Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-30
ORATOR sHUKKs, REVENGE.
He Was Loaded and the First Game
He Sighted Was "a Burglar.
From,

He Was Loaded and the First Game
He Sighted Was "a burglar.
From the Chicago Daily Tribune
1t was an Indictment night, but the gloomy
looking man who stood in the doorway Of the
little town hall and looked out at the pelt
ing rain did not blame it entirely on the
weather.
The ACCOMPLISHING man was Webster
Shukks. leading citizen and prominent de-
batter of cambridge township. He had come
to Spiketown pursuant to announcement to
deliver an address on the Crime of '73, and
only three persons had turned out, one of
them being the janitor of the building.
The other two had heard the orator oTce
or twice already.
1t was decided to postpone the meeting.
Ihe lights were put out and Mr.. Shukks,
buttoning his overcoat about him, turned
up his collar, and, pulling his hat brim down
all round. went forth into the storm.
Oppressed by the burden of an unspoken
speech, he wandered aimleSsly about the lit
tie town for hours, regardless of the rain
that soaked his garments and the mud that
spattered and stopped as he wendell his de-
Vlous and uncertain way through streets
whose broad sidewalks and wel-bui!t cross
ings were yet in the future Bitter thoughts
OF the apathy of the people he had come to
enlighten surged through his mind, and at
times he felt an almost irresistible impulse
to let them slide on to their ruin without aI'y
further effort to save them.
Finding himself at last opposite the village
MOTEL where he had engaged lodgings for
the night, he went in. Climbing the stairs
softly, in order not to disturb the slumbers
OF the other guests, he proceeded to his
room.
Through the partly opened door he saw
man slipping about with dim lantern in
his hand.
Webster Shukks grasped his heavy cane
firmly, slipped noiseless1y inside, shut the
door behind him, and spoke in low tone:
Stop right where you are, If you make
single movement I'll brain your
taken by surprise the intruder threw up
his hands.
Now, you scoundrel," said the statesman
of cambridge township, with the same low,
tense utterance, Il don't know who you ere
or where you come from, but 1 know what
you're proving about my room for. You
are here to Steal!''
IL" began the baffied burglar
There is nothing you need to say inter-
rupted Webster Shukks, with a CLEAN of
vengeance in his eye. open your head
again and I'll drive you down through the
evening, my fellow citizens, to consider as
calmly as We can the great crime committed
against the people of this country in the
year 1873, at the bidding of an organization
composed of a few London and New York
bankers-a crime so dastardly, so fiendisn,
so monstrous in its conception and heartless
in its execution that humanity may well
stand appalled, al the mere contempla zion Of
it! Let us go back to the beginning In 1892,
my fellow citizens. Congress passed mint
and coinage law by which gold and silver,
when coined, were declared to be the pri-
mary money of the republic. The unit Of
value was the silver dollar of 81 Ia grains
OF pure, or 416 grains of standard, silver.
The legal ratio was declared in this act to
he, until otherwise provided for, IL to l. 1t
was enacted that any person could take
either OF the two metals to the mint and
have 1t coined into money, free of all
charge. In its sovereign capacity, fellow
citizens. the founders of this great country
laid down the broad principle of the free
coinage of silver"
There was hoarse, gurgling sound, and
the helpless villain who had been standing
in a corner of the room with his hands
above his head sank in heap to the floor.
Nature had come to his relief He
had tainted.