The L'Anse sentinel., 1920-12-17

| Of fght In the basement Of The House,
Of Thousand Candles" by Meredith
Nicholson. Sherlock Homes fought
his captors In the gas chamber and
| fooled them by placing his lighted
cigar tip on ledge In the dark cham
ber so that they rushed against the
wall and he escaped. There Is the
fight In the roundhouse In "Kid-
napped'--and scores of other fights
of similar nature In other Of Steven
| sons works and in those Of other
writer's. But Major McMurtry's act
Of heroism was got brain figment-it
was truth
Get Great Wealth.
Hundreds of instances have been
| related Of persons having great wealth
| thrust upon them suddenly in the last
| few years, as well as instances OF
| persons In humble circumstances who,
by some turn of luck, made great sums
of money merely by getting some rec
ogntioh for their natural abilities.
The latest case of luck is that of
Arthur I. Walker. private secretary
to Edward +. Searles, who was the
heir of his employers estate, variOuSly
estimated at between $5OOO,0OO and
$50, 100000, but which later estimates
have placed near the first figure. He
had worked twelve years for Searles
at a small salary, was very shy, of
modest habits, and had no intimation
that he was to be the heir to mil
lions.
Many fictional stories lately have
had as their plots financial fights
among wealthy men In Wall street, In
business, or on the Stock exchange.
Can any of these stories surpass In In
terest the true story of the fight for
the last few months between Allan
A. Ryan, son of Thomas Fortune Ry-
an, and the New York Stock exchange
over the exclusion of Stutz Motors
stock, and the long controversy over
settlement with brokers who were
"short" of the stock? And there are
other true stories fully as good-of
races across the ocean for large or
ders in foreign countries, for conces-
sions and other big stakes.
Legion, too, are the true stories OF
thefts of Jewels and bonds In amounts
running into the hundreds of thou
sands. Who would have believed that
any person could have stolen nearly
100000 worth of gems from safety
deposit box In the crowded lobby OF
the Hotel Biltmore. get away and keep
the theft hidden for months? Yet the
loss of that sum of gems was discov-
cred on June 13, 1919, by Mrs. Clar-
ence Millhiser of Richmond, Va, and
even at first the authenticity Of the
story was doubted by the police and
other men who have access to reports
of big robberies. Among the jewels
were thirty large pearls and a dia-
mond said to be about 20 carats In
weight. All but about $4,000 worth
of the Jewels were recovered by the
police and private detectives, and
man Is now serving term In Sing
Sing. And there are other immense
thefts of moving picture films, silks,
cash--and who hasn't read the stories
of the bond thefts running into MIL
lions?
Stories of Heroism.
True stories of heroism? There was
the story only two weeks ago OF the
fireman who had been kicked out OF
a fire department who saw fire In
a tenement and, at the risk of his
own life, saved family Of seven from
death in the flames and won rein
statement In the department for him
self. Hardly week goes by that the
fire or police department does not
record some thrilling story of heroism
among its members. And there is an
other host of stories Of the gallant
traffic cop who saves the beautiful
girl from sure death under her run
away horses hoofs and then marries
her.
Can Irwin S. Cobb or Ellis Parker
Butler match this true story In these
shaky days of prohibition-this story
that Is writ In letters bold in the
police records in the West FOrty-sev-
enth street station? A man who had
drunk freely of new brew left his
rendezvous in n daze, and, reaching
the street, leaned against post. He
wanted another drink, and remem-
bering that the prescription in the
place where he imbibed was to press
button a certain number of times, he
pressed button; but this one hap
pened to he on police signal and
he didn't get his highball from the
angry cop who answered the signal.