Bailey began his comics career with Jerry Iger, who teamed up with Will Eisner and created the Eisner & Iger Studio. He also worked for National/DC and co-created The Spectre and Hourman.
In 1943, he founded Baily Publishing Company with fellow artist Mac "Capt. Marvel Jr." Raboy. Together they produced comics for several imprints such as Rural Home Publishing's Croyden and and Holyoke Publications.
His creative staff was a kind of revolving door affair. Some of the artists that came and went were Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Dick Briefer and Nina Albright, one of the few women working in comics during the Golden Age.
One of the more esoteric titles to come out of his studio was TALLY-HO COMICS, done for the even more obscure Swappers Quarterly in December 1944. The story, "Snowman" is generally recognized as Frank Frazetta's first comic book work. It is said that John Giunta let the 15-year-old Frazetta pencil a few things on his story -- what exactly they were is up for speculation, including the previous credit he received for inking.
The story from the issue shown here today is a bit of an odd, early crime/horror story featuring a character named "The Man In Black". There have been a few so-named throughout the years, but this particular character could have been inspired by Baily's The Spectre, introduced a few years before. What makes this story ultra-creepy is the disembodied (and bloody) hand that crawls across the panels.
The cover is by John Giunta. The scriptwriter and artist(s) are unknown, but I suspect Baily himself might have had a . . . uh, "hand" in it!