The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-02-07
A MAN
MA Nj ED
MOpIARTY

The question is said the stout gen
tlelau, emphasizing Tie last word and
pa--lL- effectively. who's 70 be the
seaT--oat q, this AFFAIR."
There Rus, be one. you Think" said
the thin man with tie gray beard as his
auXi9ls eyes searched tie other man s
face.
"Of course the stout man answered.
with an air Of fnalicy. i on don't want
the papers 10 get hold Of tie truth, do
you: Yeg don't want il 70 leak out that
were manufacturing explosives with in
ferior chemicais-to say nothing Of dan
ceroGs processes. long acO condemned as
llur ferrous. which we've employed 70
cut corners aui boon the dividends. You
don't want that going tie rounds, DO
yoaT'
NO. indeed not" the thin man said
ea- 81
J. ~. tie scapesoat said the other.
Il DON'T see where y5l'il End one Tie
thin man Observed YEARLY.
"Wr.." vie stout man began. and his
voice was fl. u visor and determination.
"Wlea YOU rIn q business Of this sort
AMI ia tai. l-alner. when you DO almost
anything ID tishl- the stockholders, when
you clt down Tie expenses TO the pailt
o. holding la.au beings over eternity
On No. 80 cotton thread, you ve got 10 be
prepared for almost anything. and when
that 'aurtli1g' comes, as il viii sooner
or later. y9l-ye c1t To take q day Of and
smooth things over with the public. The
public Is nqui-ltive. and it Las a way Of
fa6iu. more things out than you want it
10. Now. what we've got 10 10 Is TO
square the public. We've made money
this PAST year We've saved 50 much
through cheap stock and risky processes
that its q small matter If the old shack
on the plains has gone up with a bang.
Let il 20. 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. II 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 its engraved on. In fact.
you'd be lucky to get of without a long
term for manslaughter.'
"Well?' said the other as he shifted
uneasily in his chair.
Fix the blame on some one. That
viii satisfy EN-. Don't bother about dol
lars and cents just at present"
And the-the-er-scapegoat" sug-
gested the thin man.
"As | said. WI you run things in this
way you have TO be prepared for any
thing. There's TWO things to be thankful
for. First, its 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 man named Mo-
riarty was loafng round the building
somewhere. There's your man"
"Moriarty-M oriarty"' said the thin
man, as If endeayoring to place the name.
Yes. 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 We're taking long chances"
"Oh, yes, said the thin man, his face
lighting. Where is he:"
We'll, 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 10 be somebody, and we may as
well 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
I 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. Moriauy
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 a genius" said he. ITS the
very thing"
"'Tisn't genius" said the other short
ly. It's 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 a roar
like several concentrated Fourth Of Iulys
which had shaken the earth for miles
around. Several hours after the expo.
sion, in little belt of larches some rods
away. heap of wreckage stirred uneas
lily and finally broke apart. From the
wreckage came a thing which wabblet
about the ground in its vain attempt,
to rise. Finding this impossible. it be
gan to crawl through the grove toward 9
light which showed in a window some
little distance beyond The thing mad:
progress palnfully, sometimes creeping
sometimes worming, but always groaninc
weakly. The light seemed leagues away
and, moreover, it bobbed about in a won
derful fashion and showed all variety O.
color from blood red to pale blue. Some
: times it was lost to sight completely, an'
] the thing would utter a sound between
2 gasp and moan, but it always crawle'
until at last the light showed its kaleido
SCOPE hues close at hand. Then tn
thing, after numerous attempts, found
: feeble voice and sent out frail shout
while the light swung around in huge Gil
cles and dripped green sparks in its trail
t Some one came running and, bendin
down, said, Good God! in voice tina
rang and Jared like heavy bells-the
darkness.