Even the East Side, accustomed to frequent running fights on the
streets between rival gunmen and gangs, was roused by such an
outburst. The crack of revolver shots, the honking of horns, the
clang of the trolley bell, and the shouts of men along the street
brought hundreds to the windows, as the cars lurched and swayed up
the avenue.
The cars ahead swerved to dodge a knot of pedestrians, but their
pace never slackened. Then the rearmost of the two began to buck
and almost leap off the roadway. There came a rattle and roar from
the rear wheels which told that the tires had been punctured and
that the heavy wheels were riding on their rims, cutting the
deflated tubes. At a cross street the first car turned, just in
time to avoid a truck, and dodged down a maze of side streets, but
the second ran squarely into the truck.
As the first car disappeared we caught a glimpse of a man leaning
out of it. He seemed to be swinging something around and around at
arm's length. Suddenly he let it go and it shot high up in the air
on the roof of a tenement house.
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