El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-02
The Herald's
Daily Short Story


late on the exchange where / used 10
be king, while l, the ruined, Will nave
to accept charity from him. IL Is TOO
muchi His life means disgrace ana
bankruptcy to me. His death
Outside the clock struck three Inc
banker listened. Everyone in the mouse
was asleep With the air of man
committing a crime he took from his
safe the key of the door that had not
been opened for fifteen years. He found
the seal unbroken and cooked through
the window into the prisoners room
Thre was a faint light from single
candle. The prisoner was sitting at
his cable, his back turned towards the
door. On the table, the chairs and the
floor were open books The man sat
motionless Fifteen years iDsprison-
ment had taught him to sit unmovable
as a statue.
The banker knocked at the window.
but the figure gave no sign of life. 1t
was like IA dead body. The banker went
to the door and carefully removed the
seal The rusty hinges screeched and
the door creaked. He stood waiting.
His heart was beating wildly in expee-
tation of hearing a scream from the
room, but no sound came and he en-
tered
At the table sat a creature with no
Resemblance HndlcNSA " a human ~
ing. 1t was a skeleton, figure whose
skin was stretched over the fleshless
bones whose hair was hanging down In
long locks like those of woman, while
cheeks and chin were hidden by an i'm
mense beard. The face was yellowish,
the cheeks sunken, the back long and
narrow. The hand supporting the head
was so thin and bony that it was almost
a physical pain to look at it. The hair
had begun TO turn gray
Poor devil the banker thought
@'he is asleep, no doubt dreaming per-
haps of the millions he is to get in
few hours. All 1 need to do is 10 lay
him on the bed and smother him with
pillow and nobody will be able to
prove he did not die a natural death.
But first 1 will read what he has writ
ten.
He bent down and read:
Tomorrow at twelve L shall be free,
free once more to associate with other
human beings, but before 1 leave this
room and see the sun once more, want
to say a few words to you. being in
full possession of my mental powers and
facing my God do declare that l despise
freedom of life, health and all other
things considered the blessings of this
world. For fifteen years I have studied
life as ii is found on earth. To be sure,
have during these years been eXclud-
ed from life and have not seen any
man, but in the books l drank good
wine, sang songs, hunted in the woods
and loved beautiful women. In the
books, 1 climbed the peaks of Elbaron
and Montblanc. 1 saw cities. green for
ests. smiling valleys and lakes In the
books, I threw myself into bottomless
abysses. 1 created wonderful beings.
burned off cities, proclaimed new relig-
ions. conquered empires.
The books have given me wisdom
All that human genius accomplished
through ages is contained in my brain
/ know 1 am wiser than all of you. I
despise your books. 1 hate the bless
ings of life. Everything is small, in
significant and worthless like a fata
inorganic in the desert
BE as proud and wise as you may,
death will reach you at last, and your
descendants, your history and the i'm
mortality of your genius will disappear
with this earth. Fools you are that you
do not follow the road you ought to-
You take lies for truth, lack of harmony
for beauty. 1 DO not want you to I'M
derstand me, but TO show you how /
despise the things you cling to, L give
up my claim 70 the two millions l used
to dream of but which 1 now hate, and
to deprive myself of any right to them
the time expires.
When the banker had read this he
kissed the strange mans forehead and
left the room crying like a person who
wakes from horrible dream.
Next morning the night Waterman
came running and reported that the
prisoner had broken out. When the
banker had eatched the room he went
out and locked up the strange docu-
l. 60