Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1909-01-08
The Man Who Weakened;

The Man Who Weakened:
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Copyright. 1908. by American Press Asso-
cia.ion.1
We al! realize how hard 1t is to be
good, but are lot often reminded of
how hard 1t is to be bad. The truth
is that our lives are like the gyro-
scope, that paradoxical toy which, once
set revolving in certain place, resists
being turned into any other plane.
Michael Tiernan had been sent to
school when boy, had been brought
up religiously, and his associates were
respectable people of the working
class. Mike was good workman,
but when the commercial panic Of
1907 came on, with thousands Of 9TH
ers, he dropped out Of employment.
Having wife and several children,
his heartstrings were strained by a
terrific tension. To see his little ones
hungry, paling every day for the want
OF necessary sustenance, to be driven
with his family from one lodging to
another, each successive rooftree being
more rotten and shabby than it's pred
ecessor, was crucifying to the poor
mans sensibilities.
Mixes boy. Little Mike, four years
old, was the apple Of his fathers eye.
Little Mike became Ill, and tempta.
f4ou CONN IN hlo Fokhov ~ a.. ~o,.n
time. Little Mikes calling for food
that was not to be had, needing med
ical attendance that was only for the
prosperous, was too much for Mike.
He was approached by two men who
were entering houses and appropriat-
ing the contents. They wanted third
to assist them and made him prop
osition. The question "What should
he do?" Is one that has puzzled the
best intellects. In the eye Of society
there is but one answer.
A few days later the three men, Pat
Dolan, Jim Murphy and Mike, broke
into dwelling in the center Of large
grounds, far enough from other houses
to enable them to work without being
heard by the neighbors. One of the
women Of the family, awakened by q
bright light being flashed in her face,
began to scream. Dolan ordered her
to keep quiet, meanwhile feeling for
the electric switch, and when he found
1t he lighted up the whole floor. The
master Of the house jumped out Of bed
to see what was the matter and ran
into Murphy's arms. Dolan knocked
the screaming woman senseless, then,
placing Mike on guard over every one
on the floor, went downstairs to collect
the valuables there, while Murphy ran
sacked the bedrooms.
Mike found himself in a position
that he had not counted on. He had
prepared himself to be brave and had
partially satisfied his conscience that
he was doing no wrong In taking what
another did not especially need to
keep life in his darling boy. But he
had not prepared himself to pose as a
burglar. The situation to the inmates
Of the house was appalling. The wo-
man who had been stilled had tainted,
and the master Of the house was try
ing to revive her. He turned to Mike
and said:
'You are not even respectable bur-
glars. None but the most contempta-
BILE will injure a woman"
'We're driven to it, sir" said Mike.
I'VE can't get work. and our families
are starving"
At that moment a door opened and
a little boy in white nightie, tumbled
curls falling over his forehead, under
which his eyes blinked in the sudden
light, came out into the hall.
'Papa," he said, "what has this man
a false face on for?"
This was too much for Mike. He
snatched the boy in his arms. crying
at the same time:
'I've got one like him at home"
At the same moment Murphy came
out Of one Of the bedrooms with a bag
full of Jewels. Seeing Mike caressing
a child, he called to Dolan below:
Mikes weakeningy'
Without a word Dolan rushed up
stairs. Mike heard him coming and
put down the child. Dolan ran up to
Mike and hammered him with the
butt of his revolver. Then. having
QUOTED, as he supposed, the better
nature Of his assistant, he resumed his
pillaging. An hour after entering the