The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-06-05
(New York Sun. May 25)

of Vautrin and ran this forcat, this
gallows bird, branded on the breast.
to reveal his infamy, through several
scenes of Partisan life in the great
Coincide Humane, wave OF incre-
duity spread among the writer's
myriad of readers. They denied that
such a thing was possible for char
acter of the under world, no matter
how strong of intellect to gather to-
gether in one chain Of crime, low and
base criminals with princes Of the
church, judges on the bench, officials
of the government Vautrins pow
er was interesting, Balzac's public
admitted, but it could never have been
thus eXerted
Events in Europe, in Balzac's day
and more recently, have proved that
the great romancer did not draw for
this creation entirely on his imagin-
alton, but it remained for America,
and especially for this. great republic,
to produce out of its lowest elements
a power that ate like a virulent pol
son into every welt Of the fabrics OF
society, that Joined to itself persons
in high places and wrought infamous
ly and triumphantly for years with
murder, arson and every criminal
means to protect itself and carry out
It's points. r' .,.
Twice, indeed, have such things
been in this land of the free. and no
imaginative writer has ever dared to
wing his flight so high or SO low as
to dream in print OF evils like those
existing in the '70s under the "Mollie
Maguires" and 80 years later with the
formation of the league known as the
Western Federation Of Miners.
James Mcfarland, Detective.
The recent death. Of the one man
who single-handed broke up these
bands and brought their leaders to
the scaffold has revived interest In
the history of these organizations, in
tended as Vautrin's was to subjugate
good to evil and rule society by ter
rcr.
James MCFARLAND by name, In whose
birth, education or apparent predilec-
ton nothing can be found that would
have indicated him to be the fit man
t, roo. out these destroying forces
The study of this individual enthrals
interest as the recountal Of the viii
IL mics of the two bands can not.
They can be easily explained but Me-
Parland remains an enigma.
The easy way of accounting for
him may be taken, of course; 1t has
been used by the writer's who have
called him offhand after another nc
tlona character Sherlock Holmes.
There Is nothing in his career as he
told it himself and as 1t came out IN
the trials Of the demons whom he
brought to justice, that would war
rant the conclusion that he possessed
the cold, analytical intellect that Con-
an Doyle has empowered his hero
WITH No; If we must go to fiction to
find a prototype for this James NC
Parland better choice will be that
of Victor Hugo's Javert who was
monument of patience. Like him, NC
Parland could wait for years for the
elimination of his plans to ensnare
the criminals he aimed to destroy, and
like Javert this Irishman apparently
was moved in his work by a supreme
belief in justice.
Really the dead detective ought to
be called the best actor that modern
times have produced; 1t was by means
of his power to simulate what he was
not and to keep up the perfect simu-
lation for years under the most try
ing times of suspicion and danger that
he succeeded. He lived "under the
skin" of an imaginary man so per-
fectly that he was accepted for what
he pretended to be by the men unused
to trust to appearances and indeed or
the aui vive all the time to detect ano
destroy appearances. James McPar'
land was an actor so supreme tha
the stage has never produced his like
Netherlands Humble Start in Life.
Born in the province of Ulster
county Armagh, parish of Mullabrach
Ireland, in 1874, of poor parents, hi
education was naturally defective, ant
1t was an ordinary laborer that as
boy and man he worked In chemica
establishments at Gateshead ant
Wallsgate, England. He was 20 year
old when he emigrated to this coun
try, and got his first job in New Yorl
city as clerk in little corner gro
Gerry store on Ninth avenue. Late
he moved to Medina, N. Y. and Their
sold calicos, needles and thread in
small "all sorts" country drygood
store. fN
Restless, as If he felt that he wa
not doing what he was born to do. tn
Irishman drifted to Chicago and b.
the influence Of friends of his rae
got on the police force, but he did no
remain there. His ambition was I
own a liquor store Of his own. an
sure enough, after getting out of tn
police and scratching around In var
ious paths for living, he did succee
in his ambition. Perhaps he was 10
time content and saw himself get
ting we'll To do as so MANY OF HI