The Raid from Mars

Raiders come from Mars to steal Earths radium. In desperate defense, an entire army division is wiped out. Then "Swoop" Martin, air pilot, volunteers a suicidal attack...


Excerpt
In a corner office of the ground floor of the Department of Justice Building in Washington, D. C., a man sat bent over his desk with his forehead in his hands. He was a keen and powerful looking person, but at the present he looked utterly puzzled and helpless. He was Herbert Hawes, Chief of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and a famous man.

Beside him on the desk, and on the floor around his chair, were arranged stack after stack of telegrams, yellow with black headings, and white with blue headings.

“Mercy Hospital reports mysterious disappearance of radium salts during night”

“Entire stock of radium disappeared last night. Two attendants found unconscious!”

“One hundred thousand dollars worth of radium disappeared from Mt. Sinai Hospital. Nurse and doctor unconscious!”

“Total radium supply stolen. Locks demolished. No clues!”

Thus ran the telegrams, all of them. They came from all of the large hospitals in the principal cities in the United States, and from numerous large University laboratories. From Bangor, Maine to Jacksonville, Florida, from Portland, Oregon, to Los Angeles, and crisscrosswise over the country, the story was the same.