noon
he delightedly commented . `` A grand jury investigation . Oh , listen to the band ! '' Before noon the Merchants ' and the Planters ' and Traders ' Banks had withdrawn their advertisements . At about the same hour a particularly atrocious murder was committed in one of the suburbs . Up in the reporters ' room of the police station , Thomas , of the _ Bulletin _ , and Graham , of the _ Chronicle _ , were indulging in a quiet game of whist with two of the morning newspaper boys , when a roundsman stepped to the door and called Graham out . Graham came back a moment later after his coat , with such studied nonchalance that the other boys , eternally suspicious as police reporters grow to be , looked at him narrowly , and Thomas asked him , also with studied nonchalance : `` The candy-store girl , or the one in the laundry office ? ''