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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1910)
(neRinji, Man WITH SOME INCIDENTAL RELATION TO THE WOMAN By Cyrus Townsend Brady Illustrations bp Dearborn Melvill CnmritM. lUfl. bl Modal. Ynl A to. CHAKI Kit I. The Loneliness of Mr. Gormly. To his great surprise, George Goria ly sometimes found himself feellni lonely, and the oftener so as he grew older. Every man who has a natural liking for women, and what true man has not? yet who 'has no IntlmaU friendships with or relations to the other sex, Is likely to find himself is that state of mind sooner or later, Gormly was sufficiently aged; he wai forty-four although he looked muck younger. He was sufficiently expe rienced; he had dealt with women foi a straight quarter of a century al though he bad neither loved nor mar rled one. He was sufficiently self re liant; he had built up by his own ua aided efforts the greatest retail mer chandise business of his day and gen eration. He was sufficiently independ entfor he had done It alone to have been above the ordinary feeling 01 loneliness. Nevertheless, he was tem peramentally lonesome, and at thli particular moment desperately so. He had drifted into New York somi 25 years before, utterly unheralded, unnoticed. He had begun by filling i small clerkship in a little dry goodi store. He kept at It until he owned the store, and after that a larger ston on a better street He had developed a genius for trade, and an executive ability in accord, until the original little shop had expanded Into a IS story building covering a block on th principal thoroughfare of New York city, and its owner had become a pow er in finance, a merchant prince Such was George Gormly. He was, too, a scrupulously honest man. He sold good goods, without deceit Things were as he represent ed them. He established principles ol accommodation In his dealings that were unique when they were first in stituted in New York. He made no dishonest dollars. His money wai good everywhere because It was un .tainted. He prospered exceedingly, one expansion following another. Eschewing speculation of any kind and devoting himself strictly to the business, he found himself In middle life the head, the foot, the sole owner, of the greatest enterprise of the kind mat rne wc-Tia naa ever seen. This bad not been achieved lightly He had brought it about because, with absolute singleness of heart, he had put every ounce of strength and tlm6 and talent, which in him amounted tc genius, at the service of his affairs Time, talent and genius do not always produce such results; fortune still must be considered In the game. Op portunlty had favored Gormly. Hi had succeeded In everything beyond his own or anyone's wildest dreams. He might have gone on indefinitely In his mercantile operations without attracting special attention to hlmsell personally, had it not been for one fact That momentous happening was his meeting with Miss Haldane. It had come about In a common place way enough. Miss ' Haldane, deeply interested in social settlement work and being brought In contact thereby with some of the poorer em ployees of the great Gormly establish' ment, had concluded to call on the proprietor thereof to see if she could not induce him to make some ade quate contribution to the work she had so much at heart Like every other business man in New York, Cormly was overwhelmed by char! table demands. His business was one thing; his charity another. He em ployed a special secretary to look aft er the eleemosynary end of his af fairs. There were two reasons why the secretary felt himself unequal to deal with Miss Haldane and her demands. The first reason was Miss Haldane herself. She was a member of the oldest and most exclusive circle In New York society. Her family was one of the richest and most esteemed in mat hive or mum-miuionaries, would be-sos, also-rans, and othe; peo ple. The second was the magnitude of Miss Haldane's demand. She want ed something like a million dollars. This amount appalled the secretary. She realized that a man like Gormly, Indeed most men if they had the pow er, would much rather give a million than a dime to an undertaking that appealed to them. Still, Gormly, hav ing devoted his attention so exclusive ly to his business heretofore, was rather staggered by the magnitude of thfl amount. He would have been more Btaggered by It had he been less so by Miss Haldane herself. Miss Haldane had beauty. Thou tan ds of people women, that Is, and some few men have that. She had more; she had presence and person ality. Hundreds of men, and some few women, have thiFO. Those who have all three In either sex are rare and come to view Infre quently. Whether it was Miss Hal dane's undoubted beauty, or Mlas Hal dane's exquisite breeding and man ner, or Miss Haldane's force of char- acter and determination, mat most im pressed him, or whether his instant tsubJuRation was due to the influence of all three, Gormly could not toll. He was given to self analysis, as lonely people usually are. By analyz ing himself he learned to analyze oth ers. Introspection and observation had been great factors ir. his success. Here again his experience was at fault; for Miss Haldane defied analysis, as the breath of summer compounded of a thousand balmy scents cannot be re solved into its elements, save by the hard scientist who Is Insensible to its fragrance. He actually gave her $200,000 to j start that great institution for young working women which was the pride of her heart and be promised her that as the work developed, as he had no doubt It would develop on the foundations she was planning, he would follow up the first gift by others even larger. He told her that ho was willing to devote a million or perhaps more to the enterprise, If It proved worth while, especially as so many of his own employees would be benefited by it Miss Haldane did not intend to live In the Boclal settlement herself. She might perhaps have enjoyed such a life; but her social dutiea at the other lire; uui ner social duu mo i end of society were of so exacting a character, and her family were so op posed to her undertaking such work, that she contented herself with fur thering from afar the efforts of cer tain of her college mates In that di rection. One thing possibly that induced Cormly to promise this great sum of money, which he could very well spare, was the knowledge Imparted to him by Miss Haldane that she herself, through her father and friends, would give a like amount Gormly had exacted a pledge from the young woman that she would not betray him as a benefactor In her in stitution. He had actually made out the check to her for the amount In question and turned It over without hesitation after an Interview lasting less than half an hour, In which Miss Haldane had set forth her plans, her hopes, and her ambitions with all hei charm of manner. He was not cer tain that he could have refused het the store If she bad demanded It! When Miss Haldane left his busi ness office, check In hand, she felt that she had Indeed accomplished much. She was quite satisfied with lerself. Gormly was equally satisfied with himself. Then and there he deter mined to marry Miss Haldane. It lakes the cool headed, prudent man of business to make the most extraordi nary plunges Into wild endeavors at times. He felt as a man with the Wall street germ In his blood might feel who was suddenly, after a quar :er of a century of restraint, launched an the sea of speculation. What Gorm ly determined was usually brought about sooner or later. In this in stance, however, there was no as surance of success. Matrimony Is the oretically regarded as a contract be tween two' equals Into' which neither enters upon constraint. That was Gormly's view of It He could buy and sell merchandise. He would not buy or sell a woman. Nor had George Gormly a particular knowledge to enable him to play the game he had entered upon with such Impetuous Indiscretion. He could hand cut a million dollars or so on occasion without feeling it; but cynical though he had become about womankind In general, Gormly Instinctively realized that such means would be entirely in-1 adequate to do more than arrest tern-1 porary attention and excite a passing Interest In such a woman as Miss Hal dane. Indeed, too freely resorted to, such practise would inevitably dis gust her. Meanwhile he must keep In touch with her. At Intervals, therefore, he won himself a sight of her and main tained a speaking acquaintance by further remittances toward her pro ject; which had already started with a tremendous flourish of trumpets and great Interest on the part of the pub lic. Miss Haldane, for all her other qual ities, was human and a woman. There was something rather alluring In a secret even to her. She enjoyed being the means of disbursing for good ends millions that remained anonymous to the general public. She was quite willing to call at Gormly's business office on occasion for the purpose of relieving him of further donations. Naturally she confided more and more of her plans and sometimes her difficulties to the Bame ustute man. She found Gormly re markably Intelligent on such matterr and able to give her the very best pos itble advice. Sometimes she even came to bim of her own motion to r i celve something else than signed bits of paper good at the bank, and to dis cuss vexing questions and problems that arose from time to time. She grew to respect him and then io like him. , Fortune as usual favored him. Miss Haldane was twenty-two. Nat urally she regarded a man of forty four as a possible father, and she had no hesitation In approaching Gormly with much more familiarity than she would have dreamed of allowing her fell had he been younger. And yet Gormiy himself was a young looking man for forty-four. He was still as tall and slender, not to sny spare, as he had been when a boy. He was smooth shaven, and the flecks of gray In his blond hair were scarcely notice able. If Miss Haldnne had ever given thought of his age, she would have supposed hlra ten years younger than he was; that Is, on appearance. When she thought of his business, she would have considered lilm sixty. Ever since she could remember, she had dealt at the great shop, and Gormly himself unconsciously took on to her the as pect of ancient history. Ro thu little affair ran on: Gorml? consciously bocomltg more and more deer-ly involved. Miss Ila'dane uncoa- Fciously interweaving sjitue tauclcd wh heri-ttf lu the Forti'ne was further kind to him, however, for concurrently with his de cision 6he presented him with an opening. Gormly's business was suffi- ciently great to have enabled him to extend it in several directions. He brought Ireland. England. France, ) Germany. Holland, Spain, Italy, and , the Orient Into New York bay and un loaded them in his great institution. He had conceived, some dozen years before after paying tremendous freight charges, the propriety of establishing his own Use of freight steamers. It had amused him to combine the prac tise of the ancient merchant prince with the customs of the modern one. He had bought the controlling Inter est tn a freight line of half a dozen large steamers, which he found no difficulty in using as cargo carriers for other people when they were not tupplying his own needs. The purchase of the freight line had with it a lease of one of the piers in the North river. The lease had run out the year before. He had there after availed himself of what he con- i ceived to be an excellent opportunity of subleasing another pier In the East river. The city had just completed an elaborate railroad, surface and sub way, for the transportation of heavy freight from the water front to the great mercantile establishments In land. This system had been leased to the Gotham Freight Traction com pany, a vast corporation with a full let of ostensible promoters and di rectors, but which had back of It pow ers and persons unknown to the gen eral public, carefully concealed from :t In fact. The corporation had not been form ed to promote the health of Its mem bers. Therefore when Gormly ap plied to the authorities for permis sion to construct a switch from his pier on the one hand and his ware house near the river front on the othei to connect both with this subway, the permission was Instantly granted, but coupled with an expense demand upon him for something like a million dol lars. Gormly could give Miss Haldane million dollars to play with; he would not spend ten cents for bribery. H saw Instantly that the demand upon him was a mere attempt to hold him up. To build the switch would cosl perhaps forty or fifty thousand dol lars; the privilege might be worth at much more: but Inasmuch as he streets were crossed, no overhead traf flc hindered, be was doubtful even at to that The road had been built by private capital subscribed by the peo pie on a public franchise. The In terests of the public were supposed tc be paramount. A reasonable return upon their investment was all that thi promoters had a right to expect. Gormly had consulted his attorneys had appealed to the city council, and had done everything that he could tc settle the matter short of -mbllshfni the whole affair. He had failed ab solutcly everywhere. The members oi the transportation committee of th board of aldermen were very sorry but they did not see what cuuld bt done. A gentle hint that Gorml) might prefer to Indemnify the alder men for their trouble in case the) should give him permission 1as mei with pained silence or explosive wrath It was furthermore pointed out to bin that the board had no power, tht rights of the people having been vest ed in the corporation for a nlnety-nlm year period. It was too bad that thi Innocent aldermen bad allowed them selves to be placed in such an unfor tunate position; but so it was anc there you were. There was no hel for the matter, and Gormly's only re source was to pay the money, unlesi he wanted to unload his goods lnt truck wagons and vans and cart then all over the city. Of course he couk do this; but it would be much easier more profitable and more desirable li every way If he had the right to rui cars out on the pier alongside of the esBels of his fleet and transport tb . merchandise tn bulk In that way. He was In a very desperate sltua tlon. Here he was saddled with I twenty-five-year lease of one of tin most expensive piers In New York; here he had a great warehouse sli ' blocks or more away from the pier; jhere he had also a vast store severa' miles from the warehouse; here wai a railroad that practically connected all three, provided one or two little spurs or switches could be built froix pier to railroad, and from warehouse to railroad. It was perhaps the one . mistake that he had made in his buBl . ness career not to have arranged mat ters before all this came to a climax The railroad people meant to make him pay. They were resolved thai he should; he was equally determined that he would not He was not alone In his position, however; for It was found on all sldpi he discovered It by making quiet In qulrles that other shippers and merchants seeking similar prlvllegei were being held up in the same way The road had proved enormously ex pensive to build; the stock had beer watered unmercifully. Contract which had been entered Into for th construction of switches were found to bo of little value; means were aval) able to break them and evade them. and the whole water front of New York found itBelf practically helpless tn the grasp of this octopus of a corpo ration. There had been no clamor In the pa pnrs over this matter; but there wos a tremendous undercurrent of resent ment and dissatisfaction, and Gormly thought he saw an opportunity of turn Ing it to his own account. To expose the Iniquitous methods of procedure of the Gotham Freight Traction com pany, to bring about Its ruin or Its downfall by depriving It of the fran uibo n was aousing, 10 hau'tutuu iu people in their rights in any further I giants, was certainly an object sum- ciently high and sufficiently vast to attract the attention, ami, should he succeed, to awaken the admiration of any being. And Gormly himself with out losing Bight of Miss Haldane be . i v i . . gan to look at the possibilities from a Digh and noble point of view. In which gelMnterest took a secondary position. Therefore, late In November he came boldly out In the open, and over his own name rigorously attacked the Gotham Freight Traction company. He did It In a unique way, too. In stead of the full page advertisement of Gormly's store which appeared simultaneously tn all the great dallies, there was presented one morning la clear, direct businesslike English a statement of the whole situation ex actly as it was. There were no threats, no menaces, no Intimations of any fu ture plan or purpose; just a blunt statement of facts printed In large double-leaded type, and signed with the familiar facsimile of his now fa mous autograph. The thing was an Instant sensation. The newspapers took It up. Other merchants, freighters, and shippers were Interviewed, and a case was In umuo uui p, Tractlon stantly made out against the Gotham company which would have shaken a less ponderous, less thick-skinned, less Indifferent or ganization to pieces. Even the author ities were Interviewed, and they shed hypocritical tears over the unfortunate trickery by which the public had been buncoed out of its legitimate rights, but they took occasion at the same time to point out that there was noth ing whatever to be done about It The party In power was one that had long dominated the metropolis. To be . sure it gave the metropolis a fairly good government; but the peo ple paid over and over again. They were robbed shamelessly right and left, on every hand, and while some thing was tendered them, what they got was no quid pro quo for the fright ful extravagance of the administra tion. Graft abounded everywhere. The party out of power, which had been out of power so long that it had per force become virtuous, did not hesi tate to point out the dreadful state ol affairs to all who would listen; but Its efforts had so far been unavailing, and the party in power remained there be cause of Its so doing. Now the Gotham Freight Traction company had Its weak point. Thlngi that depend upon the collusion of sc many unscrupulous men, not to say villains, usually have a weak point It Is a wise man, Indeed a genius, who finds out these things and assails the organization thereat The first prln clple of good soldiering Is to oppose to your adversary's weak point youi own strongest. The weak point In tht enterprise of the Gotham Frelghi Traction company lay in a certain link vital to the continuance of the care fully devised system: the franchise o which was about to run out. Few people knew that the franchise wns to expire, and In the ordlnarj course nothing would have happened An ordinance renewing It would hav been slipped through the board ol aldermen, signed by the mayor, and that would have been all. So sure did the company feel of Hi ground, so confident were Its memben that Gormly and his fellow vlctlmi would see the necessity of paylni without delay, that they had nevei contemplated this publicity and nevei Imagined they would have to face thli bitter and, determined attack upot their franchises and upon their meth ods. They knew, of course, that the) hold the aldermen In their hands; that In their close alliance with thi Sachem society, the organization thai ran things, they could pass anything they wanted In defiance of any public sentiment whatsoever. Gormly had made one blunder; but like a brilliant soldier he had suo ceeded In turning It to his advantage One advertisement was succeeded b) another. The Gotham Freight Trac tlon ompany was made the subject ol scathiu;; criticism and bitter attack of which the Sacrnm society and tin party In power cam in for a large share. And men everywhere began asking what was to be done about It In previous campaigns the party out of power had been led by a series ol forlorn hopes, men enthusiastic ii their devotion to the cause of reforre and not noted for much of anything else. The leaders of the outs took no tlce of Gormly. Inquiries began tt be made about him; his buslnesi methods wera Investigated; his re sources were discussed; his character was analyzed; his career made the subject of study. From being merely a name attached to a familiar institu tion, he became within one month one of the great personalities of New York. The situation was intoxicating, Incidentally, he did not lose In the estimation of Miss Haldane by thin exploitation of himself, which he had so cleverly managed that no one dreamed It was duo to his own motion. Even in those exclusive circles in which Miss Haldane moved, which are ordinarily Indifferent to Rny happen ings on this side of the terrestrial sphere, some account of Gormly and his fi.iingR, penetrated. That he wn rich nnd a bachelor were th; most In terofiting facts which appealed to this let Men and women there began to inquire as to who he wns. It was Miss Haldane's privilege and pleasure to enlighten them bo far as she couid, without betraying the nature of tholr confidential relation. There were several papers on the side of the administration, which were owned and controlled by the party In power, that would have been glad Indeed to have discredited Gormly; but the closest scrutiny revealed noth ing In his life that could be used for that purpose. Where he had come from was not known; but for the lant qiarter of a century at least his course bad been trai.ed with consld- Ttoie accuracy, and indeed mere was little of it that was not discovered and dL-jclosed to the eager public. He was quite willing to talk about the Gotham Freight Traction company or any matter of public moment, but for the rest he was unshakably silent His early past therefore, was a mystery; .. i ,11 i a . .,. ,.,1.1.. i Tell Them to Come Up by All Meant at Once," Said Oormly. but the interest In a mystery that has no special bearing upon the present soon dies out Then Gormly did an unusual thing for htm. He purchased a country place on Long Inland. This received no mention In the public press, be cause the whole matter had been han dled by the Invaluable Chaloner, and Gormly's name had not appeared at all. The place was do? 1W In that tt was not far five or six miles from the country place of the Haldane fam ily. It was bought completely fur nlshed, and the staff of servants prevl ously employed was retained. Gormly knew from the clipping bu reau that It was the custom of the Haldanes to pass the Christmas holt days at their country place. He bad seen Miss Haldane rather less fre quently of late, because the work at the settlement house was now so fai advanced that It was merely a mattei of carrying out the plans decided upon and spending the money so generouBl) placed In her hands by him, whlcb did not need much consultation. So, on the vain hope that chance might throw him In touch with her, Gorml) decided also to occupy for the ChrUt mas season his lonely cottage It wai called a cottage, although It was mon like a baronial mansion than anythlni else on the Long Island shore. It was snowing hard the evening ol his arrival the day before Chrlstmaa and Gormly did not like snow. Hi had bitter memories intermingled with a storm, and the sight of thi white, Ice covered, snow clad fleldi filled him with unploasant reminls cences. Since he had bought the estati through the faithful Chaloner, he ha not seen it himself. Therefore, aftei the excellent dinner which had beei provided by his new chef and serve! by his new butler, he determined upoi a careful Inspection of bis residence They had advanced as rar as the It brary when the familiar tinkle of thi telephone made them pause. "See who It Is, Deals," said the mas ter of the house. "It's from the keeper of the lodgi gate, sir," he said, turning and look Ing toward his master. "He says that there's a party down there stalled Ii an automobile. They can't get on Ii the snow. They'd like to come up te the house. There are ladles In thi party, and" "Tell them to come up by all meant at once," said Gormly. "Beg pardon, sir," returned the but ler, "but you know it's half a mile b) the road, and It'll be terrible walking for the ladles In such weather at this." "Quite so." returned Gormly. "What does the stable afford T" "There's the station wagon and the pair that brought you over, sir. Those are all that are there. "Yes, I remember. That's all I told Chaloner to send down, not expectlni tc Well, have that hitched up and telephone them that a conveyance will be at the lodge In a few moments; that I should be glad to have them come to the house at once." "By the way," he asked, "did yov find out the names of the people? "Yes, sir," answered the butler, "it was Mr. Haldane and his party." To be continued Tor Sale! A number of Duroc boars with pedigree. L. II. Oldham. MR. FARMER! I will on Thursday of every week de liver Ice Cream, Fruit at Fresh Oysters at your very door. Watch (or the Auto! J. E. MASON lllim MI ENS" coins The Gayety Continues Its Policy of "Always a Good Show" Three laughs a minute throughout the performance is what is promised, amusement seekers at the popular Gayety, Omaha, next week, when the merry extravaganza, "The Midnight Maidens." will be presented by a company headed by such favorite players as Harry A. Emerson, Ted Evans. Barto and McCue, Crelghton Brothers, Amanda Scott, Gladys Searls, Grace Celest, Mabel Morgan, and the handsomest chorus in the show business. Travesty of big Dro- portlons is a sign of the times and there appears to be a fierce struggle for supremacy going on all the white the majority of theatre-goers keep la receptive mood for entertainment of that character. Few managers have given much thought towards the necessity of a plot, or at least some sort of comprehensive story as a fMC THE-'-" r.F'" v . til background for the fun and music features that come in for a great share of the favors accorded, and it Is therefore noteworthy to record an Instance like "The Midnight Maid ens," which has earned the right of way as much for its solidity of plot purpose as Is due to the liberality that is said to characterize its other novel features. "The Midnight Maidens" In addition to telling a really funny and consistent story will ourt comparisons concerning every- hing that tends towards actual great ness, and will aim to set the pact for leverness and originality and make an honest attempt In the direction ot plcturesqueness. Tho scenery was painted by such well known artists as Ernest Albert and C. W, Valen tine and Gates and Morange, and the costumes were designed by Will H. Barnes and executed by Frank Hay- don. The muBlc Is very catchy and. was specially written by Lee Oreaa Smith. Secure jour seats early to avoid the rush. Starting Monday, there will be a ladles' dime matinee, dally. Tuesday night complete elec tion returns will be read from the. stage. Many Thanks. Colonel Missouri A. Bates, editor of the Plattsmouth Journal and a candidate on the democratic ticket for the lower house, was tn the city yesterday, black slouch hat, cane and all. The colonel Is Burely a foxy one- when It comes to satorlal adornment nd dazzles the voters, to say the; least. It Is said of him that he la the Beau Brum in el of Cass county. The colonel Is a good old sport and we regret that he is running on the. wrong side of the fence. Nebraska City Dally Press, republican. Bro. Sweet will please accept our thanks for this compliment, and if we ever have the opportunity to repay same we will moat assuredly do bo. Do you want an AUCTIONEER? If you do, (ret one who has Experience, Ability, Judgement. Telegraph or write ROBERT WIKINSON, Dunbar, Neb. Putes'mnde at this office or the Murray State Bank. Good Service Reasonable Rale J.W. HUGHES Live Stock and General Farm Sale AUCTIONEER Five years successful Belling renders me thoroughly competent of handling your sale. Refcrfence from those 1 have sold for. Graduate from Missouri Auction School. See me at Perkins Hotel. Platto. 'Phone 142 Green -f .(7 .AHK It IF BTHOW