The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-04-17

What" yelled the young man, lear
Ing to his feet and staring into tn,
young woman's face.
Il mean half an ounce" she mur
INJURED. you have killed me, MIR. Tol
land. And ! hope you will be NOR,
charitable in future. +" Here sh,
collapsed with a heartrending groan
Quick! A doctorl" she gasped. 20
let me live. Telephone, Mr.. Tolland
must live now. | didn't know death
was so TERRIBLE"
An instant later Holland was call
ing up a couple Of physicians he knew
then another, and then another. Aft
er that he called an ambulance. II
was only then that it occurred to him
that 1t would be advisable for him to
make himself as scarce as possible.
lie hurried out of the apartment house
and into the street. Then it occurred
to him further that the Office would
be the best place for him, II he was
to avoid suspicion. Accordingly, he
made his way thither.
But 1t was desperately lonely in the
office. and the warm greeting Of the
city editor, who had a slack half hour,
was too much for him. In a few mo
ments Tolland was confessiug every.
thing at the desk, and asking wheth-
er he ought to give himself up for
murder.
Thunder, mol" answered the city
editor. Don't you see your duty
clear before your eyes, young man?"
No. gulped Tolland miserably.
You go back to you desk and
write out a full account of the suicide
for the next edition." answered the
city editor. But, say! You don't
have to put yourself into it, you
know"
And Tolland must have had in him
the makings of a reporter, because,
mechanically taking up his pen, he
found himself presently launching
into a human interest story describing
the suicide OF the famous actress. 1t
was only when he had finished that
he realized the depths of degradation
to which he had fallen. He took the
manuscript over to the desk.
I've done it-but it mustn't be pub.
lished, Mr.. Renn," he said. I'D lose
my position. q" gulp, gulp, I'm
going to the police to give myself up"
Mr.. Rem, without answering, read
the article. AS he read it he slapped
leg and chuckled. When he came
the last words Miss Lawrence had
uttered, in which she begged to be
saved, he laid the manuscript down
and burst into a loud guffaw. And
Tolland stared at the monster speech.
Could it be a human being
who saw in such a terrible death of a
young and gifted woman nothing but
a news story?
Suddenly Rem handed back the
story. ITS all right; we won't print
It, Tolland," he said. "But it's for
your sake, understand. Anyhow, it's
TOO late. Here come the editions of
he other papers. Let's see what they
have to say about it."
They scanned the headlines on the
page of each of the evening news.
on the second, the third, and
so right through to the end. But there
was not a word about. Miss L~awrence's
"Humph! l guessed they wouldn't
all for it," said Rem. at takes a
very young and immature reporter to
all for a thing like that" Il
do you e that she was only
pretending to have taken strychnine,
get ever with me?" gasped Toll
and.
20 get even with you? No, my
'oung friend. She wanted to get the
tory into the newspapers. She saw
low verdant you were-or else some.
'ody tipped her off about you, prob
bly, her agent. Lord, Tolland, that
an advertising stunt. Don't you
Understand? If that had got into the
Argus it would have been equal to
fifty such slatings as you gave her.
10 to the show again tonight, Toll
and, and you'll see her there as
arge as life"
Which Tolland did.
Copyright, 1915. by w. C. Chapman)