 Why was Halloween night chosen as the time for the rumble in the schoolyard?
Hoodlums fear his fury—and, for that matter, so do the cops! There was Charlie Casale, getting ten dollars dimes, six dollars nickels and four dollars pennies for his father in the grocery store down the street. There was Mrs. Dolly Daniels, withdrawing money from her savings account again. The three bank robbers looked like triplets. One of the others took the pistol away from Mister Anderson, the guard, and said to him in a low voice, "Think about retirement, my friend." The third one, who carried a black satchel like a doctor's bag, walked quickly around behind the teller's counter and started filling it with money. The man who had first spoken herded the tellers, Mr. Featherhall and the customers all over against the back wall, while the second man stayed next to Mr. Anderson and the door. Then, after the getaway car had gone more than two blocks, it suddenly started jouncing around. Except that in the trunk lid the owner had burned in 'The Scorpion' in big black letters you could see half a block away." "If I'm making just a quick stop—I never spend more than five minutes with any one customer—I always leave the keys in the car. "It was four professional criminals, I thought you knew that. Stevenson followed Hastings' pointing finger, and saw again the crudely-lettered words, "The Scorpion" burned black into the paint of the trunk lid. It was in the crank letter's most obvious form; that is, the address had been clipped, a letter or a word at a time, from a newspaper and glued to the envelope. The bank robbery occurred in late June. It happened in Canarsie, a section in southeast Brooklyn near Jamaica Bay. This particular area of Canarsie was a residential neighborhood, composed of one and two family houses. As the police reconstructed it later, Mrs. Higgins had attempted to awaken him on the third morning at seven-thirty, suggesting that he really ought to stop being so foolish, and go back to work. Mrs. Stodbetter arrived at the house at nine o'clock, and spent some time tapping at the still-locked bedroom door, apparently requesting Mr. Higgins to unlock the door and "stop acting like a child." At about ten-fifteen, neighbors heard shots from the Higgins residence, a two-story one-family pink stucco affair in the middle of a block of similar homes.
 Because the police would have a difficult time keeping track of so many children who were out.
 Because on that particular night, there were no police on patrol because of the recent issues with The Scorpion.  Because everyone was already dressed in disguise and not easily recognized.  Because the police would have a difficult time keeping track of so many children who were out.  Because the schoolyard was completely abandoned and they wouldn't need a lookout.