Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 25, 2025

is Horace Piltdown is the vic?…

“Piltdown? That old fossil? He’s a big phony!”

Horace needs to use his vacation time or lose it. No carry over days allowed.

Blame the company.

That’s one neat pile of unread documents!

Absentee “asininity”.

Why does this have the feel and look of a Batman story?

Good morning™, all!

Yet another character we are introduced to, but we can’t tell yet if he’s a criminal or a victim.

For those wondering/complaining about the word composed being use for the body, maybe it’s because it was found in a composed state not a “natural” state as it didn’t look like he fell down or naturally lying down.

Good morning™, Missing Persons ! ♪♪♫♪

Is H.P. masking benders by claiming out of town work ?  He must be away on work, separate from the company, or else boss man would be in the know and not questioning his absence.

O’ Horace we hardly knew ya, even tho you had a face like a horse.

Strange desk set up. Wireless mouse, wired keyboard, pen laying on the blotter and coffee in the cup for ye gods know how long

I’m betting Horace Piltdown has been put down and is currently on ice at the city morgue.

I am assuming that as Piltdown man was a hoax, I’m guessing that is a clue to the plot. This does have an Operation Mincemeat feel to it. And since the writer has an interest in WW2, this would be in keeping with the story. And is it a coincidence that the + sign between “Kreuger and Toll” would not look out of place on the side of a Panzerkampfwagen?

Of course, it could be all red herrings.

Keuffel & Esser!!! Now where are my old slide rules?

Need a program to keep up with this tale!

Today’s strip has me thinking that embezzlement is the crime. Ol’ Horace may have been in on it and eliminated or – more likely – because he is here identified as the only guy with a clue as to company finances he had discovered the theft and threatened to reveal the chicanery.

Hm, did this company used to make slide rules? (Logo looks very similar to the K+E of Keuffel & Esser.)

Piltdown, MAN! I wish I could be a missing link.

No kids, a slide rule is not a do not do rule for a sliding board!

“…and strange thing, he left his shoes under his desk….”

TELEVISION QUOTE

ABBOTT—-“When Lou was a little boy,he was accused of stealing 38 cents from the sugar bowl. And he ran away from home”

MIKE T HE COP—"That’s terrible. Where did he go?

COSTELLO—“Where can you go on 38 cents?”

ABBOTT&COSTELLO TV SHOW—1952

Okay,we’ve got a missing treasurer—-get out the old adding machine and start checking the books.

Now,what about the baby mermaid a guy named Barnum says he found?

A proven myth. Ohh…THAT onre Still…

See, that’s how embezzlement works: you steal, you shuffle off to Munsie.

1- BOSSMAN: Can we get rid of the Luftwaffe emblem on our sign? It kind of sends the wrong message now that we’ve privatized the STATE PSYCHOPATHIC HOSPITAL and our most famous “customer” is Nazi-wannabe, Fred Junior…

2- : … And why haven’t you approved all of these Forced Commitment Requests yet, Piltdown??? We got beds to fill and Thorazine to sell…

3- : …And if you’re not going to drink that coffee, I will! We don’t waste anything around here, Piltdown! Piltdown? I could a swore I saw him there a second ago…

Did Kreuger & Toll take over the State Psychopathic Hospital? Or were they both designed by the same architect and protected by the same security company? (OR is Sir Carlos saving time by NOT sparing the eraser?)

The company was split into two companies, a holding company and a construction company. Krueger and Toll were known as “The Match Kings” because several of their companies produced matches. Kreuger committed suicide and the investment company went bankrupt in 1932. It took 9 years to go through the company’s books to discover all of the rat’s nest of shady deals and was a big scandal. The construction company survived under the name of Toll Construction for a short time longer but was purchased by another Swedish company in 1968. One of their companies, Swedish Match, survives till this day and has a web page.