The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1904-06-03
A SCOOP SUPPRESSED
BY William Forster Brown.

4 DOOR at the end of the dingy
"A room swung open foot, and a
small, freckled face topped by halo
OF tousled red hair appeared in the
aperture. Hello. McCracken?" vocif-
Grated the owner, shrilly, searching
the room with his eyes. ooh, 1 say,
Mac, Crab wants you upstairs-right
off,"
A tall man bending over the edge of
the battered table rose hastily, shying
a roll of typewriter copy into the
mouth of yawning brass tube set in
the wall opposite. "All right, Mickey"
he said, cheerfully, tell him I'm COM
ing.
Wonder what the old man wants?"
soliloquized the reporter, as he hur-
riedly mounted the rickety stairs, for
when Crabtree Nichols, generalissimo
and editor-in-chief Of the Telegram"
forces, cOndescended to dispatch his
private office-boy after a reporter it
was we'll for the wanted individual to
move with speed. 1T must be spe,
clal assignment Of some sort I hope
to goodness it hasn't anything to do
with the Kosher meat riots; two days
and night of that business is about
enough for James McCracken, Esq.
Harris swore this morning that if sent
in any more copy full of Keifferman
and Feinklestein, he'd sue me for the
and type he wore out, anyhow
turning the knob of the Office door,
there's hoping it's something out of
the rut."
The thin, nervous face of Crabtree
Nichols, clearcut and businesslike as
steel wedge, peered over the edge of a
pyramid of litter as the reporter halted
by the side of the desk. "Oh-er-you,
McCracken?" he said, briefly. "Sit
down" McCracken complied. "Fors--
ter's sprained his knee" went on the
editor, rapidly. Hes just 'phoned me
from the Emergency. You'll have to
go down to Clayton Point and do the
launching. OF course, that isn't much
OF trick by itself, any cub on the
staff could do it, and shouldn't have
sent for you if that was all; but it
isn't. Miss Grover, the mayors daugh-
ter, is to do the christening-she's a
grandniece or something Of the Capt
Grover the boats named for-and her
father is going to make speech at
the luncheon afterward. I fixed it for
Forster to have a place on the staging
when Miss Grover cracked the bottle.
Grover will be there, too. Here's Fors-
ter's card for the whole business,
lunch and all. I've written your name
in place of his.
What you are to do-the whole
thing in a nutshell-is to cultivate
Grover See if by hook or crook you
can get him to drop some hint as to
what he is going to do about the South
Side Railroad franchise. He's ceose-
mouthed, but he is mighty anxiou; for
reelection, and If clever man that
knows his business can't get something
out of him this afternoon it'll be
wonder.
with all the excitement, cheers, the
honor paid his daughter, and a chance
to pose for votes in his speech,
Grover'll be in a mood to loosen I'D. if
he ever is. There'll be plenty of cham
payne, too, to help things along. II
you hustle you can get the 1:4O train
and be in the yard at $3.50. That's ALL"
For once opportunity had deigned to
dangle her forelock within reach Of his
fingers; not for a second did he fail to
recognize that fact. Clayton politics
had been on the boil for six weeks over
the franchise bill, and the key of the
situation lay In the mayors hands, So
far John Grover had baffled interview
ers and puzzled even the prominent
men in his own party by sphinx-like.
refusal to commit himself as to wheth..
er or not he would sign the bill if il
passed. The paper that could discount
his final action would make it's rivals
''sit up
McCracken had been in love with
Molly Grover for more than a year.
ever since he had made her acquaint-
ance during a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
afternoon on the Clayton thinks
and while he was not without stray but
tangible proof that the young lady in
question took an interest of sorts in
his welfare; he realized we'll enough
that between the daughter OF John
Grover-a rich and rising politician
with an unbounded ambition-and a
more or less obscure reporter drudg-
ing on a daily newspaper there was a
great (sociaD gulf fixed; still, when
one is young hope is factor that re-
fuses to be eliminated, and it is some
thing to spend even a meager three
hours in the immediate vicinity of the
''only girl in the world" although the
future holds forth no prospect OF
orange-blossoms and ultimate posses.
sion. .McCracken sauntered into the
yard with his heart humping joyously
and whistling to himself when the
Girl You Love, Loves YOU"
With the launching this story has
nothing to do save to chronicle the
: fact that it was much like other launch
ings and went off smoothly, and that
the mayor, his pride in his handsome