The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1911-10-27

heard some limitations of this, moth
ing definitely. Cornell has been very
close mouthed. | tried to bluff CORN
Iy with that l don't know what eff
feet the disclosure is going to have.
don't know how true 1t is. 1t seems
rather suspicious"
Cornell had better be careful what
he does. returned Rutherford. He'd
better be very sure of his facts"
why did you leave the handling Of
the affair to him?"
WELL he'd make a good scapegoat
If anything went wrong" answered
Rutherford with cynical Indifference.
Now, as 1t happened. Colonel Bill
Hamilton was not so guileless as he
looked. After the first exclamation
and the erst few condolences over the
drinks which he gave to the plain
clothes man who had so adroitly
sought to get his story on that event
full night, Colonel Bill shut up like a
clam. The interest of the stranger in
the story was suspicious. Colonel Bill
knew great many things that he had
not told, and did not intend to tell un
less 1t was necessary Therefore, he
soon got rid of his new friend and
went to his room to think it over.
He was morally certain that Gormly
and the man whom he had known as a
boy as George Fordyce were one and
the same. Fortunately he had always
liked Fordyce, and he was not dis
posed to do anything that would in
jure him.
Of course he had heard, as had ev.
eryone else In the United States, OF
the remarkable campaign of George
Gormly for the mayoralty of New
York. He had not had a great amount
of personal interest In the matter,
however. But when he identified
Gormly with Fordyce. the affair at
once engaged his keenest attention.
Since the day he had left Kill Devil
Camp, he had never heard one word
of either. the man or the woman. He
had supposed. as everyone else had,
that they had persisted in the storm,
and although their bodies had never
been recovered there were plenty of
reasons to account for that.
What was he to do? Was he to see
Gormly, or Fordyce as he called him,
and put him on his guard? Or was
he to wait and be governed by cir.
cumstances? This was not an easy
problem to decide; but Colonel Bill
Hamilton finally came to the conclu.
sion that his best game was the wait
ing one. Besides he liked to play a
lone hand, and he felt every conf
dence that he could do it,
Meanwhile he determined to fortify
himself with such evidence as he
could secure, and at the proper time,
if the story was ferreted out and an
attempt was made to make use of it,
he would. as he phrased it, butt into
the game!" He set the telegraph to
work, therefore, and presently receiv-
ed from his partner in Butte by ex-
press a tin box full of very private
official documents. Thereafter he
amused himself by following the prog
ress of the campaign and doing some
highly profitable local investigating on
his own account, the result of which
filled him with joy and satisfaction.
The demonstration of the alliance
between the Gotham Freight Traction
company and the Sachem society, the
publication of the membership of Hal
dane and his friends in the traction
company, the exhibition of its iniquit-
GUS processes, came off according to
schedule. Such storm Of wrath and
Indignation rose in the public breast
after the disclosure as had never
been equaled in any political campaign
in New York
The storm was so terrific that the
administration papers made no at
tempt to counter it. They contented
themselves with stating that any dis
cussion of the issue or any defense of
the accused was inadvisable in the
present heated state of public opinion,
and at the proper time, under proper
conditions, the matter would be ex-
planned satisfactorily to the unpreju-
diced. Meanwhile the party in power
grimly set it's teeth and under the
able leadership of the Sachem society
never so brilliantly displayed, massed
it's cohorts for the final trial of
strength in the election, now three
days off With all the machinery In
their hands, with all the facilities for
promoting fraud at their disposal.
they were nevertheless by no means
assured that they could so control af-
fairs as to win out.
The stocks of the Gotham Freight
Traction company had fallen off terri
fically. and every other interest fur
thered by the syndicate of which Hal
dane was the head had suffered ac-
cordingly The city was on the verge
of a tremendous panic. Unrest, ex-
element, uncertainty, were in the air
The people had been aroused as never
before. The great multitude of them
we're resolute and determined to break
ND once and forever the ring that had
dominated the city and put at the head
of II the man. The members of the
Sachem society and the forces of the
administration were equally deter
mined that this should not be done.