The Washington herald., 1911-01-29
5BSURNING @. DAYLIGHT


and these piles were used in unendng thousands All
accessioie groves OF mature eucalyptus were used,
and. as WE'LL great RATS Of pine piles were toweT
down the coast from Puget sound
NOT content with manufacturing the electricity for
MS street railways in the old ashiOned wav in mower
houses Daylight organized the Sierra and Salvador
rover company. This Immediately assumed large
proportions. Crossing the San Joaquin Valley on the
way from the mountains, and plunging through the
oa n, costa hliis, there were many towns. and
ROBUST CITY, that could be supplied with power also
with light and it became street and house lighting
pi'JecI as We'll. AS soon as the purchase of power
nart;os ~ sne serras was rushed through the survey
And so 1t went. There were a thousand maws
INTO % which he poured unceasng streams of money
put It was all so sound and legitimate that Day
Hent Dorn gambler that he was and with his clear,
vide vision. could not play softly and safely It
was Dig opportunity. and to him there was only
one way to play 1T and that was the big way Nor
ana his one confidential adviser Larry Hegan aid
MIN 10 caution. On the contrary, it was Daylight
VINO VINO was compelled to veto the wilder visions Of
that able hasheesh dreamer Not only did DAYLIGHT
borrow heavily from the banks and trust companies
Dut on several Of his corporations he compelled
and retained most of his big enterprises as hi,
own. Among the companies in which he reluctantly
allowed the investing public to join were the Golden
Gate Dock Company the Recreation Parks Company,
the United Water Company. the Encinal Shipbuld-
ing Company AMI the Sierra and Salvador Power
Company. Nevertheless between himself and Hogan
he retained the controlling shares in all Of these
enterprises
His affair with Dede Mason only seemed to IAN.
strange
problem presented his desire for her continued to
grow. In his gambling simie. his conclusion was
that Luck had dealt him the most remarkable card
in the deck and that for years he had overlooked it.
Love the card and it beat them all. Love was
the king card of trumps. the fifth ace the joker in
nd of be o t IT Sse the card Of cards
came He could not see that opening yet The
present game would have to play to sort of
conclusion first.
Yet he could not shake from his brain .nd VISION
the recollection Of those bronze slippers that
cnging gown and all the feminine softness and
pliancy of Dede in her pretty Berkeley rooms. Once
again. a rainy Sunday. he telephoned that he was
coming. And. as has happened ever since first
looked upon woman and called her good again he
played the blind force Of male compulsion against
the woman's secret weakness to yield. Not that it
was Daylight's way abjecty to beg and entreat On
he had trick of whimsical wheedling that Dede
found harder to resist than the pleas Of suppant
lover. 1t was not happy scene in its outcome for
Dede in the throes of her desire desperate with
weakness and at the time with her better
judgment hating her weakness. cried OUT
"You urge me to try chance. to marry you now
and trust to luck for it to out right. And life
is a gamble. you say. Very well. let gamble.
Take coin and toss it in the air. If it heads
III marry If 1t doesn't you forever to leave
alone and never mention marriage again."
A fire of mingled love and the passion Of gambling
into Daylisht's eyes. Involuntarily his hand
started his pocket for the COIN Then it stopped
and the light in his eyes was troubled
go on she ordered sharply. Don't delav or 7
may change my mtnd and You will lose the chance"
Little woman" His SMILES We're humorous but
there no humor in their meaning. His thought
was as solemn as his voice. Little woman I'd gam.
BILE all the way from Creation to the Day of Judg-
ment I'd gamble golden harp against another
mans halo Id toss for pennies the front steps Of
the New Jerusalem. set up faro layout lust ONT
side the Peary Gates. but I'll be everlastincv damned
if I'll gamble on love- Loves too big to me TO take
q chance on. Loves got to be a sure thing and he.
tween you and me it is a sure thing. If the odds
was hundred to one on my winning this flip, Just
the same, nary flip"
In the spring of the year the Great Panic came on
The first warning when the banks began calling
in their unprotected loans. Daylight promptly paid
the first several of his personal that were pre-
sented he OWNED that these demands but ndi-
Gated the way the wind was going to blow and that
one of those terrific financial storms he had heard
about was soon toSsweep over the United States How
terrific this particular storm was to be he did not
anticpate Nevertheless he took every precauton in
his power and nad no anxiety about his weathering
it out.
Money grew tighter. Beginning with the crash
of several of the greatest Eastern banking houses
the tightness spread until every bank in country
was calling in its credits. Daylight caught, and
caught because of the fact that for the first time he
had been playing the legitimate business game. In
the old days such panic, with the accompanying
extreme shrnkage in values. would have been a
golden harvest time for him. As it was, he watched
the gamblers who had ridden the wave of prosperity
and made preparations for the slump. getting out
from under and safely scurrying to cover proceed
ing to reap double harvest. Nothing remained fos
him but to stand fast and hold up.
He saw the situation clearly. When the banks de-
maded that he pay his loans, he knew that the banks
We're in sore need of the money But he in
need And he knew that the banks did not want his
collateral which they held 1t would do them good
In such tumbng of values time to sell. His
collateral good, all of it. emnently sound and
worth while yet it was worthless at such a moment
when the one unceasng cry money. money,
money. Finding him obdurate. the banks demanded
more collateral. and as the money pinch frightened
they asked for two and even three times much
had been originally accepted. Sometimes Daylight
yielded to these demands, but more often not. and
always battling fercey.
He fought as with clay behind crumbling wall.
All portions of the wall were menaced, and he went
around constantly strengthening the weakest parts
with clay. This clay was money, and was applied. a
sop here and a sop there fast it needed
but only when it drely needed. The strength Of
his position lay in the Yerba Buena Ferry Company
the Consolidated Street Railways and the United
Water Company. Though people were no longer buy
ing residence lots and factory and business Sites they
were compelled to ride his and ferryboats and
to consume his water. When all the financial world
Of it, the first Of each month many thousands Of dol