The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rat Racket, by David Henry Keller

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Title: The Rat Racket

Author: David Henry Keller

Illustrator: Kotzky

Release Date: October 12, 2008 [EBook #26890]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE
RAT
RACKET

By DAVID H. KELLER, M.D.

_With Dr. Keller's genius for hitting at vital spots every time, he
now gives us a brand new idea and an ingenious solution. We hope no
racketeers read this story. They might, as a result, cause the
police some trouble. Fortunately, however, the racket has a flaw._

Richard Moyer, senior partner of the firm of Moyer & Perkins, read that
letter over twice before he called in the man who had helped him make
the importing of high grade groceries from England a most profitable
business for over twenty years.

He simply handed the letter over to Paul Perkins without a word of
explanation. The latter read it through and handed it back in equal
silence, but the hand that held the letter trembled.

"Just another racket," exclaimed Moyer, finally.

"Looks like it. I suppose we were foolish to start in paying for
protection. First our trucks were threatened; then the new building;
after that our best customers were bombed, and we had to pay to protect
them. Your son was kidnapped--and the police! They even went so far as
to advise that we keep on paying--and now this letter! We might as well
close out the business. All our profits go toward supporting a gang of
criminals who have muscled into every type of American industry."

[Illustration: They were running out through the picture. A crazed man
tore it from the wall.]

"On the face of it the letter looks innocent enough," sighed Perkins, as
he picked it up and gave it another reading. "Simply says that the rat
menace is increasing, cites several business houses where the rodents
have done a great deal of damage, and offers to give our warehouses
complete protection for five thousand a week. You could show that letter
t