The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-27
(Copyright Iooa by Benj. B. Hampton.)

VI Ice Company was going over his daily mall
 9u One by one he picked up each neatly sitted en- ~ velope glanced at its contents and tossed 1t to
 his well-trained secretary with few sugges- dons curt order.
 His expression was complacent even genial For only few weeks previously the labor of many years tad netted its final reward The last vege of opposition had pound of ice whether bestowed by an al-wise Prov- dence ccngeaed by the instrumentality of could be garnered within five hundred miles of Greater New York without his permission, disposed of without contributing its the the stockholders he represented His awakening bath shave and dressing had been very harmonious His breakfast and the market reports in the the 959 sxp ose9 from agd o Twenty Street anchorage surprisingly pleasant for August day.
 Furthermore he had at last got rid of Peters, old Peters who had superintended the Harlem plant for the past twenty years. Confounded old bucker. Impudent enough, crank enough to tell him. John C. Yates, pres dent of the Amsterdam Ice Company, what he Peters. thought of trusts in general and of the ice trust Tn tcuar What business was 1t of Peters ii he chose to
 make hundred per cent profit or nlore if he so de sired? Ice luxury for those who could afford to pay. It was Peters business to make ice; John c. over five hundred dollars worth of apparatus in fool experiment; might blow up the plant itself day.
 2 So John G. waded on through the stack of mail in terspersing his instructions with many joke and face tous remark, at which the secretary laughed mmoder ately but not with the merrirnen that seemed to lie in the continued smile that cung to his features the Ice King neared the last envelope in the stack extracted sheet of paper covered with typewriting through which he proceeded to wade in his usual getic manner, three lines at time.
 thud that rated the office furniture, and the Ice King rose suddenly to the the full majesty of his six six fee. one readily "A hold up! hold up Listen" And he read: MT John c. Yates,
 President, Amsterdam Ice Co.
 DEAR SIR:
 After many years of study and interinable labor tave last perfected freezing and refrgeratng ap paratus which will revoutionize all existing methods in both in original cost and operation as to be within reach of a the poorest and of when placed upon the market will render practically useless and as the for ice distribution. My invention is based upon scientific principles and is practical reality With my Patent Heat Wave Synchronizer, it is pos Ebe to take two bricks which have been lying in the sun all day and congea bucket of water in minute. On larger scale it possible refrigerate portion of the earths surface August day. It is unnecessary to submit arguments to advise you of the
 effect this invention will have upon the ice trust and for this believe 1t than just to give you the first opportunity to acquire this valuable invention Should you elect complete working model of the you condition that you place $5oooo in cash under the large granite block lying north of the Woodbine road so to do will result in the dsntegration of the ice trust.
 "Yours for cheap refrigeration,
 -what dye think of it? ttundered Yates waving the sheet the secretary and glarng at him as though that threaten mel" he beloved "Tryn' to blacknail the trust I'll fix him I'll fix him Send Treadwe here."
 Treadwen was the companys chief detective and had a reputation for cleverness in his profession.
 AS result of the interview he hid a bag of police money" at the appointed place and kept unobtrusve guard over the locality But the day and night of August a3d passed uneventfuly, and Treadwe returned to the office the morning of the z4h only to be suddenly haled before the president who was stamping up and down his office, purple with rage
 "Of course you didn't get him. Yates snaried You dunderhead Read that! Some of his confounded impudence, the blaclmaing rascalF he cried, shak- ing paper at Treadwen-
 Treadwell took it and read:
 DEAR MR- YATES: can't trade my Heat at Wave Syn; in coin of the Republic before the 26h after that Gs get sa'o that eay bacae G or the trust will get new sleuth you mullet ]" the president hurled after Treadwel, as the latter escaped through the door,
 John G. Yates was awakened on the morning of the 10th .. his Grand Neck, Long Island, home by the
 He ja6bed the bell for his and fereely demanded to know what in the of all that was hot and holy
 wei srS replied the valet, ~t turned cold suddenly in the night and is still so sharp this mor we thought 1t best to warm up little"
 "A bit sir" answered the valet.
 ~What!" John C. leaped from his bed and strode to the window, threw i, up and gazed down on bed of parcuaTly choice plants just cut of his hothousss house there had been bit. Every blamed green thing is deader'n door nai and this the middle of AugustP
 Next to the trust the famous Yates flowers, fruits and vegetables nearest h1s heart in fact ms was almost his sole hobby and he dressed and out of doors before his could get the bath ready.
 of desolation met his eye Everything fragile and not under glass frosted beyond redemption. Even the hardy fruit trees had suffered
 Although the shining brightly the air was still cold and frosty when he aboard the Octopus for his trip to town but ten minutes after the yacht had lett her dock the chill gradually disspated and the ther rncTeters which had been lowering around forty sud- den1y jumped to sixty-hve.
 In his mail that morning the ice magnate found note:
 This won't be the last of the cold days fer Mr. John C. Yates if the S5oooo isn't forthcoming Temperature will drop rapidly from now on.
 Treadwei1 was instantly despatched to Grand Neck, and returned late in the afternoon report that the thermometers at the ates house registered thrtyhve degrees and that the temperature three miles away every direction was above seventy.