The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-05

: Hogan was Irish. ambitious, and a
degenerate. The two adjectives quail
fled the noun. IF he had not been Irish
end ambitious, the many "facers" he
had received in his thirty-ffve years of
life would long since have hammered
the iu1pregnable smile from his coun-
tenance. The two principal factors in
lHogan's life had both been women, and
lfhey, the greatest determining influ-
fences that ever mold mans character
his mother and his sweetheart. Ho-
igan's mother had died when he was IL
years old. The clay of his character
had been soft then, and she. the potter.
had nodded it as mother should;
Fashioned IL by preoept and example.
Now It had hardened and the chief at
tributes embodied in it were duty, hon
or love and charity. And the greatest
of these was charity. OF course, Hogan
once had a father. Sometimes he re-
igretted the necessity of such a factor
5n the scheme of generation. But what
his father had lacked his mother had
overbalanced, and it is always the
mother that touches the responsive
chord in the heart Of the child
Hogan's mother had left in his soul,
as a heritage, a strong vein OF pure
gold. His sweetheart had left q lode
of pure iron. She had entered his life
when he was 20: she had departed II
mo years later. She had found il
happy. ambitious, commonplace; she
left it unhappy. for the time being, I'M
ambitious and decidedly uncommon
place. For Hogan suffered a moral re-
lapse, and took to drink and the level
of the sodden. She had Tilted him for
a man of better family, but personally
of poorer moral stamina than Hogan.
Hogan never even knew the name of
him who had supplanted him. At any
rate -Hogans sweetheart passed out of
his life twelve years ago, and he never
heard whether she had made a perma-
nent wreck OF her own fortunes as she
had made temporary one Of his. And
sle bitterest part of all was that he
Rtill loved her and always would. It
sSas his nature.
logan had been an unfortunate for
TWO years when he suddenly braced up
and started in TO repair his fallen for
tunes. 1t required all the grit he pos
sessed TO successfully retrace his
floundering footsteps. but he eventually
succeeded. His mothers heritage the
vein of pure gold. had been temporarily
smothered by the lode Of iron. But
ths latter had melted in the fierce fight
for self-respect. while the gold had but
emerged refined. He was Irish, of
11usnble birth. He had been an elect
TicaI mechanic: now he determined up
on the police force. BY hard work he
passed his civil service examination
and won his appointment as patrolman.
Thus his education and grit came to the
front and in six years time he had
earned promotion to a plain clothes
man, and now headed the eligible list.
His fight for promotion had been
against odds, internally and externally,
and his probation of hard luck was not
yet over. lie was grimly battling
against the prejudice of his precinct
commander, Captain Schmidt of the
- precinct. His captain was Ger
man, he Irish, and the national antip-
athy started it. Perhaps the senior Of
ficer dimly realized in his heavy,
methodical. GeTnlanic way, that Ho-
gan,s aggressive and intuitive blood
might some day in the near future sup
plant him behind the desk IL It was not
tempered by an authoritative douche.
At all events. two less competent men
had been promoted over Hogan's head.
Hogan's smile had become a little more
grim and his energy q little more VIOLA
tile. Then luck. for fieeting second,
had replaced her frown with a smile.
HE made an important capture which
placed him head OF the eligible list de-
spite the captains discreet, but never
theless vigorous. disapproval. That
had been five years ago and his longed
Tor DTOfnOtlOn seemed as SIuStNS DIS the
fountain of eternal youth.
No doubt If the commissioner of po-
lice had known of Hogan's ability and
clean record he would have cast an
approving eye his way. But the old
police commissioner was new man
who was more fitted as an after-dinner
speaker than filling the executive chair
ct Mulberry street. He was an honor
able. easy-going gentleman, who swal-
lowed his captains reports without the
usual digestive grain of salt If he had
Known OF Hogan's past life, his two
years descent TO the level OF the sod
den with its fetid atmosphere of moral
and physical degeneracy; if he had
known of his superhuman fight for
seif-respect and moral cleanliness. his
ewes would have been sympathetic as
well as favorable For. like all fami-
lies. there was a skeleton in the old
police commissioners closet.
His eldest son was a black sheep with
an utter aversion to the whitewash
brush. The boy had always been wild
and after several shady transactions in
money matters he had left his fathers
roof to make a new record. He had
married a girl OF lower social standing
than himself. but OF respectable par
ents Then he had got in with a fast
crowd and the big city swallowed him.
II was twelve. years since the police
commissioner had seen his son. but his
love for him still ate like a canker at
HIS heart. His hair turned gray, then
white in the twelve years. but the boys
image had ever confronted him He
waited patiently year BY year. for the