Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-05-05
CHAPTER XVIII.
DOWN, BRUNO!

bO"N, otNSNN'
For six days after the night Of rev.
elations Kent dived deep, personally
and by paid proxy, in a sea Of secrecy
which, for the five pregnant minutes In
the doorway Of the governors ONCE,
might easily have proved fathomless.
On the seventh day the confagration
broke out. The editor Of the Belmount
Refiner was the first to smell the smoke
and to raise the cry Of "Fire!" but
by midnight the wires were humming
with the news and the entire state
was ablaze.
The story as it appeared under the
scare headlines the next morning was
crisply told. An oil company had
been formed with Senator Duvall at
its head. After its incorporation 1t
was ascertained that 1t not only held
options on all the most valuable wells
in the Belmount region, but that its
charter gave it immunity from the
laws requiring all corporations to have
their organizations, officers, and OPP
Grating headquarters in the state. BY
the time the new company was three
days old 1t had quietly taken up Its
options and was the single big hsh
in the pool by virtue Of its having
swallowed all the little ones.
Then came the finishing stroke
which had set the wires to humming.
On the sixth day 1t was noised about
that Senator Duvall had transferred
his controlling interest to Rumford-
otherwise to the Universal OIL COM
pany: that he had served only as
figurehead in the transaction, using
his standing, social and political, TO
secure the charter which had been de-
MED Rumford and his associates.
1t had been managed very skill
fully; the Gaping Of the wells by the
Universals agent, the practical seal
ing up of the entire district, being the
first public intimation of the result OF
Duvall's treachery and the complete
triumph of a foreign monopoly.
The storm that swept the state when
the facts came out were cyclonic, and
it was reported, as it needed to be.
that Senator Duvall had disappeared
Never in the history OF the state had
public feeling risen SO high; and there
were not lacking those who said that
II Duvall showed himself his life would
not be safe in the streets OF the cap
ital.
1t was after the Argus had gone
to press on the night OF explosions
that Editor Hildreth sought and found
David Kent in his rooms at the Clar-
endon, and poured out the Walls OF
his wrath.
Say, I'd like to know II you cuc-call
this giving me fair show!" he de-
manded, fiinging into Kent's sitting
room and dropping into a chair. did
I, or did I not understand that was
to have the age on this oil business
when there was anything fit to print?"
Kent gave the night editor cigar
and was otherwise exasperatingly per-
turbable.
Keep your clothes on, and don't
accuse a man of disloyalty until you
have all the documents in the case"
he said. 81 didn't know, until saw
your bulletin a few hours ago, that
the thing had been pulled off. In
fact, I've been too busy with other
things to pay much attention to the
Belmount end Of it."
"The ded-devil you have!" sputtered
Hildreth, chewing savagely on the
gift cigar. "I'd like to know what
business you had to mix up in other
things to the detriment of my news
column. You were the one man who
knew all about 1t; or at least you did
week or two ago."
Eyes; but other and more important
things have intervened. have been
desperately busy, as l say"
well, you've lost your chance to
get your grip on the capitol gang,
anyway; that Is one comfort, y
growled the editor, getting what con-
ISOLATION he could out Of Kent's appar-
ent failure. "They played 1t too fuf-
fine for YOU"
did they?" said Kent.
at looks pretty much that way,
doesn't it? Duvall is the scapegoat,
and the only one. About day after
tomorrow Bucks organ, the Tribune,
will come out with an inspired edi-
torial whitewashing the entire capitol
outfit. 1t will show how Rumford's
application for the charter was re-
fused, and how a truly good and benef-
cent state government has been hood
winked and betrayed by one Of Its
most trusted supporters"
Kent threw off his street coat and