Dashiell Hammett was allegedly offered five G's to perform a contract hit. It is most likely a mythic premise. He was a Pinkerton operative at the time. A stooge for Anaconda Copper made the offer. The intended victim was a union organiser. The stooge had every reason to believe Hammett would take the job - post-world-war-one Pinkertons were a goon squad paranoiaclly fearful of all perceived reds. His mythic refusal is a primer on situational ethics. He knew it was wrong and didn't do it. He stayed with an organisation that in part suppressed dissent and entertained murderous offers on occasion.
The Poet of Collision
James Ellroy
The Guardian Newspaper
Sept 2007
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Gera Mills
Passaic strike,New Jersey
1926
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