Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-01-22

do, the frantic Broadway started out
to find some work By which. at least.
he could earn honestly his board and
keep.
Wall street offered nothing, for when
he went down to see his friends there
his courage failed entirely and instead
Of asking them to ind q place for him
he bought them, one BY one, expensive
Iuncheons.
He went to neighboring cities, hop
ing there to find some means Of get
ting food to eat without getting 1t on
credit, and there he had some strange
experiences which lasted several days.
But, while he just escaped the uniform
of the Salvation Army, he did not ind
work and wandered back to Broadway,
the apartment and more debt.
He had NO profession. knew no
trade. Half crazed with the obsession
that he must nc longer run in debt,
he decided to sell out the fiat, dis
charge the servants and do mental
labor. Running through the list Of
his abilities he decided, with frank
self-contempt, that about the best
which he could do was help in a hotel
as beI1boy. He knew too little about
mathematics to keep books; he never
would succeed as desk-cIerk. But he
could not bring himself to try to get
a job Of that sort-it would too often,
bring him into contact with the folk
he knew.
One afternoon, while wandering in
an aimless funk upon a side street, he
saw a card in front of an apartment
house announcing that an elevator boy
was wanted. He rushed in with alacs
rity and determinatiop-and at the
very threshold met Mrs. Gerard, who
had been calling on a friend there. In
stead of asking for the job he took
a drive with her.
It was while this drive progressed
that the sordid, vicious tempter def
nitely seized him in his tolls. The an
cient but viVacious dame was very
anable-most agreeable indeed. She
was not motherly; she was firtatious.
And she accompanied her coquetry by
a shrewd exposition of the magnitude
of her unquestionably enormous
wealth. 1t staggered him.
If he had not at the moment had a
simple little Josie Richards letter in
his pocket he might have been swept
under. A thousand times he had dis
covered the necessity of assuring him
self, as he travelled up and down
Broadway, that he did not care for
Josie Richards. She was not the sort
of girl who captivated one who knew
life as he knew it; she was dear, but
she was simple, unsophisticatod and
what he most admired was wide So
phistication; he thought as little OF.
her as he could, but now she popped
into his mind and made him edge away
from the aged, wealthy widow.
When he went back to the fiat he
found awaiting him new sheafs Of
bills, none pressing him-mere state
ments. The rumor had not started
that he was not good pay. Broadway
still delighted in him, still endeavored
to induce him ~to-accept it's credit. This
gave him new distress; he knew him
self-he knew he would go out that
night and run more debts.
Suddenly he knew what to do. It
came to him without an. effort of the
brain. It was a tragic inspiration.
Without a word to Rankin, stealthily
and secretly, he went forth into the
afternoon in his smart runabcut, still
driven by the taxi-cabman, who now
regarded him with something akin to
worship, and sought a gunshop and q.
chemists.
In the former he male purchase Of a
large, grim, blued-steel automatic pis-
toll of tho largest caliber they had in
stock, AID secured one box Of cart
ridges. 1t seemed a waste of money,
which by rights was definitely the
property OF creditors, to buy so many
cartridges, for he should need but one!
However. he feared that to ask for one
would lin attention to him and frus-
trate wat he had in mind, so he put
the heavy box into his pocket. It
made It sag outrageously, which very
much annoyed him. No man on
Broadway was more careful Of his
clothes But what, after all, did a
sRggec pocket matter now?
Atthe chemists he secured an ounce
Of bichloride of mercury, which had
been fashionable Of late among smart
suicides. He had no difficulty IN OBJ
tanning it. This eased him and a fur
Their satisfaction grew out of the fact
that though it held potentialities as
deadly as the automatic gun and cart
ridges could hold it made a little pack
age, not heavy in the least, and SO
did not sag the other pocket, where he
placed it very carefully.
As he whir1ed uptown in the rum
about he frequently felt of the deadly
things.
He liked the feel of neither of them.
The revolver was so hard and BUSH
ness-like, the pill bottle was so slip
Epery, SO cold and h~eartlessi What an
end was this for Broadway Jones!
Again seated in the little study, he
solemnly reviewed his life. He saw no
points at which he had made very
great mistakes, a Y the important one