The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-01-29
CHAPTER x.

quickly added to his reputation. In
ways It was not an enyiabie reputa-
ton. Men were afraid of him. He he
came known as fighter, "a fiend, a
tiger. His play was ripping and
smashing one, and no one knew where
or how his next blow would fall The
element of surprise was large. He
baked on the unexpected, and, fresh
from the wild North. his mind not OPP
Grating in stereetyped channels, he
was able in unusual degree to devise
new tricks and stratagems. And once
lie won the advantage, he pressed it
remorseessly. 'As relentless as a
Red Indian" was said Of him, and 1t
was said truly.
He was. a free lance, and had
no friendly business associations.
Such alliances as were formed
from time to time were purely ar
fairs of expediency, and he regarded
his allies as men who would give him
the double.cross or ruin him II a
profitable chance presented. In spite
of this point Of view, he was faithful
to his allies. But he was faithful just
as long as they were and no longer.
The treason had to come from them,
and thenAt,was Ware Daylight.
The business men and tinanciers Of
the Pacific coast never forgot the les
son Of Charles Klinkner and the Cali
fornia & Altamont Trust Company.
Klinknera was The president. In part.
nershfp, with Daylight, the pair railed
the San Jose Interurban. The power
full Lake Power & Electric Lighting
corporation came to the rescue, and
Klinkner, seeing what he thought was
the opportunity, went over to the en-
envy in the thick of the pitched battle.
Daylight lost three millions before he
was done with 1t, and before he was
done with 1t he saw the California &
Altamont Trust Company hopelessly
wrecked. and Charles Klinkner sui
side in a feIon's cell.
So 1t was that Daylight became a
successful financier. He did not go
in for swindling the workers. Not
only did lie not have the heart for it,
but 1t did not strike him as sporting
proposition. The workers were SO
easy, SO stupid. 1t was more like
slaughtering fat, hand-reared pleas.
ants on the English preserves he had
read about. The sport, to him, was
in waylaying the successful robbers
and taking their spells from them.
The grim Yukon life had failed to
make Daylight hard. It required ely
ilization to produce this result. In
the fierce, savage game he now play
ed, his habitual geuiallty imper-
ceptibly slipped away from him, as did
his lazy Western drawl.
He still had "reminiscences OF genial.
ity. but they were largely periodical
and forced, and they were usually due
to the cocktails he took prior to meal
time. In the North he had drunk
deeply and at irregular intervals; but
now his drinking became systematic
and disciplined. 1t was an unconscious
development, but 1t was based upon
physical and mental conditions. The
cocktails served as an inhibition.
Without reasoning or thinking about
It, the strain OF the office, which was
essentially due to the daring and au-
dacity of his ventures, required check
or cessation; and he found. through
the weeks and months, that the cock
tails supplied this very thing They
constituted a stone wall. He never
drank during the morning, nor in Of
flee hours; but the instant he left the
office he proceeded to rear this wall
of alcoholic inhibition athwart his
consciousness. The office became i'm
medlately closed affair. 1t ceased
to exist. In the afternoon, after lunch,
II lived again for one or two hours.
when, leaving 1t, he rebuilt the wall of
inhibition. or course, there were eT-
ceptions to this: and, such was the rig
or of his discipline, that II he had a
dinner or conference before him in
which, in a business way, he encoun-
tered enemies or allies and planned or
prosecuted campaigns, he abstained
from drinking. But the instant the
appear in the cities Of the Northwest,