• e 1 Ver eet ( wA.merican Legion Edition) J WITHDRAW 'FOR EXCH - iiLIBRARt OE Q.ONGRESS ~omaf}{ !/nCtS" ki n .Deep" 1 " I 1 .,.,n b\:? is (. ... , © Cl A6 89 0 6 1 , l ~ , ... I SILVER SliEEI' QIf) £ JRllt£riran Jl rU10lt NATI ONAL HEADQUARTERS I NDIANAPOLIS. INDIANA Mr:. 'Thomas H. Ince, G5uLvee G5ity, G5alifomia. My Dear: Mc. l nce: 'The appeal you haVe made in your: splendid pictur:e, "Skin D eep ",/ for: fOemee ser:vice men ofilnwr:ica cec·tainly uJillgo a Long uJay touJacd auJak­ ening a &ll appeeciation of tJ1.e obligation to those LVho ser:ved. 'TJ1.is is especially tcue of disabled men. We uJant to thank you not onLy fOe this appeaL, but fOr: the spLendid co-oper:ation you J1.ave given the Legion in its campaign fOe pr:oduction of motion pictur:es that uJilL inspim good citizenship and geeater: faith in our: gover:nment and our: people. Since ee ly, (Signed) H anfoL·d MacNider:. H IT ~ Bun In each hand, a ci~arette in hi$' mouth 1 and all three S'mokin6~ IJ ~ • (Pen Portrait of 'nomas H . Incc Above) CThe SILVER SHEET Pa ge FOllr :: U D DOYLE got off the transport with the wasn't made for a hero. McQuarg snee red and C roix de G uerre on his breas t and a feel­ said: "We go t to get Bud Doyle back here. H e's in g of exaltation in his heart. H e had left got nerve." ..-"-'I.... ~ H oboken a crook; he had come back a Sadie shook her head. " No use trying to get , ~~. hero. Something had been burned out of Bud to help yo u in any scheme to stea l that so l­ ,.J'...;;' him in the searing fire of battle and left diers' fu nd ." .v'~ , .. him clean. But lVI cQuarg convinced Sadie and she went He remembered w ith a glow what his to the prison to "frame" Bud out, just as she had officer had said w hen he crept ac ross No Man's s ~ nt him in. "And the district attorney told me if Land and si ngle- hand ed captu red a German m a­ 1 didn't do as he w ants me to, h e~ d se nd me up to chine gun nest. H e remembered with a sm il e his priso n," she told him. " Bud, I want to be true own reply : " Oh, rats," he had said , "this is the to you, but lI·hat can I do?" Sadie knew so well first good fight I ever got into that a co p couldn't hOIl ' to cry and anyone in the co rridor could have butt in." hea rd Bud's savage whisper: " If I co uld only get But Bud discovered that Jell' York wasn't ou t of here 1" quite so much excited about heroes as when the "What would yo u do, Bud?" asked Sadie. crowds had waved good bye to the regiment as it "Croak him," said Bud hoarsely. Sadie's head marched down F ifth avenue that April day a went a little nearer the network and her voice yea r before. ca me in quick whispers. When he went away Bud and his buddies Two or th ree days after that an ae roplane be­ thought they owned the world; when he got back "Bud" Doyle (Milton Sills) gan coming over the priso n yard. Every day at he fou nd he didn't even own a job. McQuarg, the leader of the the same hour it appeared, until the guards regarded the " bird" old gang, wanted him back, but Bud had reso lve d to li ve straight. as a reg ular visitor. Sad ie, Bud's wife, didn't seem to glow w ith much enthusias m One day as they watched, Aame and smoke spurted from the when he told her he had come back a new man from France. She pl ane. The airship tipped up and w ent straight down in an ap­ didn't really say so, but when she gave him a quick glance her palling nose-dive. Just as it seemed about to hit the earth it straight­ shrewd, hard eyes seemed to say, " H ow can you ever be anything ened and sailed away. And while the aerial performance was being but a crook with that face?" Which, in a way, was true. Bud's staged a figu re in convict's clothes leaped from the top of the prison tough, crime-worn face was ill every rogue's gallery in the cou nt ry. wall to the top of a movi ng trai n that was going by. It was Bud. There was another reason for Sadie's lack of enthusias m. The While the guards were looking at the ae roplane two innocent­ reason was a crook- J oe C ul ve r. While Bud was away at war, lookin g trackwalkers had thrown a rope over the prison wall, and fighting through that hell- well, it was the same old story. Sadie by the rope Bud had climbed the wall and escaped. was a beautiful girl w ith a hea rt as cru el, as co ld , as a rattlesnake. They fired at the figure Aat on the top of the train, but it was Bud should have known her an impossible target. T o their better. He should have known chagrin they saw the ae ro­ Sad ie would "frame" him in- I plane circle down, let down to prison with as little com­ a ladder to the top of the car punction as she would kill a and sail away with Bud cling­ moth that annoyed her. And ing to the ladder. that is just w hat she did. It But the plane could not was easy. A stolen bar pin, rise to its former heigh t and slipped into his pocket, an un­ it crashed into a treetop, and expected call by the police, a when it had gathered mo­ framed-up trial, and Bud was mentum again a shattered In prIson. fi gure in s trip ed convict's But no soo ner did they get clothing was lying on the him in than they wanted to ground. ge t him out. It happened this By all medical science Bud way: should have died then and There was a new district The "Cops" Couldn't Stop "Bud" in This Fig ht there. H e probably would attorney with a most alarm- have had not Dr. Langdon ing impulse toward reform. lVI cQuarg couldn't do anything with happened along just In time to see the accident. him. The repl y he got to his usual tactful suggestion se nt a hot One of Fate's ironies 1 Dr. Langdon was the custodian of the shi ver do'wn McQuarg's spine. fu nd for disabled so ldiers upon which the covetous eyes of the "Well," said McQuarg dec isive ly one night when he and Sadie McQuarg gang had fall('n. It was to get rid of the district attor­ and J oe were at dinner, " we've go t to get rid of that district attorney. ney in order to let the gang rob Dr. L angdon that Bud had bee n They've collected a big wad of money for the disabl ed soldiers' "framed" out of prison even as he had been "framed" in. hos pital and we've got to have it. That doc tor guy w ho is co ll ecting Dr. Langdon fe l t a ce rtain Aow ~f professional interest in ad­ 'it keeps it in a flim sy w all safe that yo u co uld stick your thumb dition to his overwhelming fee ling of sympathy for a shattered through. Somebody's got to croak the district attorney, and with human bod y. him out of the way we'll get that money." He was a specialist in plastic surge ry and he rebuilt Bud's He looked at Joe Culve r. J oe Au shed and looked away. H e face. Pa ge Five CThe SILVER SHEET ~ EEKS of darkness- weeks made bearable for Bud only received as a stranger by Sad ie and Joe. H e told them his name ) l by a soothing and beautiful voice reading aloud to him. WitS "Frisco" and that Bud had se nt him to say he wouldn't go i Then one day they li fted the bandage from his eyes and through with the assassination of the district attorney. Looking ,'~/!" . i B~ld almost reeled ou~ of bed in his astonishment .. The Sadie straight in the eyes he said: "Bud always told me what a . 'ki:w f ;I mirror they hand ed hllll showed a young, finely chiseled wond erful wife he had, and how she was goi ng to wait for him ~~. V face-a handso me, almost classical face. His tough, crime­ to get out of prison." ~'Q stained featu res had bee n erased as though from a bl ack­ But Sadie \Vas not a se nsitive sou l ; she only sni ckered. board:-After his first staggering astonishment the thought that came Bud went back to the district attorney sickened in soul. He to Bud was: "Now I can live like other decent men. No cop will did not co nsider it worth while even to kill Joe.