Star Spangled Comics #14 (1942)

The Newsboy Legion is approached by Wilbur Whilling, a man with a vision. He believes the slums they live in could be fixed up, children given a better place to play, and families could have homes that aren't falling apart. Tommy Thompkins points out that it would take a load of money for something like that. Wilbur agrees, but says that the boys carry influence around here, they're already seen as heroes, so they could convince people to donate their savings towards the idea he had. The boys think it sounds like a great idea! The very next day, they begin to talk to their fellow slum dwellers. Scrapper visits Mrs. Morey, the widow with two children, who gives what's left of her husband's life insurance money. Big Words speaks to Dr. Hart, a man who selflessly treated the people of suicide slum for most of his life, he wants to donate every cent he has. Gabby talks to old Dan Logan, former prizefighting boxer that's been living off retirement since he took ill. Tommy finds great luck with Alan Martin, a young architect who offers to help with the construction free of charge. The slums start to feel that little ray of hope as they head to the Housing offices with the money. Construction happens for the next few weeks, and Alan Martin's deal to work free saves thousands of dollars. Finally, in place of ramshackle homes, the block now holds a nice new apartment building. Moving day brings all sorts of happy faces, and the Newsboys feel so proud of themselves. Patrolman Jim Harper visits the boys in their new apartment to see how they are doing. While he sits with them at the dinner table, someone knocks on the door. It is an attorney, J. Hawk, who represented the housing contractor that sold the materials used for this structure. He tells the boys if they don't pay the one hundred forty-seven thousand dollars owed, he'll have to kick them and everyone else out onto the street. Big Words insists that Wilbur Whilling paid for everything with the money they donated, though they haven't heard from him lately, and Hawk is adamant that not a penny has been received as yet. Officer Harper looks over the paperwork, commenting it all looks legit. He promises the boys he'll look into it through his legal contacts. Lawyer Hawk has a visitor in his home: the elusive Wilbur Whilling. The scam has gone off perfectly, they now have the money and ownership of a tenement building, once they kick all the slum denizens out. The Newsboys just happen to be taking a walk down the same street on which Wilbur has parked his car. They race towards him when he comes out of the house, shouting at him to give back the money he took. Whilling summons his bodyguards to grab the boys and toss them in the car; it's unfortunate that they know too much now. They take the Newsboys to the Sun Ice Corp building, where the boys will be left to freeze to death. Big Words hastily knocks out a few panels of glass on the front window, which he claims is for ventilation, not that it'll help them much. Whilling has them tossed in cold storage with the door sealed shut behind them. The Guardian has been searching high and low for signs of Wilbur Whilling. He notices the trunk of a car being loaded up with something, or several somethings... or some-ones! It speeds past him, around the block and into a dead end street, but still he loses sight of it when he turns the corner. The Guardian has a gut feeling he'd better find that car soon. He is stopped by the sight of a sign on the glass window on one of the businesses: The Sun Ice Corp had some of the letters on the window broken out, so it looked like it said "S-U-C-C-O-R", which was another word for "help". Only Big Words would have thought of that. The shield carrying hero climbs up the roof, but there is no skylight to enter thru. Fine, with a crowbar on hand nearby, he makes his own. Wilbur is startled when the Guardian suddenly leaps down through an open ceiling panel! With the fury of a cyclone, the hero cleans the room, bashing the gang with his shield. They start shooting at him, the Guardian raises his shield to block the bullets as he backs up towards the freezer door. The latch is lifted and the kids are free. When they're ready, the Guardian charges into the gunman, knocking them off balance, while the Newsboys start brawling with fists and sliding blocks of ice both. Whilling and his gang are out for the count! Headlines grace the morning papers, the money for the housing project was recovered, J. Hawk, the attorney, confesses and names Whilling as his co-conspirator. The next evening, Jim Harper visits his charges again to see they baked a cake with the words "Thanks Guardian". It's a slip of the tongue when he thanks them for the cake. Just when the Newsboys finally think they caught him, Jim backtracks, saying he thought they meant the cake was for him, their legal guardian.