The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-05-29
EXACT SCIENCE.
Revenge Visited Upon q Mortal
by Misapplied Principles.

-
by Misapplied Principles
John Macy. President of the Potiphar
Mining Company, took his way down
to his Office one morning with troubled
look. II was long before his usual hour
for appearing on The street, ana tne
peoplc whom he met glanced at him in
passing wonder. marveling that man
of his position should relinquish his late
morning sleep to tread the damp pave
ments and brave the chill night mists
still loiterlng over the lower portion OF
the city, until they should race out to
sea in ingnominious retreat before the
brisk onslaught of the vigorous trade
breeze. The preoccupied expression on
Mr.. Macy's face deepened as he ascend
ed the stairs leading to his Office. He
had been guilty of piece of negligence
which would have excited the surprise
and incredulity of his friends. and
which was in his eyes little short OF I'M
lpardonable. In the press OF business
.devolving upon him in his official ca
pacity he had neglected to keep close
watch of his private accounts, and had
only the day before been aroused to a
sense that serious discrepancy existed
between the amount of cash in the pri-
yate compartment of his safe snd the
amount credited to his account on h's
books.
The loss of the money was small
matter The manner In which it had
gone was of serious moIaent MIR. Macy
was essentially a man of method lie
was, if 1 may be allowed the express
sion, man of q mathematical turn OF
mind. In his college days, when 9th
ers of his comrades zealously embraced
the study of chemistry, the dead Ian
o1lages. belles-lettres, probed deeply
into the annals of ancient and modern
history, or sought distinction IN base
ball, rowing and other intellectual ex-
ercises, John Macy stuck resolutely to
mathematics. Recognizing the ella ms
of other studies merely to the ex-
tent required to pass examinations
without being plucked, he had roved
with eyer-increasing delight over the
broad algebraic fields, dallied amid
the destinations of the diagrams o.
Euclid, rioted among the .maryelou:
calculations of trigonometry, deivee
through comic sections, climbed the dir
w heights of differential and integra
calculi, and even luxuriated for
time in the triumphant demonstration
of applied mathematics, taking up CIV
engineering. the laws of physics ant
higher astronomy in turn. When Com
mencement Day arrived, and his colleg
DAYS were ended, while other student
slowed away copies of Horace or Home
in their trunks, along with sundry mo
.mentoes of less poetical character
Young Macy weighted down his bag
rare with half hundred pounds G
textbooks, and started West with fey
dollars in money and a theory. He bt
Tlieyed that he had discovered me-
silence. and was resolved TO put it
test The marvellous results that ha
been obtained by the application OF til
noble principles of mathematics to m:
tcrial bodies and forces would be total
eclipsed when the same grand truti
were accepted as immutable laws
their application to the analysis
human character and acton.
He had put his theory into practi
with pronounced success. His few pc
MES, carefully invested, with many
shrewd calculation of chances and pc
.sibiiities, and augmented with the
valuable auxiliary of youthful streng
and industry, had swelled into hundre
in an incredibly short space OF tim
.Sagaciously estimating the virtues al
frailties of his fellow-men, speculatI
upon their action in given emergencit
lie had avoided the shoals upon whi
MANY a commercial bark is wrecke
Later on, learning of promising mi
eral discovery that was offered for $:
by the owners, he had visited the sp'
tested the ore, made a neat Calculate
of the amount of pay-rock in sig
ascertained the dip of the wall -rot
and then, applying his mental rule a
compass to the men with whom he
to deal, bought one out at low figu
froze out another, and, retaining
third one as his partner, realized
fortune. It was rumored among thu
who were conversant with John Mac
mental characteristics that he had
his wife by mathematical measur
confusing his rival by means OF a ser
of strategic transformations OF eq'
tons, enticing him into an ecceni
orbit, and then eliminating the Pr
fellow altogether from the scene OF
ton, while Macy pursued a system
substitution and naturalization, VIII
resulted in the capture of the lady. Ht
ever that may be, it is certain t
she became an atfectionate aud
voted wife. and was even happy, al
a methodical and calculated fashi
passing away to better world with
apologetic smile,y one night while
husband was counting her pulse
estimating the distance 10 the near
doctor and the rate of messens
bows locomotion. He assuaged
grief by brisk computation OF the ]
try wears remaining of his own allot
time, and, after a careful consulta!
of his Bourbon, christened their inf
daughter kant;ssa, at a period when
was too young to protest against
indignlty to her womanhood-
John Macy was not thinking al
any of these things, as he knit his 81
that morning over his accounts.
deed, he was accustomed to conilne
meditations 10 the present and the
mediate future. Having discovered
trick that hadbeen played upon him,
next thing in order was to catch
thief. He observed the actions OF
nriyate secretary and clerk. as they
tered the room and went about I
respective vocations. The crime
between the two, and whichever pre-
TO be the guilty party could be Ger
S~aao;x-iny small nIrHrter.