The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-01-25

LIS it'NN III lhC lblnEt liilONS s4'rt " tif
giving way TO violent spasmodic cor
tortions. Hearing me enter. he arosr
and faced me. | never saw greater
agony on any face. He looked from
me to the maid and pointed to the
door. l told her to leave us and closed
the door behind her. Then | turned
to my visitor
How did you get on to t." he asked,
his eyes starting out of his head.
Get on to whatT'
"My making up that prescription
wrong"
What prescription?
THAT killed the man in your story"
KILLED the man in my story I re
peated, my eyes bulging with astonish.
ment. | had been writing of an imag.
mary lunalic, and my first impression
was that | had real one before me
You called him Chesterton"
"Wen?"
"Oh my God! He was Middleton
You might as well have given the real
name as one so like it."
stood staring at the man for awhile.
then said to him:
MY friend, you must pardon me for
eXclsing myself, but I have no time tc
devote to cranks. | am putting the
finishing touches to the serial YOU
spcal; Of, and the copy must be ready
this afternoon. The hero has been e:,.
ecuted, the girl who loved him has
gone mad, and
| didn't finish the sentence, for the
fellow fell in fit true enough. | picl.-
ed him up and laid him on the lounge
As soon as he quieted down a bit he
started up and began to talk in q
hOarse whisper just as people on Tho
dramatic stage do when they have
something narrowing to communicate
I'm a drug clerk. One day Il pre-
scription came in and l put it up
Hours after it had gone out l found -
small vial of deadly poison standing
on the board where l had mixed the
medicine. | had taken it up by mis-
take and put enough to kill any one
into the mixture. / darted out to stop
the patient from taking it. A boy
rushed past me selling newspapers
and crying. Sudden death of Banker
Middletonr That was the name Civ
en- when the medicine was called for.
81 went back to the store, told my
employer that my mother was dying
and left town within an hour. My
secret has preyed on me- but l nevc"
dreamed it would involve another
life"
The man had given the key to thg
circumstances that had convicted an
innocent man as I had concocted ii
for my novel. ! saw at once that i,
was fate and not / who had been writ
ing detective story, the parts Of
which fate had evolved in its way,
not mine.
In distant town the drug clerk
had picked up copy of our paper
containing that installment of my sto
ry which gave my concocted key. il
being identical with his own act
Later his eye met a newspaper item
that the man who had poisoned Mid
dleton for his money would be exc
cutcd in three weeks. He had como
to me as the author of the story. sup
posing that had his secret.
In this sequel to the product Of my
brain | saw what the story itse
would not produce. l am newspaper
man. and my newspaper instinct'
came TO the front
"Nou come with me-" / said Put
yourself in the hands of our paper
and we'll give you the best outcome
to your fatal mistake one can secure
for you"
lie assented, and, taking him to the
Office, | told the story to Heaton.
"Shake" he said thrusting out his
hand and grasping mine in an iron
grip. THE papers made"
Then I called the drug clerk in and
introduced him to the managing editor
Heaton gave him what money he
wanted and told him to go where he
liked-leaving his address, of course
and keep his mouth shut. The next
morning out came scare heads an
nouncing that remarkable combi2a-
tion detective-fiction exploit had led to
the discovery that George Barton. the
man who had been convicted of the
murder of Banker Middleton. was IN
nocent. This set everybody agog fOl
the next issue.
In the morning we announced that
the paper had produced a drug clerk
whose mistake had caused the poison
ing Of Middleton. A hint was throw
out that an author-detective who wrote
exclusively for the paper had built Il
theory of his own as to the cause OF
Middleton's death and had written the
story with the intent of bringing oul
the real culprit.
And so it came about that an limo
cent man was saved from a hanging
because people like to read about such
tragedies and because / was instru"-
ed to hang an imaginary character
But, after all, did it not come about on
the principal of an ad.?
We got the drug clerk off with light
punishment and had Barton up in our
editorial rooms, where | was intro
duced to him as the man who had
saved him from a felon's death. He
asked me if l had really written the
story on the theory that Middleton had