Greenwood daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1919-1926, 1920-03-10
The Wonderful Story
OF 1The Miracle Man.

rooms in Chang's House for the nigh.
tly "divvy." There was Burke him
self, immediately groomed, suave
always at his ease and always master
of the situation. There was Rose
Burke's girl hardly more than a chile
n years but many times a woman il
sordid experience hat still had not
destroyed her youthful charm. There
was The Dope, saturated in "coke".
and The Frog, unkempt and filthy
still bent from his day of taxing. On
the table lay a little heap of money,
the eyes of the four focused greedily
upon 1.-THE eyes of three Of them
turning restlessly, questionly, suspic.
iously, from the little hoard to Burke.
And as they calculated in terms of
their separate desires, the value of
their shares of the days spoils, the
same question shot back and forth
through the brain of each
"Will the divvy be square ~
These were not criminals, as the
law reckons crime. They lived by
their wits, it is true, performed no
useful labor, and were looked upon
with some degrees of disfavor by the
police. But they were shrewd, and
the game they played had no come
back. They could spend their money
openly, for it was theirs, no matter
If the means by which they acquir-
ed it was a little off color.
The Frog, perhaps, steered a little
closer to the line leading to barred
windows and processes of law, when
by dislocating his joints he made him
and reaped rich harvests of coins from
Mortified spectators as he dragged
himself through the streets. But even
the sharpest-eyed detective might
have failed to discover any trace of
The Frog in the rather powerfully
built young man who walked out of
Changes House each night after the
"divvy."
So they stood about the table one
spring evening, wondered what made
Burke so slow, and there was greed
in all -four hearts. With Rose it was
the greed of a clever girl-woman,
worldly wise before her time, knowing
that more money meant finer gowns,
more brilliant jewels, and through
these more power over men-or per-
haps over only n man-perhaps on
ly over Tom Burke. She never took
time to figure it out. She was Tom
Burke's girl and as such was envied
by every girl she knew, for Tom was
generous and kind, and hat was one
hundred per cent more than most
girls in her position expected of their
"man." With The Dope, it was the
greed for means of pandering to his
jaded senses, sleeping III deadlier
drugs his d~rug-sodden nerves. With
The Frog it was the greed of the
miser, storing up money just for the
love of the thing himself. And with
Tom Burke it was the greatest greed
of all-the greed that dreams beyond
today's petty enjoyment, and looks
toward the big haul, some day, some
time, that will make him master of
such wealth that he can be a master
of men.
The Frog and The Dope became
restless and began reaching nervous
ly toward the money. Smiling, Burke
covered it with his strong, white
hands.
II need the coin for big game, chill
dren, and believe Papa, it's a Bird he
said quietly.
"Well, we're all laughing heartily
go on" snarled The Dope.
LISTEN" Burke commanded, and
taking a newspaper from his pock-
ct, read: " From the little village of
human credulity is still as Barnum
found it. In other words, "One con-
tinues to be BORN every minute" The
natives point with pride and awe and
quivering whiskers to their "Patri-
arch whose miraculous cures date
back two generations or more. Odd
ly enough, the old gentleman is deaf
and dumb an drapidly going blind. He
is a sort of hermit living in solitude
in a commonplace little cottage sur
rounded by flowers, with the sound of
the surf on a nearby rocky Shore
II got cha," The Frog exclaimed
excitedly. Ode old guys got a wad
and we work him for de roll.'
NO." Burke replied. "All he has
is faith-the greatest dope in the
world-and we're going to help it
along. 1t isn't graft, with him. He's
on the level, just fooling himself that
he's helping people,
"Y'mean he won't never want to
cut in?"
Exactly. l go up first and get int
the old boob's confidence. Then we
stage a miracle, advertise it big, and
we'll get 'em coming from every state
in the union"
"Where's your pet miracle ?" ask
ed The Dope.
Exhibit A-The Frog. He gets
full of faith, uncoils himself into