The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-04-28

ern city-A Railroad ReosMerships and
!. Its .Results-'.The Little Minister, In
Book or as Played by Maudes Adams,
One of the Uneasy Chairs Tales OF
q Refuge.
An interesting yarn interesting in,I
spite Of a. well nigh impossible plot, in
spite Of several Munchausenesque Incl
dents in a crowded calendar of incidents,
and In spite of a number of inconsistent
Scharaeters-is The sratters, by Francis
Lynde. The grafters Of. the story are
not Of the small, sort; they are big, graft
.ers after big game, and they get it, and
in the end get something else. where all
grafters ought to get tin the neck"
as CRATER would be likely to put It,
They get into office in western state
thru the populist party gateway, and then
proceed to hold up the railroads, and
one railroad in particular-the Trans
Western. Thru the yenality Of a Judge
a receiver IS named for the road. tho It
is dividend prayer. Then comes q long
i fight by the stockholders to- get the road
back. The gang of grafters being in con-
troll Of all the legal avenuesat least that
is the way the story has 1.-THE owners
at last have to resort to desperate meth
DDS, Munchausenesque methods, 1t seems
to- The Uneasy Chair, and David Kent is
the man who superintends the execution
Of the plan. %4.s .-ss.sas
The plan. is a bit thrilling, in spite Of
the fact that it seems altogether impossi-
BILE and taxes the credulity. It involves
a daring night run on the Trans Western
in which the engineer, Callahan with
orders from one Of the anti-grafter plot
tiers, Is pulling the king Of grafters to a
reckoning, much against his will. He
| dashes past way stations and ignores dan
ger signals, takes sidings, and comes out
at the other end safely. runs thru debris
putaon the track to derafl- the train and
| faces "a possible explosion of the; loco.
motives boiler-all h. without finching.
This run is ttthe chariot race".o Of the
story, and gone holds his breath; while ,fhe,
hastens to the end, and then he laughs
at himself for getting SO worked up over.
so wild a tale., And that goes to, show
that there are possibilities in the writer,
! tho it shows the weakness of the con-,
struction of his story.
Kent is. ones Of, the inconsistents. His
acts belle in a measure the bigness att
| tributed to him and he is made to lean
| too heavily on Portia, who is really much
! the most interesting character In the
book. She has a way of finding out all
about some things and seeming others in
| a way quite extraordinary. Besides she
is charming in appearance and quick of
| VIII dLo WiIildtI VI d SSIlSlOuS sIdtuI .. I1Si.
! treatment in the end doesn't satisfy the
reader. She deserves a, better, fate than
! to be-well, we mustn't tell Beside
| Portia, Einor,, love Of whom inspires
Kent, is weakly drawn. ;.<x .,.;.#s
The grating methods are shown cup
well. One can see the wheels go round
4 there, and get some idea Of how such
I things are: DONE
! One of the causes OF that uneasiness
4 which gives this chair its name is the
! fact that it has not more to do with
1 books which have survived long enough
| to lose the smell Of printers ink. 1t be-
i comes absolutely necessary for the chair
4 now and then, in order to escape loss of
I mental, equilibrium thru excess Of un-
easiness, to take refuge with one or an
other Of those stories which it counts its
fast friends Last evening it fed to The
: Little Minister, not to the book, but to
4 the play, as given by Maude Adams, ii,
! st, Paul. .., The result was. such an even
4 ing's unalloyed pleasure as the chair has
!, seldom enjoyed; it was as good. as a
twoweeks' vacation, and The Little
:, Minister'S friendship will y hereafter be
! priced more highly than ever. f'''''' ="