The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1902-06-04
S'0s'OS'S'0NfVS'0S' oS'0S'0
THE DUKES
VICTORY
- ny -
Louise Robinson Rhodes
Copyright, 1902, by the
S. S. Mcclure Company

9 Copyright. 1902, by the 9
S. S. Mcclure Company
CocooococococCo0o0oCoooCoo
''Who is she?' asked Harry Mathews
rs woman came down the steps of
The Echo building and passed them,
with bright nod at Tom.
Tom watched the dimlnutiye figure
out of sight and bestowed an envious
glance upon the young man who was
doing escort duty before he replied:
"The Duke. with her arms full of
flowers, as usual"
"The Duke? repeated Harry. SIS
she-ah- nlcei"
'See here, my young friend, IL you
don't want all Newspaper row on your
ceryix don't put any question mark aft
er nice when you speak of the Dukew
replied Tom. his eyes flashing angrlly,
as IL he were inclined to begin hostili-
ties without waiting for the rest of the
row.
Harry put The Times bulletin be-
tween them before he stammered: 81
didn't mean anything dsagreeable,
Tom. | don't know her, but wish
did,"
Groups of men came struggling out
of the offices of The Times, Herald and
Echo just then and, joining forces,
made their way to restaurant around
the corner.
When hunger had been satisfied and
cigars lighted, Tom motioned toward
Harry, saying, Boys, there's fellow
who doesn't know the Duke and never
worked on The Echo!'
Just then Billy Holiday came in, and
SOME one shouted, Say, Billy, here's
fellow who doesn't know the Dukep
Tell him. Billy" called another, and
every man settled into his customary
attitude for listening to favorite sto-
ry. Billy sank into a chair with every
appearance of extreme exhaustion. APP
propriating whatever dellcacles the 9TH
ers had not appreciated, he consumed
them while waiting for his own order
to be served
When the clamor for the story be-
came uproarious. Billy began: "Once a
society editor surprised the row by get
ting married Then BESSIE Wellington
appeared on The Echo. She was such
n little slip of thing and had such q
pathetically frightened look In the eyes
that the boys began to call her the Iron
Duke, and the Duke she's been ever
since.
ut was her first job and she was
eager for work. Land knows, she got
enough of it, The typewriter bothered
her, and punctuation was pitfall. She
did her work over and over again. try
Ing to please KNAPP. who wouldn't
have been satisfied with an angel from
heaven. 1t used to seem to me he rang
her bell every ten minutes. She would
come flying down the hall to the local
room, her dlmplcs turned inside out
and her mouth shut hard so 1t wouldn't
culver. Then she'd go back pink to
the ears, and the boys would pound
their typewriters fit to break. We used
to sneak bits of copy to her all ready
to go up. fell into the habit OF col
Letting personals and club notes and
even wedding now and then. and
Larry, there, was taken for a society
reporter for quite awhile"
Larry SHE'D crust of bread at Billy,
who deity caught 1t and returned the
compliment before he continued.
"One Friday night when she was get
ting up her Sunday page. passed the
door Just as KNAPP bounded into her
room His beard looked as II be had
been clawinS out handfuls. See here?
he yelled Didn't tell you to get In
the Tubvile social before midnight
It's almost ready said the Duke and
bent over her typewriter In little
heap
after tue Tubyille was in and work
Stacked up n bit carried In sand
witch and made her eat 1t while |
ground out some rewrite for her. While
| was working the fire gong sounded an
alarm, but the presses were going, and
| never tried TO count It, Anyhow,
Bobby always did fires alone unless
they were very big ones.
after awhile KNAPP bolted into the
room His face was white as chalk.
His mouth opened once or twice, but
he couldn't speak. At last he gasped:
We're cut off. The fires up to the
third story ! jumped to the window,
and there the street was filed with en-
gines and trucks. and we had never
heard thing.
Miss Wellington turned pretty
white, but her voice was steady as she
asked, Are there many of US up herer
'Three in the telegraph room and
four or five In the local. said KNAPP,
noistenlng his lips We didn't think
1t was serious. and | forgot your being
here
1--WE all went down the hall to the
local room. The fire was belching from
the fourth story windows now, and the
smoke was getting thick. One Of the
telegraph men kept his desk and was
actually sending an account of the fire
over the Associated Press wire. We
wandered from window to window for
hours, 1t seemed to me. but 1t could not
really have been for many minutes.
The smoke was coming in clouds. and
we could hear the fire now.
SAT last the crowd in the street saw
Aus. | hope I'll never hear that sound
aSaih- My 0ou' Wahe up Soueuhe5
now with that moan In my ears, and 1t
nearly drives me mad. 1t seemed the
essence of human misery and made US
realize what was before US. We had
been stunned before, but then bedlam
broke loose. Some moaned and cried.
Some shrieked and swore. And still
the man at the key clicked out his mes
sage. giving our names, we found aft
erward. He had pistol lying beside
his hand
"Knap raced from one end of the
building to the other. shrieking for