The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1911-04-13

street on the south. and by Fifth and
Madison avenues respectively Oh the
west and east. There is nothing more
mournful than the outward aspect of
these princely residences which. ADAM
doned and empty for threc-quarters of
the year. stand in stately loneliness. as
II ashamed of their isolation and utter
uselessness. Their blinds drawn, at
fording no hint of life within, envel-
! oped the greater part of the time in
the stiffness and silence of the tomb,
they appear to be under the spell Of
some baneful curse. No merry voiced
children romp in their carefully rallied
on gardens, no sounds Of conversatio
or laughter come from their hermetic:
ally closed windows, not soul goes
In or out; at most, ut rare intervals,
does one catch glimpse Of gorge.
ously arrayed servant gliding about in
ghostly fashion. supercilious and suspi-
cious and addressing the chance visitor
in awed whispers as though he were
the guardian Of house of af1liction.
1t is. indeed, like city of the dead.
So 1t appeared to Jefferson rs he
walked up Fifth avenue, bound for the
Ryder residence, the day following his
arrival from Europe. Although he still
lived at his fathers house, for at no
time had there been an open rupture,
he often slept in his studio, finding it
more convenient for lis work, and
there he had gone straight from the
ship. He felt. however, that it was his
duty to see his mother as soon as DOS
sible; besides he was anxious to fulfill
his promise to Shirley and find what
his father could do to help Judge Ross
more. He had talked about the case
with several men the previous evening
Mt the club, and the general impression
seemed to be that, guilty or innocent,
the judge would be driven off the
bench.
| Europe, thought Jefferson as he
strobe quickly along, pointed with ell
W to Americas unparalleled prosper
ity, spoke with bated breath of her
great fortunes. Rather should they
say her gigantic robberies, her colossal
frauds! AS nation we were not
proud Of our multimillionaires. How
many Of them would bear the search
light of investigation? Would his own
father? How many millions could ole
man make by honest methods? Amer
lea was enjoying unprecedented pros
perity not because of her millionairea,
but in spite of them. The United
States owed Its high rank in the family
Of nations to the country's vast natural
resources, its inexhaustible vitality, its
great wheatfelds, the Industrial and
mechanical genius Of it's people. It
was the plain American citizen who
had made the greatness of America;
not the millionaires who, forming a
class by themselves of INSCRIPTIONS
capitalists, had created an arrogant
oligarchy which sought to rule the
country by corrupting the legislature
and the judiciary. The plutocrats--
these We're tile leeches, the sores in the
body polite. An organized band of
robbers, they had succeeded in DON'T
mating legislation and in securing con-
troll OF every branch of the nations in
dustly, crushing mercilessly and lille
gally all competition.
Jefferson turned abruptly and Went
up the wide steps of an imposing white
marble editice which took up the space
of half a city block. A fine example
Of French renaissance architecture.
with spire roofs, round turrets and
mullioned windows dominating the
neighboring houses, this magnificent
home Of the plutocrat, with it's fur
nishings and art treasures, had cost
John. Burkett Ryder nearly $10O0o,GOO.
1t was one of the show places Of the
town, and when the "rubberneck"
wagons approached the Ryder man
sion and the guides through their meg
aphones expatiated in awestricken
tones on it's external and hidden beau
ties, there was a general craning of
vertebrae among the Seeing New
Workers. to catch a glimpse of the
abode Of the richest man in the world.
Only few privileged ones We're ever
permitted to penetrate to the interior
Of this $10,00O,OOO home. Ryder was
not fond Of company; he avoided
strangers and lived in continual appre-
hension of the subpoena server. Not
that he feared the law, only he usually
found it inconvenient to answer ques-
lions in court under oath. The explicit
instructions to the servants, therefore,
were to admit no one under any pre-
text whatever unless the visitor had
been approved by the Hon. Fitzroy
Bagley, Mr.. Ryder's arlstocratic pri-
vate secretary, and to facilitate this
preliminary inspection there had been
installed between the library upstairs
and the front door one Of those ingen-
ious electric writing devices, such as
are used in banks, on which name is
hastily scrubbed, instantly transmitted
elsewhere, Immediately answered and
the visitor promptly admitted or as
quickly shown the door. =
Jefferson did not have to ring at the
paternal portal. The sentinel within
was at his post. No one could approach
that door without being seen and his
arrival and appearanoD being signaled
upstairs. But the great mans son
Il L. II