Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-03-29
Twelve Hours With a Millionaire
THE bell rang at 1880 o'clock.

l. DC N1ls GUY JOuu dU
'cnce," said the young man at the door.
President Pettyjohn, of the Inter
national Air Engine company, had gone
to bed at midnight, but had tossed and
stumbled without getting to sleep until
the big clock in the drawing-room
downstairs had struck three.
There was danger of a strike at the
factory OF the Air Engine, company;
a Canadian pirate had exactly copied
the latest models of the company's en-
gines and had cut the price 40 per
cent; the monthly statement of the
Paris office showed loss of 10000
francs; confidential information from
Yale university was to the effect that
Paul Pettyjohn. Jr., was becoming dis
sipated; how was the last supreme
court decision ON the antitrust law to
be evadcd?
In the quiet and darkness of the big
upper room President Pettyjohn's
mind had been like kaleidoscope,
filled with confusion of broken frag-
ments, which continually formed
themselves into new and terrifying
~cOmbina lions.
When ne finally fell into an uneasy
sleep it was to dream of a man in his
shirt sleeves standing before punch
press with a flock of vultures, which
kept him continually lodging, flying
about his head. President Pettyjohn
had worked on the punch job himself
20 years before. The vultures were
the thousand complex, unsettled, in
,sistent problems which tore him,
asleep and awake.
At 1880 o'clock President Pettyjohn's
man raped at his bedroom door.
''Mr. Anthony is here, sir, and says
he must see you at once
''Show him up" said President Pet
tyjohn, ''and Ering me up cup of COT
fee"
He had awakened from his sleep Of
less than five hours with his mind as
tense and strained as when>he went to
bed. The private secretary found him
sitting beside the bed in a bath robe,
drinking a cup of black coffee and
reading the morning papers.
'"The brass molders and polishers
went out at seven o'clock said the
young man. ''Larkin wants to shut
down the whole factory. I came over
ito tell YOU"
go back and tell Larkin to wait I'M
til get there" said President Petty
John. "Eeu him not to go too fast"
Larkin was the general manager OF
the international Air company.
'Order my buggy at once" said
President Petty john to his man, land
tell Mrs. Pettyjohn L can't stop for
breakfast
Then lie hurried into his clothes
On his way TO the factory he noticed
in the paper that the stock of the r.
S. w. railroad, in which he was inter-
ested, had dropped ten points. Then
a aaring headline caught his eye: Cali
Trusts Knocked Out" it read. ''Su-
preme Court Decision Sounds the Doom
of Monopoly"
stop at starkey's Office he called
to his driver. "Frescott Building"
He spent ten minutes with the cor
poration lawyer, who had not read the
decision, but thought things looked
dangerous on the surface. He would
prepare a written decision and call at
President Pettyjohn's house that even
ing at eight.
At the corner of La Sale street {.
man stopped the carriage. President
Pettyjohn threw the door open in a
fever of impotence. A tall man with
"a gray coatee was leaning over from
the curb. President Pettyjohn recog-
',ized him at the first glance.
paul. he began, I'm over my head
in R. S. w. They're calling for mar
gins and l haven't cent. Let me have
thousand. If you don't I'll go broke
and worse than that
President Pettyjohn' s eyebrows came
down over his eyes and his mouth set
in hard lines. The last draft had been
honored at the bank of boyhood friend
ship.
Il can't give you cent" he said.
Then he told the driver to hurry. No
zone knew what might be happening at
the factory.
Lord" he said to himself, 'sif people
knew how busy I am perhaps they'd
let up little"
There was big crowd of men gath
cred before the entrance to the fac
tory. They looked at President Petit
john sullenly. He went in and found
telegram lying on top of his closed
desk. + Before he took off his coat h.
opened it. It was dated at New Haven.
'''Wire $780," it read sam in trouble.
Must have money at once" Signed
~''Paul." w.. .-....
So the report about Paul's misbehav-
!ior at Yale was true. President Petty
john stole enough time to hope that it
was nothing dishonorable.
But Larkin, the general manager:
Potter, the superintendent, and An
thony, the private secretary, were al
ready gathered about his desk.
II think we had better shut down the
iplant," said Larkin.
s. eyes, said Potter, land make the
fight right now, once for ALL"
''There are 223 men out already"
broke in Anthony.