The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-02-15
THE KILLING
OF ARAD FILES.

And as for this man Files, we shal
nave something to say about him to
morrow which WI be an eye-opene,
TO the citizens whom he Is hood wink
ing.
This was the closing sentence OF the
editorial, and rs Mhlco'm penned il
the lines about his Zip, grew more de.
termlned, and there was u light in his
gray eyes which bOdod i'll for the
aforesaid Flies. The uap,burg Argus
was Tor reform, aLd the young editor
mad thrown himself h,arJ and soll,
INTO the political arena.
Hap: burg-that is, the better ele-
ment, which, rs is the case iU many
communities, had bsen u lethargtc
maJorlty-was slowly awaking. Cor
fuptlon was fostering sore upon the
oOdy po!itlc; decent mGn kept away
from the primaries and almost from
the polls on election dav. The CITY
was in the hands OF u yang who not
only robbed taxpayers, but gave moth
ing IN return The average property
owner will star being robbed in taxes,
II he can only see some rcturn for the
money in public improvements.
FINALLY few OF the most progres.
slve business men had joined forces
bought out the local paper, and looked
ABOUT Tor young man to run it for
them, believing the paper to be the
entering wedge for The lever which
was to ovcrturn the Old regime Tney
came upon Malcop, and he was in.
stalled at the head Of the A rrus staff.
Arad Files was the political bUss of
the lowest section OF the city. He had
been bartender, q real estate agent
during the boom, Il " contractor" for
several public "impruvem, ~" which
had mIaWhim comfortably wel-to do,
sh{n1 fkYwas something of lawyer.
For tel years he had bee n leader in
the politics OF the CITY. Nobody
seemed to know mucu about bis ante
cedents. His life previous TO his ap-
pearance in Hapsb burg was "a closed
book.
But Malcolm, when DC fl st saw the
fellow, felt that his face WAS familiar.
Elles's Was q Strik ing COuntCnancG
one would not easily forget the dronp-
ing yellow moustache, full, ruddy
checks, and the long hair which almost
curled upon his coat collar. He always
wore a road-rimncl hat which eight
ened the cowboy effect OF his APP
pearance. Anc when Malcolm com
pared him with the cow-punchers he
had seen, he suddenly discovered the
niche in his memory into which Mr.
Arad Files fitted.
A dozen years before, Malcolm, then
IN ere lad, had visited his uncle's
ranc h in Montana, and while there one
of the ber, smen had killed another.
There was some pruvOcation Tor the
deed, but the township just then was
having spasm OF morality, and the
coroner's jury brought in d verdict OF
manslaughter; but the criminal escap-
ed. 1t appeared that the murderer
had already served term in prison
somewhere in the east and bore bad
reputation generally.
w hen NJ Malcolm found that Files WAS
one OF the hardest lighting opponents
OF the new movement for reform, he
began TO trace his back record. He
sent photograph OF the man to Mon
tana, and several witnesses recognized
the face, Malcolm waited until he had
the atlidaVlts and facts ranged in their
proper sequence, and then prepared to
spring his minc.
The election Of city officers was at
hand. The party in power was dying
hard, and Arad Files was making su.
perhumau efforts TO counteract the ef-
feet of the articles which appeared
day by day in the ARGUS" When
Malcolm wrote the editorial Of which
the sentence quoted above was the
close, the article dealing with F.les'
past record was already in type in
readiness for the next afternoons
paper. Coming as it would SO near
election day, the oppOsers Of the new
reform wave could do nothing to coun.
teract it's effect. Malcolm had laid his
plans carefully, and as he left the
Argus" Office that afternoon, he felt
that the success OF his party in the
coming election was assured.
He had to run over to Duquesne
that night on business, and, being de-
layed, was obliged to wait until morn
ing before coming back. The first
train was through express from
Chicago. The coaches were well filed,
but he finally found seat beside
little, quiet.laced old lady with an
ample lunch basket and several bulky
packages.
Malcolm had been motherless-al-
most homeless man for years, but
the kind old face under the gray hair
and the old fas hioned bonnet was more
attractive to him than o young face
would have been. He always cnvied
men their mothers. His boyish fea-
lures must have attracted her, for she
turned to him after the train had left
Duquesno and asked:
Young man, are you going far on
this train? l'm goin' to get off pretty
soon, and pvo got enough sandwiches
an doughnuts an cookies left here for
an army, They're good, too, for I
made 'em myself"
81 can believe that" responded Nal.
colin with smile, and wish was
going far enough so that might en-
Joy them but | get out two or three
stations beyond. 1t has been years
since had real homo cooking"
The old lady looked through her
glasses at him ommiseratingly. go
you've had to live at hotels, too, have
you ?" she said. "My son says he's
awful hungry for decent vittles. These
here hotel cooks don't know how to
cook fit for anybody's stomach. But
Pm sorry TO waste all this food when
1T might do some one some good an
save their going to that dinging car
My son ;ent me with my ticket q
plenty OF money to pay for my meals 9
on the train; but lear ned they serve
liquors there, so | was bound not to
patronzo EN-. II thought maybe II
you was going through you could
finish my lunch, an that would save
you having to go in. hato to see q
young man go into place where
there's liquor"
Her face flushed painfully and her
old voice trciabled. Malcolm saw that