ewho had dipped his fingers in almost every form of shady activity. He\u003cbr\u003ehad been disbarred for conspiracy to help a notorious racketeer client\u003cbr\u003edefraud the government of two million dollars in income taxes. And\u003cbr\u003ewhen his racketeer client went to jail, Bledd had continued to manage\u003cbr\u003ethe vast sub rosa enterprises of the Big Shot. Disbarment meant\u003cbr\u003enothing to him, as long as he was able to keep out of jail.... And\u003cbr\u003ethis was the man whom Justice Rotherwell appointed to be mayor of Hill\u003cbr\u003eCity!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNaturally, there was a good deal of criticism. The editor of the\u003cbr\u003emorning Journal announced that he would ask the Governor to look into\u003cbr\u003eit. But that night, the editor of the Journal was accosted by a group\u003cbr\u003eof thugs, who beat him with a lead pipe and left him unconscious in\u003cbr\u003ethe street. The same night, there where a dozen other assaults upon\u003cbr\u003ecitizens who might have been expected to oppose the appointment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHugo Bledd was sworn in the next day. He demanded the immediate\u003cbr\u003eresignation of the police commissioner, as well as of all the other\u003cbr\u003ecommissioners who had been appointed by the preceding mayor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe also discharged a great number of the older policemen and\u003cbr\u003edetectives, claiming that the police department needed revamping.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen there began an influx of strange and ugly looking men into Hill\u003cbr\u003eCity. From all parts of the country they came--men with tight lips and\u003cbr\u003ekillers' eyes, men with guns bulging under their armpits, men who had\u003cbr\u003edone time in all the major prisons. Before the city awoke to its\u003cbr\u003eperil, it was in the grip of as vicious a mob of storm troopers as had\u003cbr\u003eever taken possession of a European land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of these new arrivals, a man named Rory Fenn, was appointed police\u003cbr\u003ecommissioner. Fenn immediately swore in a hundred of the newly-arrived\u003cbr\u003ethugs as policemen and detectives, raising some of them to captains'\u003cbr\u003eand inspectors rank over the heads of the old-timers on the force.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe next day, at the meeting of the City Council, a contingent of\u003cbr\u003ethese uniformed thugs was present in the meeting room. Significantly\u003cbr\u003ealso, seven of the thirty-nine councilmen were absent. Two of the\u003cbr\u003eseven were dead. The other five were in the hospital, so badly injured\u003cbr\u003ethat they would not be able to leave their beds for weeks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLittle wonder, then, that those councilmen present quickly voted to\u003cbr\u003epass all the measures submitted by Mayor Hugo Bledd. A tax was imposed\u003cbr\u003eon all business transactions in the city, as well as on all pay\u003cbr\u003echecks. The money derived from this tax was to be placed in a relief\u003cbr\u003efund, to be administered by the Mayor. In addition, Mayor Bledd was\u003cbr\u003egiven the power to create five hundred new appointive positions on the\u003cbr\u003epolice force and in other city departments, the salaries to be fixed\u003cbr\u003eby himself.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079648493808,"sku":"2940013671478","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013671478_p0.jpg?v=1763584332","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013671478","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}