Empty Williams

Appeared from Tuesday, February 6, 1951 to Monday, May 14, 1951

Empty, whose full name was M.T. Williams, was a hijacker, a gang leader and a killer. Empty Williams had big lips, half closed eyes and had a large indentation in the back of his head. He had been “operated on by a brain specialist … following a gangland war and … part of his skull was removed”. Empty’s favorite expression was “As a matter ‘a fact …”

Benny was one of Empty’s gang members. By mistake, Empty’s gang hijacked a truckload of diapers and Empty was very angry at Benny for making such a mistake. Empty tried to sell the diapers to Karl the Car Wash King as car polishing cloths, but Karl found out and Benny had to shoot him. Tracy followed Benny to Empty’s apartment and Empty was so angry that he threw Benny out the window. Empty then managed to shoot Tracy in the shoulder and make a getaway. He went straight to Bonnie the Barber, who made a hairpiece for him to cover the hole in the back of his head.

When Sam Catchem came to Bonnie’s shop looking for information, Bonnie and Empty knocked him out and stuffed his body inside an old slot machine. Empty and Bonnie the Barber were then married by Justice of the Peace Haggarty. Bonnie gave all her money to Empty, but because she wouldn’t join him in his criminal activities, Empty killed her by causing the small car trailer she was in to fall off a cliff where it crashed into high tension wires. Bonnie burned to death.

Trying to escape from Tracy, Empty hid out in an old kid’s tree house and stole milk from the houses in the neighborhood to live on. Tracy climbed the tree and went into the tree house to get Empty. During the tremendous fight that ensued, the old rotted tree the house was in gave way. The tree and tree housed crashed to the ground. Tracy emerged from the wreckage with a few scratches, but the full weight of the tree had crushed Empty. Although he was taken to the prison hospital and doctors tried to save him, Empty Williams died there.

Reprinted with permission from the author Victor E. Wichert “The Dick Tracy Encyclopedia Oct. 4, 1931 – Dec. 25 1977″

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