The Washington herald., 1915-07-25

I Mr.. Ball gasped. The market value
| of the project to the Scream dazzied
him. When he had caught his breath he
shouted:
by heaven. believe he's hit 1t!
There's no law l know of to prevent Is
there" he appealed to Mr.. Drew.
That gentleman. who was gazing at
Charley as If he were a freak of nature
just brought to his attention, slowly
-, shook his head.
| Il don't think So" he said. "I'll have
| to look it up. It's charity. and that
! helps. But the procedure may incite a
! riot. Why--ood Lord-Broa dway will be
damned, When they read in the papers
! tonight what he's going TO do the whole
(East Side will start running to be there
1 on time
exulted Mr.. Ball; and with this he shot
out of the room.
| Mr.. Teeters hoped Up from the couch
he was sitting on with a squawk of joy.
! ''Come-On. you'll win your bet with that
hocray hick from Pittsburgh
! Thought of that" acknowledged
Charley. Two birds with one stone"
And I'll win mihe with Teddy"
| clacked Mr. Teeters. "Ha.' He adj
dressed the lawyer Going to>put him
| in foolery for funny folks with thing
UNI hobs in their thinkerieS? gosh, L
| wish ! was a wise guy like some l
| know,
Mr. Drew waved him away with an
absent air-as he would a gnat or other
| irksome insect. He spoke to Charley:
IF you hold the crowd two hours you
win thirty thousand. That's ten to the
good even if you lose on the other two
hours"
Right" Charley answered. WHAT
about it,"
"Oh, nothing" said Mr.. Drew in a care
fully careless tone. You have chance
just a chance-and-er-I was wondering
il there is any first or second hour Ar
rington money"
Faith. and that's just what / was
wondering meself." cut in Mr.. Link,
getting to his feet. And what's more
I'm going out to look for it-all FOUR
hours by st. Patrick. I'm betting on
the lads good luck"
He strobe over to the door. Mr.. Drew
rose hastily from his chair.
Just a minute. Link" he called.
outside" 81
Imagine, please. a line of block type
an inch and a quarter high running
across the face of the Scream like a
streak of scarlet fever.
II you can imagine such a thing as
that you can imagine without an eff
fort the red strip in the Scream on
the evening of December twenty-ihird,
in the year we have not already men,
toned. 1t ran-the strip-in this wise:
"COME-ON CHARLEY'S CHRISTMAS"
Below this. near the center of the
page. was a double column cut of
Charley, and to the right Of it was
scarehead which read:
$4,000 In Gold to Charity-Carter to
Play SANTA Claus. He Will Give
Away Tomorrow One Thousand Gold
Eagles to One Thousand Needy Poor.
Last Man Gets 500 Extra"
The details which followed this
prodigal parade of job type supplied
information of the place of distribu-
ton, and the how and when of it;
and it was also made distinctly clear
that Mr.. Carter's desire to help along
the Christmas festivities was born
of not Interior motives" we are
quoting Mr.. Ball-"but was conceived
ard determined on in a spirit of large
philanthropy, before he had ever laid
eyes on the Pittsburg millionaire"
Every evening paper in the city
followed the Screams lead-they
couldn't ignore it-and the morning
papers on the twentyfourth carried
the story. embellished in some in
stances with interviews with Charley
which were authentic as the
Apocrypha itself. For Mr.. Carter, be
i: known. had fed for the night to an
obscure hotel when The central office
Of the police department had called
him up on the telephone. shortly after
the Scream came out, and intimated
the commissioner would like a word
with him
He left Mr.. Link and Mr.. Teeters
keeping guard over the gold-some
thirty odd pounds of the precious
metal slowed away in an Oxford bag.
This they were to smuggie into the
Allrott Theater by the stage door at
six O'Clock in the morning. when
Charley would meet them. a pair OF
armed Pinkertons would ride in the
limousine as escort to the treasure.
When at six o'clock Charley's lin
CUISINE drew up in the side street from
which a passage led to the Allrotts
stage door no one questioned Mr.. LINK
when he lugged the Oxford bag into
the theater, for no one was there to
do it. Four or FIVE policemen were
patroIIing the street at the Broadway
entrance, before the heavy steel port.
cullis which barred the lobby, and
they had their hands full with the
crowd which was already gathering
a miserable, shivering host of human
derelicts, pouring in from all the |
wretched dens the city harbored.
And the odd part of II was. these |
dubious persons at first did not seem |
anxious TO approach too near the the |
alter. They took account of one an
other. casting up. so 1t seemed, the |
number present, and each being po- |
litely solicitous to give way to his !
fellow. They were thinking of the |
four hundred dollars the last man was
to get. |
/. This continued but a short time. |
however. for by seven o'clock il be-
came a question of which would be |
first and the devil take the hindermost !
Who this final one would be was an |
arithmetical problem impossible of So |
block each way from the Allrot. The |
precinct reserves had been called out |
long before this. but they could not |
stem the tide which set in against |
them. They were too late-or too lax. |
Charley. with a shrewd look ahead. |
had notified his judicatory committee |
of Goats the day previous to put in an |
appearance before seven, and the COM
mittee watched the crowd from a Sec /
ond-story window. arranged for in
advance, across the street from the /
playhouse. They estimated there were |
three thousand people in sight when |
the clock struck seven. At twenty 4
minutes after seven the Goats COM
mittee computed IL at five thousand:
and by eight o'clock. to anticipate q |