El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-16
The Herald's
Daily Short Story

across Siberia's quiet tundras, me par
barrie splendor of Kreml at Moscow, a
summer night on the Lido at VENICE
living almost naked on the beach near
the most beautiful women OF Europe
In Rome he knelt before the master
pieces of Michael Angelo, at Nice ne
saw he gayest carnival in the WORLD
then suddenly he was in Asia MINOR
and visited from there the barren
towns of the Holy Land. His friend,
the painter. had letters of Introduction
to prominent people everywhere. he
met the greatest poets and the most
charming women in all countries
When he again landed in New York
on October Ia, 1923, the whole thing
seemed to him dream.
He wanted to thank his benefacotr,
Charles NJ E Chugge, but his friend,
the painter. said: mo. you must wait;
he will send for YOU
Four days later he was back in New
Orleans He returned to his old house
and was shocked by its smallness and
poverty, it's mean, cherries rooms, but
he unpacked his trunks and filled hte
rooms with all the treasures he had
bought. Persian carpets, Hungarian
embroideries, Japanese woodcute, Chi
nese silks, Russian samovars. Turkish
pipes, butterflies from Brazil, birds
from India and hundreds of other
curios.
On October 20 he received orders to
go to work in his old mine two days
later He remembered the agreement
and thought of the Pinkertons who
were 10 force him, and obeyed the or
der. On October % he was deep I'M
der ground working half naked in the
black pit, the perspiration covering his
whole body all alone, his miners lamp
family Illuminating the darkness. And
here he must work II hours every day.
The third day they sent for him.
Charles NJ. E. Chugge was waiting for
him in the directors room. Did he
want to change his clothes. Mo- So
much the better, Mr.. Chugge would
rather see him in his working clothes
Only q small souvenir Francis Root
would like to fetch from his house.
It would take only a moment.
In the directors room, Francis Root
saw his benefactor, Charles NJ E.
Chugge for the first time. He was
an indolent, pale, fat man, lying in a
big easy chair. His face looked sleepy.
He raised his fat hand almost imper-
ceptibly as a greeting.
''Sit down, Mr.. Root, and tell me how
you feel"
Thank you, I prefer to- stand. Do
you WISH d QSLdl1C0- ISpOIl
The fat face smiled. mo, no, I
only want you to tell me how you feel
now" On his way home Francis Root
began to suspect that the millionaire
did not care to hear about his trip, and
for that reason he had slipped a re-
volver into his pocket. But to be quite
sure he asked once more:
Shall I tell you about India, about
the starIit nights of the north, of our
tiger hunts in Bengal?"
The stolid fat face smiled more
wickedly than before and pointing a
fat finger at him the millionaire an
swered: mo, sir, none of that! 1 just
want to hear how you feel when you
are below in the dark pit, where you
are to spend the next 10 years of your
life
1t was quiet in the room.
Francis Roots hand sought his
pocket in which he had the souvenir
whipped out a revolver and shot his
benefactor down with three shots. One
bullet crashed into his brain, the other
two lodged in his fat abdomen.
When he told the jury about his trip
| around the world and his talk with
his benefactor he was acquitted on the
| spot.