The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-15

season; IT eschewed subways and thea
| tiers; IT learned to wait patiently, when
! one of the three blights struck its
world, as a man waits patiently for
| shower to pass.
| This class, as has been said, Was
| preponderantly in the majority, but ITS
mass was being constantly diminished
as a little knowledge of danger seeped
| into its substance. News of the pos
sible catastrophe passed from mouth
to mouth; world outside, waiting
aghast at such faulty, began to get in
| its messages. Street-corner alarnists
talked to such as would listen. Thou
sands upon thousands left the city.
| Hundreds of thousands more, tied
hard and fast by the strings of neces-
J sity, waited in an hourly growing
1 dread.
The sign had been sent promptly
at 6 O'Clock, as promised. 1t proved
Darrow's prediction by turning out
| to be stoppage of the electrical sys-
tens. This time it lasted only half
an hour-long enough to throw the
traffic and transportation into con-
fusion 1t was followed at short in
tervals by demonstrations in light and
sound; none was of long duration.
After the first few. their occurrence
came freakishly, in flashes, as though
the hidden antagonist delighted in con-
fusing his immense audience. The
messages he sent over the wireless in
the Atlas Building grew more and
more threatening and grandiose. They
| demanded invariably that Mccarthy
should be sought out and delivered up
| TO a rather vaguely described ven
| geance; and threatened with dire ca
lamities all the inhabitants of Manhat-
tan if the Unknowns desires were not
fulfilled These threats grew more
definite in character as time went on.
The effect of all this in the long
run was. OF course, confusion and in
stability. People laughed or cursed;
but they also listened and reasoned
Gradually, throughout the city, dread
was extending the blackness of its ter
I ror. A knowledge that would have
caused tremendous panic If it had
been divulged suddenly now gave
birth to deep-seated uneasiness
| Where the panic would have torn
men up by the roots and flung them
J in terrorized mobs through the con-
| geSted ways and out into the ilhos=
| pitable country, the uneasiness oil
dread held them covering at their ac-
! customed tasks. They were afraid:
| hut they had had time TO think, and
they realized what it would mean to
| leave their beloved or accustomed or
\ necessary city, as the case might be-
| And 1t must be remembered that the
| definite knowledge of what might be
feared was not yet disseminated among
| them.
But this attitude hurt business, and
| business struck back The subways
were practically deserted; the theaters
| empty; the accustomed careless life
OF the Great White Way thinned; the
| streams of life slackened Further
/ more, the intelligent criminal inmedi-
| ately discovered that ideal shields were
being provided him gratis behind which
/ to conduct his crimes the silence
man could blow out the side OF a
bank building with IMMUNITY, provided
4 only he kept out of sight. In the
I darkness he could pilfer at will, with
! only the proviso that he forget not his
gum shoes. The possibilities of night
\ crime when electricity lacks have al
ready been touched upon.
To meet unusual conditions the peo-
pie individually and collectively rose
| to heights of forgotten ingenuity. The
physical life of a city is so we'll es-
tablished that the average city dweller
grows out of the pioneer virtue of
adaptability. Now once more these
people were forced to meet new and
untried conditions. to guard against
new dangers, new opposing forces. In
an incredibly short space of time they
grew out of aimless panic. They
learned TO sit tight; to guard ade-
quately their lives. their treasure, and
even TO certain extent their time
against undue loss.
In the meantime the money powers
had been prompt to act. They did
not intend to stand idly while their
pockets were being picked BY unto
ward circumstances nor did they in
tend to continue indefinitely the I'M
usual expenditures necessary to guard
themselves against even greater loss.
As there seemed to be two men to
find, they employed the best of de-
tectiyes to search for Mccarthy; and
Prof. Eldridge, as the greatest liv-
ing expert. to hunt down the I'm
known. Thus Unexpectedly Eldridge
found himself with definite backing
in his strange duel with barrow.
II is now desirable to place before
the reader samples of the messages
sent by Monsieur Y and received in
the wireless Office of the Atlas Build
ing, after which we can proceed once
more to follow out the sequence of
events.
TO the people: The sign has been
sent you. You must now believe. The
traitor is among you, and YOU must
hunt him down. This is your sacred
duty, for |, your master, have laid ii
upon YOU
That was one of the first After a
round dozen of similar import, there
came this:
To the people: l, your master. am
displeased with you The visitations
OF darkness and of silence have been
sent, but you have needed little. /
doubt nc: kat ye search. as / h.r~
commanded, but you do not realize -
the full your sacred obligation. You
go about your business and YOU carry
on your affairs. Your business and
your affairs are not so important as
these, my commands Beware lest YOU
draw down the wrath of the Lords
Amounted. | am patient with YOUR ig-
norance; but give heed
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SUNDAY.