He declared that Cummings had ordered that all crime stop immediately in the city. "Da 'Gink' has passed out da word dat da boys gotta lay off," said Murphy. "He gives orders dat there's to be no rough stuff until he says so." "You mean that the 'Gink' is closing up the town?" asked Brennan. "Dat's what I say," replied Murphy. "He says there ain't to be no stick-ups, no gamblin', no bootleggin', no pocket pickin', no house jobs, no bunko stuff, no nothin' and dat goes. Da first bird dat tries workin' is gonna be run outa town, see?" "Where do you pick up that information, Murphy?" Brennan asked. "Well, da 'Gink' don't tell me poisonally, see? But I gets it straight, see? Da stick-ups, da sure-thing guys, da dips, everybody gets orders to lay off, see?" Brennan whistled softly. "What's the 'Gink' got up his sleeve now, I wonder?" he said. "Soich me," said Murphy. "Are they obeying the 'Gink's' orders?" "I'll say they are!" asserted Murphy. "All the gamblin' places are closed and everybody stopped doin' business, see? Even da girls is behavin' and only enough dope to keep da boys goin' bein' peddled, see?" "I see," said Brennan, "but it's got me. I can't figure out what his game is." With P. Q. approving the cashier's voucher for the money, Murphy was paid $25 for the information he gave Brennan and John, who told him to watch the situation in Spring street closely and report to them often. The information furnished by Murphy that "Gink" Cummings had ordered that crime be stopped in Los Angeles was substantiated by the developments of the following week. The crime wave that had been sweeping the city, as it had the nation, came to an abrupt halt. During the week only one holdup was reported to the police and prohibition officers were surprised to find that bootleggers had stopped their work. There were no burglaries, gambling, picking of pockets, bunko swindling or handbook betting. The traffic in narcotics, police and federal officers reported, was the lowest in years. Police Chief Sweeney and the mayor were baffled by the sudden stop of crime and frankly admitted their bewilderment to Brennan and John. "It's beyond me," said the mayor. "All we can do is wait and see what happens. They are up to something big, that's a certainty, but I can't figure it out." Then, after peace and quiet had reigned in the city for ten days, Gibson issued a statement claiming that he and the forces supporting him, including his investigators and detectives, had done what the mayor and Chief Sweeney were unable to do, stopped crime in Los Angeles. "I call the attention of the citizens of Los Angeles to the fact that within the past ten days there has been less crime in the city than in years," Gibson's statement read. "There has been but one holdup, no burglaries, no violence, no banditry and no open gambling, bootlegging, thievery or trafficking in narcotics.