Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-05-13
CHAPTER VII.
An ANONYMOUS Letter.

T~7T was late that evening when
i&s Give reached his rooms,
- for a few brief hours of
E&0sEj rest before setting forth on
his tour of the State. He was tired
out, discouraged, miserable. His
much.hsraldsd meeting had been the
dreariest sore Of tasco Scarcely had
the opening address begun and the
crowded house warmed up to the &C.
casion, when every light In the build
ing had been switched off.
Inquiry showed that a break had oo-
cured in the gas mains which could
not be remedied until morning. Can
dies and lamps were hurriedly sent
for. Meantime, through certain con-
fusion followed the plunging of the
place into darkness. the crowd had
been, on the whole, orderly. In spite
of this, the chief of police, with twen-
ty reserves, coming on the scene, had
ordered Standish civilly enough to
dismiss the audience. Then the po-
licemen had filed up on the stage, IL
lumining it by their bulls-eye lanterns,
and clustered omniously about the
speakers.
In response to Gives angry protest,
the chief had simply reiterated his
order, adding that his department was
responsible for the city's peace and
inclination to riot Nor could the
Arm of the Law be shaken from this
stand. The audience, during the col
loauy between Standish and the chief
had grown impatient, and an occasion
al catcall or shrill whistle had risen
from the darKened auditorium. At
each of these sounds the police had
gripped their nightsticks and glanced
with a fine apprehension at their
leader for commands
The upshot of the matter had been
the forced dismissal of the spectators.
Standish had secuted Ansel's sugges.
ton that the whole catastrophe was
a ruse of Conover's, until, as he
walked down the dark aisle toward
the door, he heard a policeman whis-
per:
81 was waitin' for the chief to give
some of us the tip to pinch him."
AN let him make noise like q
martyr?" grunted second voice east
ly recognized as Billy Shevlin's. "You
must think the Boss is as balmy in the
belfry as you blue Holsters. He'd "a
had Geoghegan broke il he'd"
The rest of the reply had been lost
Ne other disengaged hall could be
found in the vicinity; and the meet
ing from which Give had expected 80
much had gone by the board. He
walked home in q daZe of chagrin
How could he hope to fight a man
who employed such weapons; who
swayed such power in every city de
psrtmsnt; who thus early in the cam
paign showed plainly he would STOP
at nothing in beating his opponent?
Then the young candidates teeth
clenched tight and the sullen grit thai
for so many centuries has carried the
bulldog race of yellow-haired, strong
jawed Anglo-Saxons to victory against
hopeless odds came to his aid. He
shook his big shoulders as II tossing
off some physical weight, entered his
rooms and switched on the electric
light.
On his study table lay special de
livery letter, neatly typewriter, a,
was the single sheet of foolscap Il
contained. Standish glanced at thu
bottom of the page There was nc
! signature. Then he read:
The date for the various county
conventions has not been formally set
1t is unofficially given as week from
Saturday Instead, the caucus will b.
held In three of the eight counties mex