The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1919-01-11
CAST.
THE EBONY BLOCK.
(First Episode.)

"The Lightning Raider" is the sobri-
quet given to the cleverest girl thief
in the world by her associates of the
underworld. Beautiful, daring and
gifted with super-intelligence, she
matches her wits against the powers
of the law and always comes out best
in every encounter. The petty profits
of ordinary thieving are scorned by
Lightning" who always plays for big
game. A hundred thousand dollar
painting, a gem so rare and large that
it is practically priceless, or a paper
that may change the destiny of a ma
ton. will lure this girl, but common
burglary or even bank robbing are far
below her intelligence. She is a thief
deluxe, a feminine Raffles who steals
for sheer love of the game. In the
first episode of 1.-The Lightning Raid
err" she is revealed playing the game
she loves. She is in the curio room of
the Museum of Art in New York City.
1t is ten-thirty at night and Lightning
has Just spread adhesive tape over a
glass case containing the thing that
has lured her. 1t is a squat Karatsl
vase, turquoise-hued, pot-bellied as
when it was moulded by the cunning
hand of Ch'ien Li'ang centuries be-
fore. Ugly as sin and as priceless as
virtue it stretches forth unseen hands
to the girl. She knows that two po-
licemen are waiting below the window
by which she has entered the museum,
to capture her when she leaves; but,
she quietly cuts the glass top OF the
case, removes the detached section fix
ed to the adhesive tape and reaching
in, brings out the hideous little vase
worth a kings ransom. Pooling the
police who were waiting below, by a
trick, she slid down the rainpipe to
the ground and jumped to the running
board of a passing taxi in which re-
clined Thomas Norton a young mill
ionaire. The police soon followed IN
another taxi and when the chase be-
came too hot she thrust the precious
vase into Toms hands, and Jumping
from the cab, made her escape via an
elevated train. An hour later she Wis
tied Tom at his apartment n found
him terribly agitated owe the theft OF
an ebony block, a token left him by his
father at the time of his death. he
suspects WI Fang, a crafty Chinese
criminal, and, Lightning, who is Wa
Fang's most hated enemy, agrees to
help him find the block. The next day
she takes him to WI Fang's den, which
is built at the conveyance of two sew
ers beneath New York, and through an
aperture they see him at his desk with
the ebony block in his hands. hen
they return to the street and Tom tells
Lightning the history of the block.
His father had years before been EN-
ployed by WI Fang in the rubber for
ests of Brazil. He had fallen in love
with a beautiful Chinese girl whom
WI Fang was holding prisoner, and
had finally taken the girl and fled to
America. The ebony block was WI
Fang's most cherished possession and
they had taken il in order to have a
hold on WI Fang. Years later Toms
father had been mortally wounded by
an emissary of WI Fang, who had new
er ceased in his attempt to secure the
block and before his death had given
it to Tom with the injunction to guard
it as he would his own honor as it was
the most dangerous thing in the world.
Lightning then told Tom to return to
his apartment and she started out to
have her first interview with WI Fang.
She found him in his den and came
down to business at once. She deman-
ded the block but WI simply clapped
MS anu HALL Il uOZeH NllldlllOuS
looking Chinks entered the room.
Lightning Immediately clapped her
hands and six of her men followed the
Chinks into the Dor and covered
them with revolvers. WI, apparently
beaten, told Lightning to open a chest
and get the block but as her hand
touched the chest she turned sudden
and asked where he kept his snakes.
His crestfallen look revealed that she
had guessed rightly and to have open
ed the chest would have mean sudden
and horrible death. Then he pointed
to another chest but as Lightning
stood in front of it she suddenly grasp
ed a shelf overhead and hung on as
the hidden trap door dropped leaving
her suspended by her hands. She
quickly swung her 1.-THE body to the
floor and said to WI, Nov that you
have used up your old tricks give me
the block" emphasizing her words
with a revolver pointed at the China
man. He drew it from the capacious
folds of his sleeve and handed it to
her.