The Jersey City news., 1901-10-26


The question is" said the stout gem
tleman, emp ma sizing the last word and
pausing effectively, who's to be the
scapegoat Of This aEair?s
There mnst be one, you think 2" said
the thin Inan with the gray beard as his
anxious eyes searched the other mans
face.
AOf course" the stout man answered,
with an air OF fnality. ssYou don't want
the papers to get hold OF the truth, do
you? You don't want it to leak out that
we're manufacturing explosives with in
ferior chemicals- to say nothing of dam
gerous processes, long ago condemned as
murderous. which we've employed to
cut corners and boom the dividends. You
don't want that going the rounds, do
your
mo. indeed not" the thin man said
eagerly.
Ergo, the scapegoat," said the other.
II don't see where you'll find one" the
thin man observed YEARLY.
WELL" the stout man began, and his
voice was full OF vigor and determination,
when you run a business of this sort
and in this manner, when you do almost
anything to tickle the stockholders, when
you cut down the expenses to the point
Of holding human beings over eternity
on No. 80 cotton thread,, you We got to be
prepared for almost anything, and when
that anything comes, as it will sooner
or later, you We got to take day off and
smooth things over with the public. The
public is in isitive, and it has way of
finding mols shings out than you want it
to. Now, what we've got TO do is to
square the public. We've made money
this past year. We've saved SO much
through cheap stock and risky processes
that it's a small matter if the old shack
on the plains has gone up with bang.
Let it go. It's q loss, to be sure, but it's
nothing to what the loss win be If the
true inwardness of that bang becomes
common gossip. II it should get out
just why the works blew up. yor "a never
put another ounce OF product on the mar
the paper it's engraved on. In fact,
you'd be lucky to get off without a long
term for manslaughter."
s'Well?'' said the other as he shifted
uneasily in his chair.
Six the blame on some one. That
will satisfy 'em. Don't bother about dol
lars and cents just at present"
sAnd the -scapegoat? 2? sug-
gested the thin man.
ssAs said, when you run things in this
way you have to be prepared for any
thing There two things to be thankful
for. First, it's Gods own mercy it didn't
happen in the daytime. Thirty killed
and forty wounded - something like that
in scare type. That would have been
serious. Second, that man named Mo-
riarty was loa6ng round the building
somewhere. There's your man."
s'Moriarty- Moriartyr said the thin
man. as if endeavoring to place the name.
sYes. Moriarty," said the other. THE
same one that grated us for twenty
more per month when somehow Lord
knows how--lle got on to the fact that
we were taking long chances"
.sOh. yes, said the thin man, his face
lighting. Where is he?"
Well should say he was cumbering
the earth at tsseyeral points, unless they We
collected him.. the other said grimly.
ssLow down, suppose, to take advantage
of a man when he's dead. Still, it's
bound to be somebody, and we may as
well use him who first used us."
Are you sure he's dead?" the thin
man asked.
You've never seen an explosion like
that, Imagine, the stout man said
dryly
Anyhow. how win you fix the blame
on him y the other inquired.
Easy enough. Reporters will be
round today to interview US. Well,
there's only one way we can imagine it
happened. On several occasions we've
been out to the works at night. Moriarty
was smoking see? Threatened to dis
charge him Il We heard Of it again. Par
ticularly truxty man otherwise and long
in our employ, 80 we hated to part with
him. Must have tried it once too often
last night. Shocked nt such a horrible
thing, of course. but we'd so often eau
tened him. and so forth-see?"
The thin mnn arose.
You're genius, said he. ITS the
very thing
!. 'Tisn't genius" said the other Short
sly. It's case of have to.
i On the evening preceding the above
conversation the Commonwealth Explo-
sise works il the dingyl ylittie village called
the Plains had verified its name by sal
/ ing skywatsI IN the midst Of vivid pyro
technical display, accompanied by q roar
like several concent tratell Fourth OF .Julys.
which had shaken the earth for miles
around. Several hours after the explo
sion, IN a little belt Of iai'ches some rods
AWAY, heap Of wreckage stirred uneas-
ily and finally broke apart. From the
wreckage cane d thing which wabhled
about the ground III it's vain attempts
to rise. Finding this impossible. II be
gan to crawl thsough the grove toward
light which showed in a window SON
little distance beyond. The thing mas
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