The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-08-22

paper Office, and to Philip Madge
seemed an immeasurable distance OF,
when suddenly he made his great
scoop. II was the merest accident
successes mostly are, II we knew the
truth OF them. One evening he was
walking along one of the fashionable
residence streets when suddenly he
was startled by scream and looking
up he saw woman with the wild
eyes and cunning Of a maniac sitting
on the very outer coping Of the walls
of tall house, where she waved her
arms gleefully, and leaned dizzily for.
ward to peer into the street below.
In an instant all the mystery of the
drawn blinds, and jealously guarded
doors OF the mansion, at which many
had marveled. was revealed Here
| was one of those family tragedies, ut
which the world guesses-some poor
crazed creature, living out her life
within padded walls, who had escaped
| from her keepers, and with that in
stinct of flight from prison which
survives all reason, was preparing to
take n fatal leap into the street be-
low. The street crowd that seems to
spring from the very pavement when
ever anything unusual happens, had
already gathered. They could see the
frantic gestures Of the keeper yainly
trying to call the woman, but at every
movement, the crouching creatures fig
ure on the perilous edge made mo-
ton af IL to cast herself down, and
for very fear the attendant dare not
| oh har Tho Ura frnnt door
of the house was flung suddenly open,
and terrified servants, rushed about
vainly seeking assistance. but none
knew what TO do, and the crowd be-
low could only walt breathlessly for
the impending tragedy.
1t had taken Philip but an instant
to realize the scene, and with sud-
den inspiration he dashed past the
servant In the doorway. and up the
stairway. The crazed woman was still
young and pretty. A dainty sIlken
robe. and a filmy lace scarf blew about
her. Evidently she was woman Of
fashion and society, so the thoughts
flew through his mind as he dashed
up the three flights Of steps and
through the open door in the roof
through which she had evidently
climbed. He knew well enough he
might be going to his death but he
, only smiled little grimly, and moved
on towards the pathetic figure sway
ing on the ledge of the wall. The
woman looked up at the sound Of an
approaching step. She saw q hand
some young mana young man such
| II. sI... In. haS
world that was not all horrible dreams
: and padded walls-coming toward
her. When he reached her he made II
courtly bow, and offered her his arm.
and without one protest, mechanically,
naturally. as II they had been on the
ballroom floor, she arose and put her
hand within II, and together they start
Z ed toward the house, treading the
narrow ledge. whose outer edge was
= death. A single push of the crazed
! woman's feeble hand and mutilation
! waited for them below, but there was
not tremblrin the mans voice as he
: asked her:
"And what did you. think Of the new
n tenor this winter ut the operaT"
!. Tn the street below the crowd stood
!. silent, tense with excitement, until
r they saw Philip hand the woman, still
n with courtly grace, through the door
n In the roof and then 1t broke into tu-
multuous cheering.
h AS for Philip, his one thought was
9 to get to the Office. His part In tho
n adventure appealed to him not Mt all.
= 1t was what any fellow would nave
Il DONE he thought, and he could leave
n that out, but he realized the value OF
4 the story. The secret of the darken-
a ed mansion. The closed blinds. The
a beautiful woman, with her wild, mad
Q eyes--it was full of color, 1t was pic
r turesque. Besides 1t was scoop. No
other reporter had been there. and a
scoop Is as dear to the newspaper
:, heart as first-born to mother. There
:. was still some Of the excitement Of the
- adventure tingling in his veins, and
as he wrote he felt his description
was vivid, and he turned 1t In to the
= city editor with the calm and unmixed
satisfaction of knowing that 1t was
u - good copy"
!" There is. perhaps, no other Joy in
life equal to that of the young
>, writer who reads his own productions
:, in type, and Philips first con-
's sclous act the next morning was to
" reach for the paper. He had expected
= his story to be given some prominent
- place perhaps to be featured. To his
= dismay 1t was not even printed. He
looked the paper over twice to have
- suspicion deepen into certainty. 1t
- - had been left out. How long he might
=, have stared at the paper in bcwilder-
- ment he never knew, but that two let
ters caught his eyes. as they hay upon
~ his table. One was from the city ed
itpr of the Asterisk. and he pounced