The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1914-02-08
The Crash.
SHTkT "a ~ Scsss-r<rrTksE CO
CHAPTER I,

Failed" CALCULATED John ysilan'
olankly, and the hat he held dropped
to the claret-colored rug like a hugs
white splotch Of sudden fright The
Corporatiou-failed."
The young man was the glass OF
fashion, from the silken ribbon on the
spotless Panama to his peari.gray gait
ers, and well favored-a 1.-THE stalwarl
figure, with wide.set hazel eyes and
strong brown hair. waving back from
candid forehead.
Never had HE innocuous and bst
ter-dy existence known a surprise
more startling. He had swung into
the room with all the nonchalant hab.
It's, the ingrained gertrude of the man
born with achievement ready.made in
his hands. And single curt state
ment--like the ruthless blades OF a
pair OF shears--had shipped across
the one splendid scarlet thread in the
wool that constituted life as he knew
1t. He had knotted his lavender scarf
that morning yice-president OF the
Valiant Corporation-one OF the great
est and most successful of modern
day organizations; he sat now In the
fading afternoon trying to realize that
the huge fabric, without warning. had
toppled to its fall.
How solid and changeless ii had
always seemed-that great business
fabric woven by the father he could
SO dimly remember. His own invested
fortune had been derived from the
great corporation the elder Valiant
had founded and controlled until his
death. With almost unprecedented
earnings, 1t had stood as a very Glib
raltar of finance. type and sign of
brilliant organization. Now, on the
heels OF a trusts dissolution which
would be nine-days' wonder the vast
structure had crumbled up like a card
board. The rains had descended and
the floods had come, and it had fallen,
The man at the desk had wheeled
In his revolving chair and was looking
at the trim athletic back blotting the
daylight, with a smile that was little
short OF a covert sheer. He was one
OF the local managers of the corpora.
tion whose ruin was to be that DAYS
sensation, a colorless man who had ac-
CURED middle age with hts first long
trousers and had been dedicated to the
commercial treadmill before he had
bought safety.razor. He despised all
loiterers along the primrose paths. and
John Valiant was but a decorative fir.
.urehead.
Valiant started as the other spoke at
bis elbow. He had come TO the win.
dow and was looking down at the
pavement. How quickly some news
spreads,"
For the first time the young man
noted that the street below was filing
with desultory crowd. He distin.
guished a knot of Italian laborers talk
ing with excited gesticulations - a
smudged plasterer, tools in hand
clerks, some hatless and with thin
alpaca coats-all peering at the voice
less front OF the great building, and
all, he imagined. with a thriving fear
in their faces. AS he watched, a WON
an, coarsely dressed, ran across the
street, her handkerchief pressed to her
eyes
The notice has gone UP on the
door, said the manager. Il sent word
to the police. Crowds are ugly some
times
Valiant drew a sudden sharp breath.
The corporation down in the mire.
with crowds at its doors ready to
ciamor for money entrusted to it, the
aggregate savings of widow and or
phan. the piteous boarded sums earned
- 80 100 .a--