Detective Comics #97

January 24, 1945
"The Secret of the Switch"
The story opens with headlines lauding a criminal known as the Slasher. He received this praise because just as Batman and Robin were about to catch him, he kills himself and leaves a note saying where other criminals in his combine are hiding with their loot. The Duo round them up and Gordon proclaims that the Slasher should receive the praise at his funeral.

But Batman is concerned about one thing. They never found Slasher's vicious dog so he and Robin head out to Oscar the Weasel who says that the dog is kept over at the auto wrecker yard. There, the two are attacked by the dog and the owners of the yard. Batman punches the dog, knocking him out. The owners get away in the confusion.

But the yard's phone rings and Batman takes the call. The voice on the other end says a train will arrive on time. Before heading to meet that train, Batman heads to Slasher's apartment where they found the body. They find nothing unusual save for an alarm system that leads to the roof. From there, the alarm wire leads across several buildings to an abandoned house.
There, Batman and Robin discover that the one missing member of the gang is being lured to the house as the rest of the combine's loot is stored there. But who is luring him? Batman reasons that it's the Slasher who didn't die, but make up someone to look like him and killed him while having his own features changed.
