The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-01-20
PROLOGUE.


Ing the very solitudes Of the distant
hills, and with pale and terror
stricken chauffeur bending over the
wheel, the limousine of David Pow
ers, millionaire lumber king, tore
through the granite gateway of his
beautiful residence and dashed madly
along the shrub-bordered driveway
toward the marble porch.
Powers himself-tyrant boss Of a
thousand underfed workmen-was
on the steps. Anxiety was betrayed
by every line of his working features.
Perry Travis, his legal adviser, was
with him, and as the machine came
to a sudden stop before them, its
grinding wheels sending up shower
of fine stone and gravel, Powers was
seen to pause and turn an instant
toward the younger man as If for
support.
He had heard the piercing, clank-
ing notes of the horn long before the
machine was in sight. He knew the
temper of his men. He realized that
his affairs were approaching crisis.
And he was afraid-afraid with the
pitiful fear which comes over strong
men when they realize that the con-
fronting danger is of their own crea-
ton.
With trembling limbs the chauffeur
climbed from his seat and averted his
fear distended eyes, as with unsteady
hand he pointed to the broken window
pane in the door of the handsome ma
chine. The small round hole, with its
pattern of radiating cracks, like a
serried and shattered mirror, told its
own story. Nothing but bullet could
have made break like that.
Mastering his own emotion with su-
preme effort, Powers stepped toward
the machine, and with firm hand-for
his was a will of iron-he opened the
door. From out of the luxurious In
terror he lifted the inert body of his
beautiful daughter and pressed her to
his bosom-a bosom that was racked
and torn with partly stifled sobs.
Gently-gently as when she had
been an infant some twenty years
ago-he carried her into the house
and tenderly-oh, so tenderly he
placed her on divan.
David Powers sank on one knee be
side the cot, and then slowly his body
seemed to shrivel and sag, much like
a half-flled bag of meal, as with q
complete surrender to grief he threw
himself prone upon the floor and utter
ed the single word,
Dead"
Travis stood silently beside the
stricken father, unable to think OF
move. The young woman who lay
there a victim to the wickedness that
the tyranny of her father had stirred
in the breasts of his workmen, had
been his fiancee, and his sorrow was
but little less than that of the ago
nized parent.
David Powers was known as the
man who never smiled during bust
ness hours He was known as the
man whose employees all feared him
He was known, too, as one of the mos
successful lumbermen in the business
on the Pacific coast and all WhC
knew him envied him. Stern, domi
neering, and with genius for organl
cation, he could get more work ou
of less men for smaller wages thai
any man in the state of California
that is, more than any man excep
one. And the man who excelled hin
as a driver Of men, the man VIII
could extract one more ounce of labo
for one 1.-THE less of wages was Jak
Snyder, the chief foreman, pugnaciou'
hard as nails, flinty-hearted and er
tirely without sentiment
Jake made an ideal driver for
exacting a boss as Powers. Watc
him now on this morning severs
weeks before the shooting OF Laur
Powers. Watch him as he talB
among the men there on the doc
and on the boat Note the feverls
anxiety with which the men bend
their tasks when he glowers in the
direction.
Powers had just driven up to h
office in his high-powered six and hs
sent to Jake.
The millionaire was looking over Il
market column of the morning pap
when his foreman entered and
never lifted his eyes from the absor
ing sheet until the field command
had drawn his chair up close to b
employers desk.
There was no word Of greeting I
tween the men.
Pointing a pudgy finger first at t
newspaper and then at the nose OF I
foreman, the millionaire spoke terse
and harshly:
"Lumbers high in the East, Jal
Drive your men to the limit and 6
that shipment east while prices he
up"
There was q grim cruelty in Jak
eyes and just tinge of smile on
firm, thin lips as he answere
They're pretty near the limit nc
but guess we can speed EN- up
bit"
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