The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-12-24
A MAN
MA M ED
MORIARTY


"The question is" said the stout gen
tleman, emphasizing the last word and
pausing effectively, who's to be the
scapegoat of this AFFAIR.""
"There must be one, you Think" said
the thin man with the gray beard as his
anxious eyes searched the other mans
face.
"Of course the stout man answered,
with an air of fnality. "You 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 dan
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
81 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've got to be
prepared for almost anything and when
that anything comes, as it will sooner
or later, you've got to take a day off and
smooth things over with the public. The
public is inquisitive, and it has a way of
finding more things 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 small matter if the old shack
on the plains has gone up with bang
Let it go. It's a loss, to be sure, but it's
nothing to what the loss will be if the
true inwardness of that bang becomes
common gossip. If it should get out
just why the works blew up, you'd never
put another ounce of product on the mar
ket, and your stock wouldn't be worth
the paper it's engraved on. In fact
you'd be lucky to get off without long
term for manslaughter."
"Wel?' said the other as he shifted
uneasily in his chair
'Fix the blame on some one. That
will satisfy 'em. Don't bother about dol
lars and cents just at present"
gested the thin man.
Gas l said, when you run things in this
way you have to be prepared for any
thing. There's two things to be thankful
for. First, it's Gods own mercy it didn't
happen in the daytime. Thirty killed
and forty Notwithstanding like that
in scare type. That would have been
serious. Second that a man named Mo-
riarty was loafng round the building
somewhere. There's your man."
MISUNDERSTANDING! said the thin
man, as if endeavoring to place the name.
Eyes, Moriarty," said the other The
same one that grated US for twenty
more per month when somehow-Lord
knows how-he got on to the fact that
we were taking long chances"
ooh, yes,' said the thin man, his face
lighting. where is he?"
''Well, should say he was numbering
the earth at several points, unless they've
collected him." the other said grimly.
"Low down, suppose, to take advantage
of a man when he's dead. Still, it's
bound to be somebody, and we may as
we'll use him who first used u.s."
"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 will you fix the blame
on him?' 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 if we heard of it again. Par
ticularly trusty man otherwise and long
in our employ, SO we hated to part with
him. Must have tried it once too often
last night. Shocked at such a horrible
thing, of course, but we'd so often eau
toned him, and SO forth-see"
The thin man arose.
You're genius" said he. cts the
very thing"
"'Tisn't genius" said the other short
Iy. cts a case of have to-"
On the evening preceding the above
conversation the Commonwealth Explo-
siye works in the dingy little village called
the Plains had verified its name by sail
ing skyward in the midst of a vivid pyro-
technical display, accompanied by roar
like several concentrated Fourth of Julys,
around. Several hours after the explo-
sion, in a little belt of Iarches some rods
away, heap of wreckage stirred uneas-
lily and finally broke apart. From the
wreckage came a thing which wabbled
about the ground in its vain attempts
to rise. Finding this impossible, it be-
gan to crawl through the grove toward
light which showed in window some
little distance beyond. The thing made
progress painfully, sometimes creeping,
sometimes worming, but always grooming
weakly. The light seemed leagues away,
and, moreover, it bobbed about in Won
derful fashion and showed all variety OF
color from blood red to pale blue. Some
times it was lost to sight completely, and
the thing would utter a sound between
gasp and moan, but it always crawled
until at last the light showed its kaleido-
scopic hues close at hand. Then the
thing, after numerous attempts found a
feeble voice and sent out frail shout.
while the light swung around in huge cir
cles and dripped green sparks in its trail
Some one came running and, bending
down, said, Good God!" in voice that
rang and Jared like heavy bells-then
darkness.
1t was late in the next AFTERNOON Wneh
the thing opened its eyes, and even as 1t
moaned in its pain the presses in the
neighboring city were running out in
their first editions the account of Mo-
riartys affection for his pipe.
Now, to bring into the semblance of a
man a thing which had scared through
the air in company with loose boards,
stray Orders and miscellaneous debris
takes some little time and vast amount
of surgical skill OF time there was a
plenty, and there was no lack of other
requisites at the hospital to which the
thing was finally taken. The two in con
junction worked wonders Out of the
battered mass of broken bones and laeer-
ated flesh came slowly but surely the
likeness of human being-a very sorry
human being it was, SCARED and dis
figured and bristling with splints and
bandages Still. through it all it chung
to life with tenacity which was little
less than marvellous.
After many weeks it was able to sit up
every day in a chair. About this time
this much bandaged man began to read,
and, CHANGING to come across bundle of
weeks old papers, he read therein the ac-
count of thoughtless Moriarty. 1t pleased
him immensely. He chuckled and grin