"The Burglar who walked thru walls"
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human technology user; post-WWII era
Occupation: Janitor, burglar
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Professor Hamilton (employer)
Enemies: An unnamed cop
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout an unidentified American city
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#5/3 (September, 1959)
Powers/Abilities: The burglar had low-level skills, and was merely a tinkerer when it came to machines, but he did accidentally reassemble an electronic device (original function unknown) into a matter transmitter.
The matter transmitter was an extremely short-range teleporter. It was a device that could be held in one's hands, and it had the power to disintegrate both itself and its operator, then reintegrate both itself and its operator about ten feet in front of where they had previously been, allowing both to pass through walls.
History: (Tales of Suspense I#5 (fb) - BTS) - A lifelong criminal, the burglar decided to go into semi-retirement and got a job working in Professor Hamilton's lab as a cleaning man.
(Tales of Suspense I#5) - While Professor Hamilton was off to Washington for a few days, the burglar (then still working as a cleaning man) tinkered with an electronic device in Hamilton's lab because he liked taking things apart and putting them back together again, "...to see what makes it tick."
But the device he chose to take apart had so many parts that he was unsure if it was reassembled in the proper configuration. When he activated the device, he was shocked to see it glow and emit some kind of rays at an ashtray, then both the device and the ashtray disappeared and reappeared beyond a partition, several feet away from where they had been. The burglar realized that he had somehow reassembled the device into a matter transmitter.
When he learned he could also use this machine on himself, it gave the burglar a new angle to commit crimes. He checked into a motel, in a room adjoining one occupied by a wealthy couple. He then transported himself and the machine through the wall and pilfered their valuables, and then transported himself back into his own room.
He continued on a crime spree for several weeks, even moving on to robbing bank vaults and jewellery stores. The police were baffled by the crimes -- the buildings' door locks were never tampered with. One lone cop had his theory on how these thefts were being committed. The cop planted a false news story about the world's largest diamond being on display in a museum, as bait in his trap to lure the mysterious burglar.
That night, the burglar went to the museum, activated his machine, and materialized in a room where the diamond was supposed to be, but it was a trap -- the room was actually an exhibit of an early American jail, and the cop was there waiting for him! The two struggled, and the transmitter machine fell to the floor, smashing into pieces. The cop caught the burglar and took him off to jail.
The burglar was tried and sentenced to prison, where he would spend his time trying to recreate the transmitter machine, but because the first machine was the result of a one-in-a-million chance accident, he would never succeed.
Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Paul Reinman.
The burglar was never named in this story, so I just based the profile name on the story's title -- "I Walk Thru Walls!"
This burglar demonstrated the same limited thinking that was typical of so many super-villains who would later follow him (such as Bruno Horgan/The Melter) -- he discovers something that could be a real boon to humanity, but rather than do the smart thing and patent it (and possibly become a multi-millionaire in the process), he chooses instead to waste it on pennyante crimes.
Jim Hudson looks like this unnamed cop.
--Gammatotem
And a big THANK YOU to Dennis Giansante for scanning this story for me!
Profile by John Kaminski
CLARIFICATIONS:
"The Burglar who walked thru walls" has no known connections to:
Professor Hamilton has no known connection to:
This device was created by Professor Hamilton and accidentally turned into a Matter Transmitter by the burglar, who then used it for his crimes. It is unknown what Professor Hamilton originally had in mind for this invention.
--Tales of Suspense I#5/3
With the rash of mysterious burglaries occurring in the city, he theorized that the robber had invented some means to disintegrate himself, pass through walls, then integrate himself again on the other side, to which his sergeant incredulously responded: "It's sheer nonsense! You're talkin' 'comic book' stuff!" Unperturbed, the cop planted a false news story and set a trap for the burglar, then successfully captured him when he took the bait.
--Tales of Suspense I#5/3
images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#5, p13, pan1 (main image)
Last updated: 06/03/17
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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