and powerful to sink a we persisted mr hale was clear through he at the rate of one hundred thousand per week for secret service the aid of the and of countless private was called in and in addition to this thousands were upon our our agents everywhere in all penetrating all classes of society they grasped at a hundreds of were and at various times thousands of suspicious persons were under but nothing came to light with its communications the m of m continually changed its method of delivery and every messenger they sent us was arrested forthwith but these inevitably proved to be innocent individuals while their descriptions of the persons who had employed them for the errand the of never on the last day of december we received this office of the m of m december mr hale money baron dear sir � of our policy with which we flatter ourselves you are already well we beg to state that we shall give a from this of tears to with whom because of our attentions you have become so well acquainted it is custom to be in his private office at this hour even as you read this he breathes his last cordially yours the of i dropped the letter and sprang to the great was my relief when i heard the s hearty voice but even as he spoke his voice died away in the to a sob and i heard faintly the crash of a falling body then a strange voice d me sent me the regards of the m of m and broke the like a flash i called up the public office of the central police telling them the of to go at once to the s aid in his private office i then held the line and a few minutes later received the intelligence that he had been found bathed in his own blood and breathing his last there were no and no trace was of the murderer whereupon mr hale immediately increased his secret service till a quarter of a million flowed weekly from his he was determined to win out his rewards over ten millions you have a fair idea of his resources and you can see in what manner he drew them it was the principle he affirmed tbat he was fighting for not the gold and it must be admitted that his course proved the nobility of his motive the police of all the great cities and even the united states government stepped in and the affair became one of the highest questions of state certain funds of the nation were devoted to the of the m of m and every government agent was on the alert but all in vain the of carried on their work they had their way and struck the of but while he fought to the last mr hale could not wash his hands of the blood with which they were though not a murderer though no jury of his would ever have convicted him none the less the death of every individual was due to him as i said before a word from him and the slaughter would have ceased but he refused to give that word he insisted that the integrity of society was assailed that he was not sufficiently a coward to desert his post and that it was just that a few should be for the ultimate welfare of the many nevertheless this blood was upon his head and he sank into deeper and deeper gloom i was likewise with the guilt of an babies were killed children aged men and not only were these local but they were distributed over the country in the middle of february one evening as we sat in the library there came a sharp knock at the door on to it i found lying on the carpet of the corridor the following the of office of the m of m february mr hale money baron dear sir � does not your soul cry out upon the red harvest it is perhaps we have been too abstract in conducting our business let us now be miss is a young woman as good we understand as she is beautiful she is the of your old friend judge and we happen to know that you carried her in your arms when she was an infant she is your daughter s friend and at present is visiting her when your eyes have read thus far her visit will have terminated very cordially the of my god did we not instantly realize the terrible import we rushed through the day rooms � she was not there � and on to her own apartments the door was locked but we it down by ourselves against it there she lay just as she had finished dressing for the opera smothered with pillows torn from the couch the flush of life the of yet on her flesh the body still and warm let me pass over the rest of this horror you will surely remember john the newspaper accounts late that night mr hale summoned me to him and before god did pledge me most solemnly to stand by him and not to compromise even if all and kin were destroyed the next day i was surprised at his cheerfulness i had thought he would be deeply shocked by this last tragedy � how deep i was soon to learn all day he was light hearted and as though at last he had found a way out of the frightful difficulty the next morning we found him dead in his bed a peaceful smile upon his face � through the of the police and the authorities it was given out to the world as heart disease we deemed it wise to withhold the truth but little good has it done us little good has anything done us barely had i left 