The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-17
"PITY THE POOR"


 bits, is likely to grow fat. George | Grant dwelt in a community of human
 rabbits, men who needed money and needed it so badly that they were ready
 to pay any price to get it. Grant did
 not grow fat on their needs. But his bank account did.
 When a man must have money, he
 is willing to pay high to get it. And hundreds of men had for years been | paying George Grant an unbe1evably
 big rate of interest on the cash they l borrowed from him.
 ! He was the city's most prosperous
 loan broker, which meant he was also l the citys most heartless loan shark,
 His offices were forever crowded with
 needy clients. His big desk was full o1
 tabulated pigeonholes, And every ! plgeonhole was stacked with a piteous
 array of promissory notes, of mortgages I of sight drafts and similar sorry docu-
 ments
 l In that desk lay the material to ruin dozens of unlucky men; men who in
 an evil hour had put themselves in George Grants clutches. Here were debt records that spelled financial ship wreck More than one pious debtor used to pray that Grants office and Grants desk might some night be de- stroyed by fire; to wipe out these rec ords and set the loan sharks victims free And al last, in odd fashion, the prayers were answered.
 One day-it was the same that Max Lamar caught his 1eeting glance of the Red Circle on woman'S white hand, | as closed automobile whizzed past him-George Grant got up from this | famous desk in his private office. stretched his lean arms lazily, and went l into the adjoining room where stood his 1 capacious steel vault. He wanted a | record that was filed in this vault. And | instead of sending clerk for it-it was 6 decidedly private paper-he went, | himself
 | Entering the vault and switching on the electric light, he bgan to search through the tiers of compartments along the rear wall. The paper he wanted was not easy to find; and his | search continued for several minutes. | At last, he discovered what he sou ght. Consulting the document, he made one | or two notes from it on the back of
 an envelope; then switched off the 1 light and turned to leave the vault. | But, instead of the sunshine from the
 office beyond, he faced black darkness.
 The vault door had been shut. So silent | ly had it closed that, engrossed in his l search, he had not observed it was no l longer open.
 l Grant pushed against the steel door.
 It did not yield to the pressure. It had
 been shut tight. The lock had been | sprung. And it could not be opened l again, except from the outside. l Grant swore, long and luridly Then. 1 his brows contracting, he paused for d
 moment in perplexity. The door was
 heavy It always required more or less effort to open or close it. Therefore, it i had not now been blown shut by the wind or swung shut from i'll balanced 1 hinges. A human hand had closed and 1 locked it. Why?
 1 Grant did not believe anyone in his employ would dare play trick on him
 for all his underpaid office staff held | him in cringing fear. Perhaps some clerk, passing by and seeing the door l open, had supposed the vault was empty and had pushed the steel portal into place.
 1 Grant drew in deep breath and vault resounded deafeningly to his bel low. But the thick walls absorbed the sound. With his fists he beat upon the door; until his knuckles bled. No reply. | Within a few yards of him, his en- 1 ployes were at work. Yet he, their over-
 lord, seemed in danger of smothering, 1 because he could not make his cries UT HIS DloWS Tedcn lHclf edTS A COlu sweat of terror broke out all over this
 man who so long had made better men sweat at his orders.
 ] Turning back into the vault and switching on the light once more, he
 pulled out steel cashbox from it's com partment and, using it as a bludgeon 1 began to hammer with desperate force
 on the unyielding door, punctuating his blows with shouts for help. 1 After an interminable time, a clerk
 John Saals by name--who chanced to pass through the adjoining room, close l to the vault, heard a muffled tapping l and paused to investigate. The tapping seemed to come from the far side of the | steel door. Saals was curious; and de- 1 cided to investigate. He called the cash | fer, who alone of the employees, knew
 the vaults combination. The whole of- flee force gathered inquisitively around the cashier as he unlocked and threw open the door. Out reeled Grant, more dead than alive; his lank face streaked with precipitation his eyes bulging with terror.
 ''Who did that?" he sputtered. hoarse- ly, What fool shut that door on me Speak up, or I'll fire the whole worthless bunch. Who did it?"
 There was confused mumbling from the scared employees. Grants ratlike eyes seached every face. He read there nothing but blank bewilderment. II someone was acting, then someone was acting too cleverly to be detected. With
 a snort. Grant stamped back to his own private office.
 Still shaky in the knees from his