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Several folks here already mentioned that the idea of grooming a homeless guy (including dental work) to be sacrificed for an insurance scam seems like a movie they have seen. Last year, the Justice Central TV network reran most of the Matlock episodes. There was a story with exactly this plot.
Bringing a guy in to a dentist and saying, “This man is a friend of mine, and he needs help with his teeth, Doctor. I will pay the bill” is plausible, I think. Where it starts to fall apart is when the groomer says, “Oh, and by the way, please make his teeth exactly like mine”
In the Perry Mason books, Della is a beautiful, feminine woman who is extremely loyal to Perry Mason and the cause of justice they pursue. Several books touched on the romantic tension between her and Perry. Paul Drake is a tall, loose jointed fellow who looks nothing like a private detective, which is one of the reasons he is so successful. He does some field work, but mostly runs his operation from a desk with several phones, in a cubby-hole office. He has a small army of operatives working for him in the field. Hamilton Burger’s private life was never mentioned, but he is portrayed as a big, barrel chested man who frequently rushes to judgement where Perry’s cases are concerned, but who ultimately has a fear of convicting an innocent person. The books had much more complex legal arguments in the courtroom than the TV show.
Not only that, but the reason Miss Varnish finds out who Shoulders is, is because Mrs. Shoulders has learned that her husband is a wanted crook, and is closing up her home, preparing to leave with her daughter. So she calls an antique dealer, to see if her furniture will bring in some much needed cash. And of course, the antique dealer she calls happens to be Miss Varnish!
This was one of the very first Dick Tracy stories I read, in comic book form. It remains one of my favorites.
So . . .Crooks plant the wallet on the body of the homeless guy, hoping for a false ID. Said homeless guy frequented the Church Soup Kitchen. Some other person rolled the body, but decided to anonymously turn the wallet over to the Church, with a note saying it came from the unidentified body in the park. This leads the cops to the very Church where the victim was known! I must say, that is a coincidence worthy of Chester Gould.
One of my favorite Gould coincidences happened during the Shoulders story. Shoulders, on the run with a cop bullet in his shoulder (!) has Beardsly the Fence drive him to a doctor at the point of a gun. But he passes out, accidentally discharging the gun into Beardsly and killing him. Out in the country, Shoulders runs the car with the body into a lake, which freezes over during the night. He hides out with an antique dealer named Miss Varnish. She learns who he is and goes to the cops. Meanwhile, kids skating on the pond discover the car under the ice, and they try to call the cops at the antique store. But Shoulders pulls the plug on the phone. So when the cops show up to help Miss Varnish, the kids think the cops have gone to the wrong address in response to their call. So they start hollering, which of course alerts Shoulders to what is going on.
Yes, but for some reason Panel 3 today looks like Tracy more than ever. I mean, the nose, the jaw, the eye squint, the grim determined mouth line. It’s almost as if Sir Charles is doing this on purpose!
Do we ever learn if this is embezzlement, insurance fraud, or both?
Horace said something to the effect that, while “revenge” on the insurance company might be nice, it wasn’t necessary for his scheme to succeed. He told his wife (?) that when she asked “Will we have to wait for the insurance?”
That was the only clue so far as to what he’s trying to accomplish.
I did too!