The Wichita daily eagle., 1901-05-31
IN QUEST oE A CLIMAX.


Albert Jessurun Ormsby pressed his
hngers down hard upon his aching eyes
and revolved the problem again and
J again before his perplexed mind. BE had
received an order from magazine pub
/ Usher for a story. Three chapters were
complete. The characters had been skill
fully introduced and had succeeded in
getting themselves IN network OF social
intrigue. mainly through the efforts of
the villain in the story. This villain was
an amiable sort OF fellow, and he had
Z been OF much assistance 10 Ormsby in in
vOlving his characters In trouble. But,
like all good villains. his time had come
10 die He had to die in the fourth and
last chapter OF the story and 1t was i'm
perative that he die at once. as the man
uscript had to be mailed that night.
How 20 kill him, decently and dramatic
ally, was the problem.
Ormsby was becoming irritated- A sud
den inspiration came TO him and he start
ed 10 pen down the thought. but his cuff
caught on the desk he threw MS cuffs
across the room, but the train OF thought
had been wrecked His collar seemed TO
cut into his neck. He removed il and
tied a white handkerchief in its stead
He studied the pattern of the paper on
the wall, but it was Of no avail. the in
spiratiOn would not come His head was
aching. so he decided TO go out and walk
clear his ideas. AS he opened the street
door the chill breeze penetrated his thin
slippers, but he would not stop TO put on
his shoes Pulling q pair of rubDers over
the slippers, he started out, Just as the
bell in the cathedral near by doomed out
the hour OF midnight
AS he walked on. slowly at first, and
more rapidly as he wove together the
fabric OF that fourth chapter, he gave no
heed to where he was going. He crossed
streets, traversed little patches Of wood
land and slirted vacant lots until he was
miles from home. He had assembled all
the characters in his novel ar beach
party. The villain and the hero were
swimming together, far out from the
shore. Things were going beautifully.
and Ormsby was travelling at gentle
dog trot.
by Georger' he said aloud; heres
my chance. I'm going TO drown you
drown you, do you hear? You'll never
see the light Of another day You thought
to drown the hero. but here is where yoI
die"
But an unforeseen circumstance gave
the villain a brief respite from death.
burly form hurled itself from the dark
ness upon Ormsby and bore him 10 the
ground. 4 pair OF enormous hands en-
circled his throat, and a knee was press
ed into his chest until he gasped- In
twinkling he was turned over on his
face his hands drawn back and locked
together with handouts. Then he was
snatched to his feet. A giant policeman
confronted him, swinging club in
manner that betokened a burning desire
to bounce it few times on Ormsby's
head.
Here, Mister officer, what does this
mean?"
'Thatll do f'r ye now; yen not dhrown
/, ind "a
But I am not going to drown any one.
What do you mean?'
Didn't I Just hear ye say We were
goin to dhrown him this very night!
A-a-h, me lad, I've been follyin' ye fer
blocks. I knew ye were up to some
divilment. But 1t don't go; not on Doc
lin's beat, mind that
Then it dawned upon Ormsby that he
had been talking aloud as he wove his
story together. "Oh, that's all right, oni-
Ger. I am writing a story, and that was
the villain I was talking about. He was
only to die on paper. I was merely
drowning him in the story"
"No doubt, no doubt, but ye can ex-
plain oil that to tn desk sargeant. He's
a literary man himself; he used fer to
make books be tn race thrack. Gintle-
min who write books don't go sneakin'
arOun' tn sthreets after midnight wild
ready fer to pull over their
faces and sneaks on their feel. III send
ye in
The patrol wagon was called, and
Ormsby was given an opportunity to cX
plain to the sergeant, who looked wise
and ordered him locked up. However, his !
story must have been investigated, for
Just at break Of day he was cut out Of
the herd OF tramps and suspects at the !
station and escorted home, with instruc- |
tions to dress with more care the next
time he walked out after midnight.
Ormsby found everybody up and burn /
ing with excitement at his boarding |
house, but he lodged the batteries of in !
quisitive eyes and hurried to his room. /
Although he needed sleep, he deliberately 4
sat down and wrote the last chapter Of 4
his story Clearly in defiance Of the po- /
lice and their laws. he drowned his vil- /
lain. But not on Officer Doolin's beat. /
Edward r. Younger, in Chicago Record /
Herald.