The Rag Doll got the jump on Garrick with a swift blow to the skull and dumped the hero into an aquarium containing a giant octopus. Taking the first clue, the Flash then began to solve the puzzle at super-speed and intercepted the Ragdoll on the 4th clue, at a local aquarium. With the henchmen wrapped up, the Flash returned to find Joan amnesiac from the chloroform and with no recollection as to the location of the bonds. With these, he could find the treasure himself. While the Flash made short work of the henchmen, Ragdoll himself drugged Joan with chloroform and stole the remaining clue. On their arrival, they were waylaid by the Ragdoll's thugs. While the Ragdoll remained in hiding, Williams and the Flash departed for the museum to provide the next clue. His ploy was delayed however, by the untimely arrival of Williams' beau, the Flash. As the guests departed, the Ragdoll signalled his thugs to follow them to the museum while he stayed to interrogate Joan Williams. The next evening, the guests gathered to hear the reading of the first clue. Unknown to Joan, the doll Geralda had received as a gift was listening and planning a much different outcome. Whoever solved the hunt first, won the prize. It was decided that each of the wealthy guests would donate $10,000 in defense bonds to serve as a prize in a treasure hunt. To coordinate the event, Cummins had selected Joan Williams who had recently begun a party and festival business. The young girl was holding a much-touted party for her circle of socialites and the Ragdoll aimed to take advantage of the situation. There he had his thugs deliver him as a gift to a young heiress named Geralda Cummins. In 1943, Ragdoll moved his operation to Keystone City. Petty crooks began to seek out the Ragdoll, to take advantage of his criminal success.
In time, the legend of the Rag Doll grew far and wide. In these earliest days of costumed villains, the idea seemed novel and Merkel decided that no one would believe that a Ragdoll could commit crime.
Going unnoticed among the toys, Merkel carried his idea one step further: He would rob while still hidden in the Ragdoll suit. Seeing large boxes of toys being loaded into a department store, Merkel hit on the idea of hiding himself in one of the large rag dolls and then robbing the store after closing. Wandering the streets, Merkel despaired of having money. In the early 1940s, the carnival fell on hard times and Merkel found himself out of work. The son of a side-show barker, Merkel found work in a small local carnival as a contortionist and eccentric dancer. Like the more common "double-jointedness", Merkel's condition was characterized by extremely extensible ligaments and tendons, though to a significantly extended degree. Peter Merkel, a native of the Midwestern United States, was born with a unique condition: "Triple-jointedness".