Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1908 — THE MAN OF THE HOUR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MAN OF THE HOUR

Sfa Now Mayor Hurt on 6JEBroadhurst”* Successful Plyy

BY AL BERŢ PAYSON TERHUNE

CHAPTER XVII. * J f E'B In there!” observed Pher—J lan in high excitement, jerk- | | Ing his thumb toward a door A A leading off the committee room, “an* I’ve sent for Wainwright am' Horrlgan to meet your honor here. lAn’ I’ve fixed it so the Borough bill come up for ten minutes. Now, all that’s left is to touch the punk to the fuse an’ set off the whole giddy

bunch of fireworks under ’em. Gee, but it’s good to ’a’ stuck to this old jworld just for the sake of bein’ here today an’ seeln' what I’m due to see!” The aiderman chuckled, but his joybus anticipation found no reflection in Bennett’s white set face. The two were in the committee room, whither Phelan had repaired after depositing Dalias in a chair beside her brother at the ineeting and attending to ode or two Retails of greater Import ■ "Yes," went on Phelan, again nodfling mysteriously toward the farther boor, "he's in there, trained to the minute for the blowout There’s some tine else wants to see you, too—some one who’ll make more of a hit with you If I’m not overplayin’ my hand. But good news can wait There’s so Bttle of It in this measly life that it gen’rally has to. I” f From the corridor Horrlgan stamped Into the committee room, Wainwright at his heels. I "Well!” cried the boss defiantly, glaring at Bennett and ignoring Phelan. rYou sent for us. What do you want?" i "One moment!” Intervened Wainwright “We are beaten. We admit that without argument So we need jwaste no time going over details.”

“Have you sent for us to say what you’ll sell out for?” queried Horrigan coarsely, “because if you have you’ve Jtmly to name your price. You've got us where you want us. We’ve got to p*y” • “1 should have thought," replied Bennett, with no shade of offense, “you would know by this time that I have no *price.’ ’’ * "Then what do you want?" “Nothing—from you.” : “Why did you send word you wanted ♦o see us?" growled Horrlgan impatiently as he and Wainwright, uninvited, seated themselves at the table. “To tell you,” answered Alwyn. (glancing from. one to the other, “that •very step you two have taken in this whole infamous transaction from the •very first has been carefully followed, land, to use your own phrase, we’ve got {you with the goods!” I “Same old bluff!” commented Horrihan contemptuously, with a reassuring (wink at the somewhat less confident (Wainwright : “By tomorrow noon,” resumed Bennett, “you will both be Indicted on a (charge of bribery. Even now there are detectives on the watch for you. Escape is Impossible." « "Rot!” sneered Horrigan. “You’ve

no evidence that will indict, and you jknow it. Even if you had. don’t I con Itrol moot of the judges and the district (attorney’s office besides? Swell chance you’ll have of getting a conviction past that bunch! Bah! You talk like n man made of mud. I s’pose it’s the affair of those Roberts notes you’re counting on. That don’t feaze me any. My lawyer can twist that around so It’ll look like a charity gift No, no, youngster. You'll have to think of something better if”— “And, anyhow,” put in Wainwright nervously, ”you can’t prove any connection on my part. There’s nothing against me or”— think there is,” retorted Bennett, about on the financier. “And even if 1 can't nail the Roberts bribery to you I’ve plenty more counts to hold you on.” ’ “All these generalities and vague accusations prove nothing, Bennett,” answered Wainwright drawing courage from Horrigan's colossal calm and . speaking with more assurance. "Mr. Horrigan and 1 are not schoolboys to be scared by baseless threats. This is .mil guesswork on your part Come, now, name one specific charge you can prove.” “One < will _be enough to convince gpm?"-asked Al wyn. "Weil, then, how ’ about this as a first guess? Mr. Horhrigan’s bribe of $2,000,000 in money and 25,000 shares of Borough stock for to put through the Borough franchise? For ’guesswork’ that doesn’t seem to me very bad.” E Wainwright’s hard mask of a face twitched convulsively, but the steady brain that had carried him unshaken

through a thousand risky financial deala came at once to his rescue. "An excellent guess,” he agreed in splendidly feigned amusement "but unfortunately the courts demand proof before convicting a man, and there is no proof whatever of”— “Are you sure?” queried Bennett Turning to Phelan, be added: "Please ask Mr. Thompson to come in."

The aiderman. with an expansive grin, flung open the door of the farther room.

At sound of his secretary's name Wainwright bad sprung to bis feet and, dumfounded. was leaning heavily on tbe table, staring across the threshold of the suddenly opened door. There, framed in the dark doorway, his face deathly pale, his eyes glowing with a strange light as of murder, ■food Cynthia's' brother. His presenctk-ln the city hall was no ’(• o ehauce. but the climax of a series <• fe, enct'- between Bennett, Phe- • I- I himself, dating from the night ■ admlnMrntlon ball. when, de- • <:'• i resolve. the secretary’s :l h i I I i i n forced by the inquislu'dermau and bis identity re;>d

Bennett bad been let into the secret next day. and the trio had had a three hour talk from which Phelan had emerged with the gleeful air of one who bad unexpectedly found a SI,OOO bill. Thompson, too, had left that conference with a look of calm, intense satisfaction that transfigured him. Other conversations had followed, one of them in the presence of notary, stenographer and lawyers. Tbe trap at last was ready to be sprung. The financier for the first time in his nine year close association with the secretary met the younger man’s gaze without seeing the latter droop in def erentiai submission. Now be received back look for look from his former abject slave, and it was his own glance that wavered before that concentrated glare of bate. “Thompson!” he cried, and his voice bore a world of Incredulous reproach.

Before him stood the one man on earth in whom Wainwright had ever placed implicit trust; to whom he had confided his gravest business secrets; the man whom he had so shrewdly tested in countless ways and who had proved stanchly incorruptible and loy-

al, and now Thompson apparently confronted him in the role of traitor—of exultant spy. “Thompson!” he exclaimed once more, almost with a groan, as the secretary advanced into the room until onlythe width of the table separated employer and employee. Then the newcomer spoke for the first time, in an oddly muffled voice, as though fighting desperately for self restraint.

“No!” he contradicted. “‘Thompson’ no longer. Henceforth lam Garrison.” Wainwright's face grew gray. Breathless. unbelieving, he peered across at the pallid features of his new foe, tracing in them the likeness to the .old friend whose ruin and death he had caused. The haunting resemblance that had often vaguely occurred to him when watching Thompson at work now returned in double force. But now, as in a flash, it was explained, and he knew that his secretary spoke the trpth. “Yes,” went on Thompson in that

■erne choked, struggling intonation, “I am Harry Garrison. You wrecked my father’s life. You drove him to suicide. You blasted his memory. You beggared his children. lam his son—Harry Garrison. Now do you begin to understand?”

“You see, Mr. Wainwright” intervened Bennett as the secretary’s pentup rage strangled the words in bis throat "my guesswork has a fairly reliable backing.” But Wainwright did not hear. He still stared, as one hypnotized, into the blazing eyes of the man he had trusted. “You’ve—you've played me false!” he managed to gasp at length. “You have”—

"Sure he has!” cut In Horrlgan “What’d I tell you last summer. Wainwright? I said then you were foollsb to trust him so. I said he’d stand watching. Tbe minute 1 set eyes on that lantern jawed, glum face of his”— “Played me false!” muttered Wainwright again, dazed and doubting tbe evidence of bls own senses. “Played you false?” jeered Thompson. “Played you false? Why else

did I become your servant? What else have I been waiting all these horrible years for? I’ve sat at your desk and listened to your orders, never venturing to say my soul was my own. Now you’ll listen to me.” “Why do you bother with the little traitor, Wainwright?” scoffed Horrlgan. But the financier was standing motionless, leaning on the table, bls fingers spasmodically gripping Its edge till tbe knuckles grew white. Ridiculously

like a cowed prisoner before the bar of justice, he faced bls fiery eyed young judge. “They sent for me,” went pn Thompson brokenly, jerkily, scarce intelligible as the suppressed hatred of a decade battled for expression. “They sent for me. My father had killed himself. My mother lay dead, struck down by grief. Our honored old name was defiled. My sister was a pauper. Who had done all this? You! Oh, they

hushed it up, but I found it out! I found it out! And by my murdered father’s body 1 knelt and swore I'd pay you for it I’d pay you if it cost me my life. I would ruin you in name and fortune, as you ruined my father, and then I’d kill you, as you killed him! I’d”-

With an effort that left him haggard and trembling, Thompson forced himself to calmer speech and continued: “I answered your advertisement for a secretary. I had no experience, yet out of ninety applicants you chose me. That was fate. I knew then that one day I should have you at my feet, as now I have. Fate fought for me. I made myself necessary for you. I obeyed your hardest orders. I found out ways to please you. I fetched and carried for you. I ran to anticipate your lightest wish, as though I was your adoring son. It was T hope you’re satisfied, sir,* and ‘Let me do that for you, sir,* and T am glad to work overtime for you, sir, any time you wish,' while every minute I bad to fight hard to keep from striking you dead!” “I must go!” groaned Wainwright, shuddering. “I can’t stand this. I” “Oh, I made you think me a paragon!” resumed the youth. “You took to testing my honesty and loyalty in clever ways that you thought I’d never discover. I stood the tests. Then you trusted me. You fool! As if the fact that I wasn’t a crook proved 1 wasn't your enemy! You could see no farther than dollars and cents. When I didn’t steal those or sell the market tips you gave me you thought I was Incorruptible and devoted to your interests. And all the time I” “You were listening at the keyhole that day last summer,” broke in Horrigan, “the time I pulled the office door open, and”— “Then and always,” answered Thompson, “and,” he added, his eyes returning to Wainwright’s, “I copied every confidential telegram or letter you sent I took down in shorthand every private interview of yours. I tracked the checks that completed your deals, and when they came back from the vaults as vouchers I stole them. I’ve got proofs, I tell you—proofs—of every crooked transaction you have dabbled in for nine years. I’ve secured proofs of every step in this borough franchise bribery, and I’ve turned them all over to the mayor here. That evidence will sepd you to state prison! To state prison, 1 tell you! To a cell, with cropped hair and striped suit! I’ll send you to prison, where you’ll break your heart and be branded forever, as a convict! And when your term Is up I’ll be waiting for you, and I’ll kill you! Do you hear me, you foul criminal?” he shouted, screaming hysterically and foaming at the mouth in his abandonment of insane fury. “I’m going to kill you! To kill you!” , ! (To be Concluded.) The Greening Nursery Co., Monroe, Mich., known to be the largest growers of Trees in the World, writes us that they want a good live agent in this section to solicit orders for their trees, shrubbery, etc. Experience not necessary. They offer good pay weekly, and furnish canvassing outfit free. We advise any man or woman in our community, who has some spare time to take orders to write them for particulars immediately* Mention this paper when writing.

“And then I’d kill you, as you killed mu father.”

Harry Garrison.