Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-23
CHAPTER l.
The Street of the Dead

The street OF the Deau
Uncanny stiffness; a long. low, dim
tunnel, uneasy with the shuffiinS spec
ters of the voiceless damned; rush.
a rumble a deafening clatter. rum
BILE and a dying rush; uncanny stlii-
ness again; the Bowery! BLACK Oily
mire everywhere; even the snow, line
and clean and white as it Sits through
the gloomy canopy of the eleVaeeu'
turns to slime as it falls ON the reek-
ing pavement. Time was when that
historic thoroughfare had pride in It's
lusty vice and Haunted a sort of gayety
but now, as 1t lies cleaning under the
long. confused perspective OF IRON
pillars. it's viscid tar-like surface re-
fiecting the lights of the dingy shops,
il is a street of the living dead; and
in all its shutting phantoms-hunch-
Bhouldered figures with pocketeo
hands and glazed eyes and mlsshapen
lps-there is none more lost 10 NE
than the man who stands against
board fence, ,peering down into the eXca-
vation for the Pannard Building, the
ruddy glow from that inferno-like pit
touching with a fantastic mockery OF
healthful color the waNen hue OF ms
face. :
He is of no age, this man, and OF
no race, and of no station, and OF no
name. His beard, which might have
been gray with washing, has been al
lowed to grow as 1t would. ana is
meshed and matted; his eyes are
bleared and puffed; his brow and nigh
and full, but hidden by an aosurdly
shapeless hat, and the snow, melting
from its crown, has run down in mud
dy rivulets across his face and into
his beard, Veining his sodden coun-
tenance with angling streaks of brown
He seems numbly fascinated without
apparently knowing why in the weird
scene which spreads below him.
The pit is huge and deep, its dim
ness shot by clustered lights, amidst
which dark figures toll like lmps In
far-off hell. There are voices from
below there, hollow voices but vibrant
with life. hoarse, sharp voices OIL CON- ON
mand; and monster derricks, like
giants enslaved, in obedience to the
voices sweep their great arms from
horizon to horizon, picking up and
setting down with a precision SO mar
velously human that understanding
must be in their sinews; and as they
lift and drop their tons, they groan!
Day after day, and night after
night, the waXen face has, at intervals,
peered numbly over that spot in the
fence, for hours at time, and there
have been occasions when the brow
has knotted, as If in an effort of con-
centration: but, for the most part.
the man has gazed in the stupor OF
drink.
Radiant life came into the street Of
the dead. A big limousine, its great
yellow eyes gliding forward as SYM
boil of its right and its might and its
imperial will, stopped at the curb just
opposite the waXen-faced watcher.
The dome light flashed up within, re-
vealing. amid the eXquisitely grained
woodwork and the luxurious corded
gray upholstering, n jolly looking eld-
erlys man, a placid looking elderly
lady, a tall, pleasant looking young
man in a beaver hat, and a young
lady, bewilderingly swathed in soft
white furs, her richly tinted smiling
face framed in a wealth of ripping
light brown hair tinged with gold.
Her brown eyes sparkled for a mo-
ment as she turned them on the tall
young man.
"Eieven-fifteen, Billy" she warned
him, as he stepped out of the limou-
sine. Not minute later"
''I'll be there right after the cock
tails" laughed Billy, hat in hand.
How frank" The smiling retort
seemed to please her father very
much, and he chuckled.
IF you want Billy to be late,
Geraldine, just keep on holding his
hand Three-B Benning was even
more pleased with his own humor, for,
as his shoulders shook, his face red
dened and his puffy mustache rounded.
"Father! protested Mrs. Benning in
a tone so placid that it held no possi-
bility of emotion of any sort.
Geraldine only laughed, though her
face flushed slightly, as Billy hastily
released her hand.
'I'have to do some fddling be-
fore 1 can dance" and the young man
cast a quick glance toward the groan-
ing giants of the pit. "Eleven-fifteen, -
He closed the door of the limousine
he gave each of the occupants a sep
arate bow and a cheerful grin.
The dome light was eXtinguished
the limousine rolled away, and with
its going all the light and life and
warmth seemed to have disappeared
from the world! The waxen-faced
onlooker shivered.
A stockily built man came up out
of Hades, by means of staged ladders
and appeared over the top of the
fence. He wore heavy cap pulled
down over his ears, and his mustache
was dripping.
still sliding, Joe?" anXiously in
quired Billy Lane.
Nearly a quarter of an inch!'
gravely reported the man from the
pit.
The waxen-fac one did not hear
He was shivering so that his should
ers drew together and his teeth chat
tered, and tremor seemed to rur
down his whole bowed body to his
gaping shoes. Intelligence followed
that awakening of his senses. The
man knew exactly what to do. He
turned and shuffied, trembling, dowr
the street toward the Chicago Buffet
more popularity known as Mike Dowd'.
Sink. He walked with his head bent
and his eyes to the ground. Once ht
stopped and picked up a water-soakeC
cigar butt, which he slipped in hi.
bulging right-hand pocket, and a lit
tie farther on he found an iron nut
Left hand pocket. These things, anC
bones and rags and empty bottles anc