The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-10

IN going 10 presume on our ifiehuShp "
ask you to come In tomorrow afternoon,
and then I promise you TO have definite
answer. Won't that do?''
The others chorused acquiescence, consid-
ering that delay was better than the an
swer they were certain TO get if they in
sisted on one just then, but Colonel Baker
kept silent and struck match with par
ticular savagery to light another cigar be-
fore he went out. AS soon as they were
gone the private secretary TO the senator
came in, and was met at the door by the
words:
Mr.. Edwards, I've decided to turn Tur-
ner down. L want TO feel that there is
something that 1 won't do in politics, after
all I've had a rather varied career, but
because I've done some things nearly as
bad as Turner ever did is no reason why
should throw conscience and honor TO the
winds entirely. Please give out a hint TO
the newspaper people without allowing
them to claim any authority, and fix up
the papers in the case so can go up to the
department with them in the morning.
The party Of Turner's friends maintained
uncommon silence the way to Colonel
Bakers room. The colonel himself was alb
stracted, and the others saw that he desired
to be let severely alone. Once in his room
his face was clearer. and he motioned the
others toward the decanter on the table
with some little appearance of cheerfulness.
| The representative of the Governor was
| the first to address him directly, and his
remarks, censored for polite reading,
| amounted to the observation that since
their last hope had faded in the failure of
! the coloners plan, they might as We'll go
| home and prepare to dig Shacklett's polit-
ical grave, taking great care not TO be bur-
! led with him, if, indeed, this last catastro-
! phe were avoidable. But the colonel, long
noted FOR his ignorance of when he was
| whipped, took a fresh cigar with great de-
| liberation, lighted it with considerable care
| and sat down by the window with a
| thoughtful face.
I'm tell you,' he said, what one of my
remarks up there meant. You see, L knew
| Shacklett long before he came West. l got
| there year or so after he did, and you feel
that you knew him first; but learned his
| plays in Illinois long before that. L used
| to live at the Palace in Springfield when
he did, and L was in the Legislature one
| term when he was in one of the offices in
| the Statehouse." The colonel smiled in
| fond "reminiscences.
I'm willing TO go little supper that we
win out yet. OF course. he told to-day
that he couldn't be moved, as plainly as if
he had said so in so many words. But for
once he overshot the mark. That delay
until tomorrow is what saves us, or
don't know Mary Stoddard."
The other men glanced up quickly, and
every cigar sent up merely thin spiral of
blue smoke from its motionless end.
"Oh, no." the colonel said at once. that's
his wife. She was born and raised at War
saw, on the Mississippi. over in the Fiji
teenth district. you know. Say, you never
| found out why he threw up that fight for
the Senate and left town so suddenly, did
you? It's not so very strange, after all.
when you understand it. And our getting
| Turner in hangs on that same trip, by the
way. i might as we'll tell you all about it,
for whether it works not it's a good
scheme. and you must admit that when you
know the story in all it's details.
| ut was this way: He was at Springfield
| one session acting as distributing agent for
| the proprietors of the finest watermelon
that ever was cut in any state capital, and
he got a pious spell just like this one. Old
Mcnamara, from Egypt, was his particular
| friend, and the gang needed just one more
vote. Shacklett got two hundred centuries
in wad to get old Mac, and Mac said he'd
| do it for nothing for him. Then Shacklett
wouldn't let him 40 it, though he was dead
| gone on the girl he afterward married and
needed the stuff to start out on the marital
sea with. WE'LL after he came West she
found out little about it, and thought old
Mac had refused him and given him a
combing down. She's of old Presbyterian
stock and was near an angel as they
ever get, can testify from personal knowl-
! edge. She writes him a letter throwing
him over for being so wicked, and he gets
it the same morning that he dropped the
| senatorial fight in our caucus. He didn't
want the Senate without the wife, you see
| Where he went to Warsaw, to put up
| a campaign for the girl and let the seat
here go to the dogs. BY the time he got
there she decided 1t doesn't pay to be too
good and met him at the door with a re-
| quest to withdraw the papers in the case
| Just then we elected him out home, and
he had the girl and the Senate both. He
| always the luckiest fellow ever saw
Now, that same girl that thought she
couldn't marry a man that had sugared a
| state senator, when she did decide to be
naughty and become an accessory after the
| fact took a header clear to the bottom of
the gulch. She's become interested in poll
itics. and you know how big a help she is
TO Shacklett. You never suspected she
came near passing him up to marry a
| preacher, did you? She likes Washington.
and if it's necessary to continue this story
further you'd better take another eye
opener out of that bottle there"
But" cried the member from the lower
house, how do you know she can control
him after we fix her?''
That's to be worked out in the details"
the colonel replied, ''but details seldom get
| away with me. believe it'll win. 1t won't
cost a cent, anyhow, for the likelihood of
having to leave Washington will be more
TO her than TO stand to lose million or
| so. That's the thing to hold out TO her
| strong. We won't need to lie, either for
as sure as Turner don't get that postofIice
her husband don't get that seat again
| Gentlemen, excuse me little while I'm
going up to see her. anyhow