The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-08-25
Stories of an inland State.

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she had caused it. She alone was in pos
session of the secret of the little room
The explosives could not have acted BY
themselves. Some one had meddled witt
! them, and she must have been the one.
| He had left her alone in her seat, an6
she, not knowing she was blinded forever
! began already to possess that exaggeratior
| of the sense Of touch by which Nature tries
| to recompense the blind. The nap of the
piush-covered seat was examined by heT
I nervous fingers, the polished woodwork OF
the coach, its surface and finish, and the
smooth, cool pane of glass in the windows,
on which her fingers travelled ceaselessly
/ seeking with curious persistency every flaw
and inequality in its surface.
The explosion had awakened the citizens
| for blocks around The police had received
/ a half dozen different calls. The fire de-
] partment was on hand, but found no
| fire. The newspaper reporters consult
I ed with the police, who. with the fire.
! men, clambered about in the ruins, trying
to find some clew to the mystery. The
neighbors could throw no light on the oc-
currence. The buildings adjoining on either
side had been damaged greatly, but every
one except the occupants of the wrecked
house had turned up. The people in the
neghborhood were closely questioned as 10
these people. They did not know even
their names. One woman knew that an
old man lived there, with his daughter,
beautiful girl, and that they had an occa-
sional caller, who looked like Oliver Willis,
the labor leader. An officer was delegated
10 call upon the labor leader. The woman
had been mistaken. He d:d not know the
house or the district in which il was stu
VIZ SIrSniciOuS
There were no natural gas pipes in the
vicinity, and the explosion was too power
full for the minor detonants. Morning came,
with the newspapers vaguely connecting
the explosion with the labor strike and
setting the town in panic. The workers
in the ruins found the remnants OF hu-
man body. The experts said ii was that
of a young man. The police were busy in
the registry of deeds, and the postoffice.
1t was not long until they were in posses
sion of John Wrights name. A pharma-
cist came forward with the information
Of the old mans intense interest in chem
icals. A large supply house was next in
evidence with bills of goods he had pur-
chased. Bits of mechanism and retort,
unbroken amid the general wreck, were
found. The police were sure they had un-
earthed an anarchist, and began TO hide
IL
the facts as the police had them in spite
of their secrecy. 1t was pointed out with
great argumentative detail that the por-
tons of the body were not those of John
Wright, but of a young man; that John
Wright and his daughter were still in the
ruins When these were cleared away, this
was found TO be untrue. The wires began
working in quick pursuit. The strike,
which engaged all along the great railroad
lines, the whole attention Of the county
sheriffs, was John WIights protection.
When morning came he was far west
of the Mississippi At every station there
were mobs of dirty-faced men, weaving
backward and forward and cheering and
believing Dead locomotives stood idly on
side-tracks, with long lines Of delayed cars.
In the city a clerk in all night drug
store had by evening notified the police
that an old man, carrying a young wo-
man, who had been blinded by a terrific
explosion, and whose eyes he had dressed
in his store after midnight, despite his
protests, had fed with the young woman
The police were jubilant.
John Wright regarded capture as GER
tain. He did not hope to escape. But as
he saw the welter.ng mobs Of men, damned
about each depot. the little squad of deputy
sheriffs who guarded the approach OF the
train and its departure, he was filled with |
a keen regret that he had failed. The ma !
ton was finder. 1t needed only his spark. /
He had headed for home. Kansas, as the |
wounded bird makes for the nest, not that /
1t affords any greater protection, or offers |
greater help, but because 1t is home.
It was evening when they arrived a |
Stogs Center. He drew his hat down over
al nd
walked slowly up the little street of the
town with Nell on his arm.
He was headed for the country. Why,
he did not know. Another man owned
his old home and lived there. 1t was no
longer his, but he strangely felt that pas
sion of individual ownership which every
man feels for his homesteaded farm, which
nor deed nor legal transaction,
whatever, can take from him. He felt his
Did doorstep would be a bulwark against
the whole world.
If he had reasoned, then. he might have
annulled the evil conclusions of an evil
lifetime. If he had reasoned then, he
might have seen that the doorstep is a
mans rampant. as homes are the nations
If he had reasoned then he
might have seen that it is the gentle Joy
n itself that insures the safety CT the great
r nation. If he had reasoned then, he
night have seen that here, where the ba-
)ies prattle in the morning sunshine. here
where the goodly housewife sings through
he day, here where the toilsman come a
wen TO peace and quietude and love. here
\ here the shadows creep at night and the
'hildren fall asleep, and the lamps are
lighted and the king and queen sit together
wing old memories or dreaming new fu-
ures, secure in affections ennobling bands,
With the days work done and the world
md its cares and strifes and vexations
hut out and happiness concentrated and
soIated, here in the individual home. if he
,ad reasoned. he might have seen. one
tone Of many millions in the bastion OF the
ation. This. had he reasoned, he might !
ave seen, and the utter folly OF his indi-
-idual rebellion He might have seen that
ad he had a single child. no passion
gasnst the government or authority, sys-
en- or custom could have imperilled for !
n instant The happiness OF his offspring.
But he had ceased TO reason He had |
allied, and great failures have no pall!at-
lg excuse or pardoning explanation. He
ia not reason so. but even the Nature
I the man with self-willed independence,
easonei for him and drove him, broken,
nhappy, defeated, ruined. home. ,
Nell Everett. fatguei beyond endurance, ,
stopped. She could 90 no
Irther. and sank upon him with a low
loan. Darkness surrounded her. and dark
ess 20 her was death. She heard acuteIy
De sounds about her. the passing citizen,
lie cries near and far. the rumble OF wag-
rs. The audible evidence Of a great world. :
st in business. from which she was shu; +;
AZ. Slowly she began 10 know that she a
az been blinded permanently. SIZE had 4
sked John Wright. ard received The