It's in the Bag

"Vigilance."

By George Harmon Coxe (1901-84; Wikipedia HERE and HERE).

First appearance: Collier's, April 19, 1941.

Illustrated by Harry Morse Meyers.

Short short short story (1 page).

Online at UNZ (HERE; go to text page 23).

   "That was when the alarm went off, a terrifying blast of sound that hammered at Steve's eardrums and comforted him strangely."

AS that venerated philosopher Yogi Berra once told us, "You can observe a lot by watchin'." 

A young elevator operator is about to find out just how observant Yogi was . . .

Principal characters:

~ Steve Rankin:

  "I wondered about it when he rode up; when he did it again I had a hunch."

~ Sergeant Grauer:

  "'When you're a cop,' Grauer said, 'always observe and remember. Never forget that, kid'."

~ Others in the box, one of them a thief:

  Miss Appleton, Mr. Van Nostwick, Stella Williams, Mr. Turner, Tod Erickson, the salesman from Hurwich Brothers, and the woman from Kalmus.

References and resources:

- "When Steve Rankin brought the car down to the main floor":

  "Automatic elevators began to appear as early as the 1920s, their development being hastened by striking elevator operators which brought large cities dependent on skyscrapers (and therefore their elevators) such as New York and Chicago to their knees. Self-service elevators were not allowed in New York City until 1922. Prior to this, non-luxury buildings that could not afford an attendant were built as five-story walk ups." (Wikipedia HERE.)

  ". . .  in 1945, elevator operators in New York went on strike. New York City ground to a halt. The strike costs New York a hundred million dollars in lost taxes. It prevented one and a half million office workers from getting to work. Building owners demanded a change. And the elevator industry decided they had to convince people to rethink what an elevator was." (NPR HERE.)

- We've already spent some time perusing George Harmon Coxe's first Paul Standish story, "The Fourth Visitor" (HERE), and his third one, "Murder Makes a Difference" (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~