La Junta tribune., 1903-01-31
WHEN THE BANK CRASH CAME
Cssyr,sAa ssa. ~ Daily ssory Pub Ca,
r,omas Jeser,on Br.dIey Herndon drunk.
By JAMES q EVANS

fnomas Jefferson Bradley Herndon
~as born With . silver spoon in his
mouth. His father vas . prosperous
.businees nan and Thomas attended
the best Of schools and colleges He
had clothes enough to MI . box car.
Q valet. Q stable OF horses for private
purposes only. an unlimited bank &C
count and . chest that measured AZ
inches. long before he had arrived al
The age Of majority.
He became IN athlete at college and
vhsn he returned home he was the
prids Of the town. Ee tried law, got
tiro1: took up medicine. became
S0aried; vrestled with the teller's
essk IN his fathers hank where. by
HIS cArelsssness. the cash was short
every night; abandoned the bank and
took . vhirl At farming. gave that
up and then fell head-over-heels In
love With Grace Mckee. one OF the
bellies Of Ohio. Miss Mckee was not
wealthy. Her father was . lawyer
Who got .ust enough money out of his
vractice to settle accounts with the
butcher and baker. But the family
could trace its blood back to the
kingn Of Scotland. and Miss Mckee
shoved h every movement OF body.
n svsFy Hash q her blue eyes, that
che wns of royai lineage The family
stood aloof from its neighborss and
that u one Of the reasons e!f man
Mckee got 30 little practice.
Thomas Jefferson Bradley Herndon
met Miss Mckee At q ball one even
1ng and he did not sleep for two
nights afterward. He sent her
bouquet Of flowers the next day. tried
to sec her the next. wrote her fool
ish verses and walked by her house
twenty times every niglt after din
ner: called on tho old man at his
once, where he was unciviliy treated
and then went outside and began
drinking high-balls until he finally
shot up straight in the air. When he
came down lie went to . hospital out
Of town. got sober and then returned
homo with the name OF Grace Mckee
ringing in his ears.
Eventually he got friend to take
him 70 her house where she received
them In little parlor where . log fre
burned brightly In the wide crate.
She was dressed in a thin. muslin sort
Of an AFFAIR. cut low enough to show
the white skin below her neck. On
her corsage she wore bunch of vio-
lets: in her hair was a rose as red
q her lips. Her manner was some
what strained and repressed. and 1t
soon became apparent to Herndon
that she did not like him. They
talked on common place subjects for
Awhile: then she went to the piano
and played while Herndon sang. His
voice was good and presently she join
Cd hers with his. which was . glori-
Gus. rich contralto. Before Herndon
had bid her goodnight he was in bet
ter favor than when he was first
received. But at that Miss Mckee did
mot invite him to return.
Once or twice afterward Herndon
met her at social functions to Y be
treated with respect, and nothing
more. He battered at her gates Of
dignified indifference with all the i'm
plements of devoted lover. 1t was
clear to those that slyly watched tho
affair that Herndon might as well
attempt to make q cannon ball out
lof . straw hat as to win any sort of
admiration from the Idol of his heart.
One night he said to Jim Bailey.
his chum: II am going away to.mor-
row: to Europe. When I'll return,
don't know. l can not remain here
loving this girl with the entire
strength of my heart, to be treated
with the indifference that receive.
Why. hang 1t. man. I'll go crazy In
another moAth!"
"Crazy in another month";" replied
Bailey. ''Humph! Two-thirds of the
Inmates of the asylum for the insane
lat Columbus are philosophers COM
pared to you now. Really. your case
deserves sympathy. You've been
jgoing around here for the past month
without enough gray matter in your
had to grease q pair of shoestrings.
ITS time you were going somewhere;
and. when you get on the other side.
stay until you have forgotten her"
| ''Oh. you needn't worry" replied
Herndon. when come back I'll be
IS free from her as billiard ball IL
lot hair. But it's going to be hard.
This thing you call love. what is It?
Why God gave US that passion, I can
not understand. still. 1t is an inexor-
o13s law that long before man has