Murray Leinster, Ray Cummings, Victor Rousseau, R. F. Starzl, A.
T. Locke, Capt. S. P. Meek and Arthur J. Burks

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=ASTOUNDING STORIES=

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Mad Music

_By Anthony Pelcher_

The sixty stories of the perfectly constructed Colossus building
had mysteriously crashed! What was the connection between this
catastrophe and the weird strains of the Mad Musician's violin?

[Illustration: _In an inner room they found a diabolical machine._]

To the accompaniment of a crashing roar, not unlike rumbling thunder,
the proud Colossus Building, which a few minutes before had reared its
sixty stories of artistic architecture towards the blue dome of the sky,
crashed in a rugged, dusty heap of stone, brick, cement and mortar. The
steel framework, like the skeleton of some prehistoric monster, still
reared to dizzy heights but in a bent and twisted shape of grotesque
outline.

No one knew how many lives were snuffed out in the avalanche.

As the collapse occurred in the early dawn it was not believed the
death list would be large. It was admitted, however, that autos, cabs
and surface cars may have been caught under the falling rock. One train
was known to have been wrecked in the subway due to a cave-in from the
surface under the ragged mountain of debris.

The litter fairly filled a part of Times Square, the most congested
cross-roads on God's footstool. Straggling brick and rock had rolled
across the street to the west and had crashed into windows and doors of
innocent small tradesmen's shops.

A few minutes after the crash a mad crowd of people had piled from
subway exits as far away as Penn Station and Columbus Circle and from
cross streets. These milled about, gesticulating and shouting
hysterically. All neighboring police stations were hard put to handle
the growing mob.

Hundreds of dead and maimed were being carried to the surface from the
wrecked train in the subway. Trucks and cabs joined the ambulance crews
in the work of transporting these to morgues and hospitals. As the
morning grew older and the news of the disaster spread, more milling
thousands tried to crowd into the square. Many were craning necks
hopelessly on the outskirts of the throng, blocks away, trying vainly to
get a view of what lay beyond.

The fire department and finally several companies of militia joined the
police in handling the crowd. Newsies, never asleep, yo