History
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Howe disguised as Price.
Mister Howe was a greedy opportunist who would even stoop to murder in order to make it rich. In the days of vaudeville, he owned a theater with Jimmy Mack. The business was going under, and one night, there was a mysterious fire. Caught in the blaze was a knife thrower who worked in the theater named Price. Horribly burned, Price blamed Mack for purposely setting the blaze in order to collect on the insurance. Evidence found at the fire would support this; however Mack was cleared of all charges, and Price -- having gone insane -- was sent to a state insane asylum.
Mack and Howe continued to work together, eventually organizing a carnival. After being hired to throw a carnival with a hotel, Howe suggested to Jimmy Mack that they take all the money and stiff the hotel that hired them. Mack, a legitimate business man, refused and attempted to end his business dealings with Howe. Howe decided to murder Jimmy, however, and began working on a seemingly foolproof way to avoid being blamed for his former partner's death.
Helping Price escape from the asylum, he chained the man up in a cabin on the mountains of Calm Lake and forced Price to teach him to throw knives. Creating a mask to resemble Price, Howe tracked down Mack and murdered him with a knife in the hopes that Price would be blamed for the killing. This murder took place during a time when the Human Torch and his partner Toro were vacationing in Calm Lake.
Investigating, the two heroes learned the truth when they learned the fact that the killer was left handed (like Howe) whereas the real Price was right handed. Capturing Howe, they forced him to take them to his cabin where they found Price chained up and demanding to be set free so he could return to the asylum and continue his treatment. With Howe's murder plot foiled, he was turned over to the police.[1]