The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1920-07-29
The City
ofPurple
Dreams
CHAPTER xIV.-continued.
By
EDWIN
BARR
Copyright by F. c. Bpo~ns&cA

Is
Daniel Joined in merrily and more
than held his own in the three-cor-
nered melee. Having bought a paper,
he was publishing the sort of yellow
Journalism the masses wanted.
Very naturally his enemies attacked
first what seemed to them his most
vulnerable spot "Why did he change
his name?" "Why did he need an
alias?" what foul deed had he done
and essayed to cover up?" These were
the questions hurled broadcast; these
the ones they fain would answer. "In-
vestigatOrs" were dispatched to Mary
land. All went well-Or i'll for them,
because nothing but good could be
found of him-until his nineteenth
year. Then they encountered a blank
wall. There were five years unaccount-
ed for. His family was unimpeachable.
The Daniels of Roanoke county were
of the SOuth's first people. The Fitz-
TandOlphs of England and Virginia had
distinguished themselves on more than
several occasions. Plainly, there was
nothing here for their purpose. But
those five years!
When they had given up all hope Of
ever sounding it and were searching
IN despair for a successful plummet.
Daniel very deliberately laid bare on
the first page of his newspaper every
thing 1t contained. With genial can
dor, and not without relish, he mar
rated his five years in trampdom. In
Justice to himself, in justice to his
party, he felt he could do no less. Be
tween the ages of nineteen and TWEEN
ty-four his had been an eventful life,
and the story thereof was not dull.
The bomb exploded with a deafen-
ing crash, and with a howl and a
shrek his foes were upon him. Rend-
Ing the disclosure as pack Of wolves,
they clswed it. CRASHED it, made it
ugly and held 1t up greedily to the
public gaze.
And then when the rumble and bonn
bast had died away, when the blood
and smoke had passed, Hugh Daniel
Fitzrandolph stood before the populace
"a hero. The city which reveres the
memory of a man who, starting as a
clerk, later saddIed with debts, hewed
his way through adversely and became
the Merchant Prince" of the world,
Of another who struggled from q
butchers apprenticeship at two dollars
a week to the pinnacle Of the Union
Stock Yards, of scores of others
OF ignOble beginnings and vast
achievements a city was not
slow to erect pedestal for one who
had once been a vagabond and was
now become a multi-millionaire candi-
date for the highest honor the city of
his adoption could pay him. Thus,
for the hour, Daniel had, become an
idol Of the people.
Daniel rushed his campaign onward
with a tireless zeal that outdistanced
his rivals and lost them to view. Here,
as in the wheat pit, his endurance and
energy were marvel to all who knew
him. He snatched only five hours from
the twenty-four for sleep, and less
than one hour for meals. Every min
ute Of the remaining eighteen was a
busy minute.
The campaign came to a whirlwind
finish. Daniel rose at daybreak on
election eve and was on the go cease
leSsly for twenty hours.
While smoking a goodnight cigar
with Hunt at two o'clock next morning
he remarked:
Altogether, Harry, it has cost me a
warm million dollars. But it has been
worth it-every cent. I've had a mil
lion dollars worth of fun"
Yet an hour later, had one looked In
the front room OF Daniels apartment,
one would have doubted It. The room
was quite dark, and before the front
windows overlooking Grant park he
was sitting very silent and motionless.
A gray fog was rolling damply in from
the lake. thickening the night with its
clammy embrace.
From the avenue below came sounds
OF an irresponsible quartette. They
were rendering 1.-The Heart Bowed
Down." and even their untutored
throats, cultural with Hbations, could
not wholly mar the tragic sweetness
of Balfe's sad melody.
The melancholy strains, something
softened by the distance, fioated dole
fully up to him. Musie-even the
Worst-always had a singular effect
upon Daniel. Good or bad, he could
never listen to it without feeling with
IN him a responsiveness transcendins
the composers note. 1t was as though
sounding the keynote, he scared on in
TO realms the composer essayed, We
failed to attain.
His elbows resting on the arms o.
the chair. his chin on his interlacet
fingers, he sat for long while gazinl
into the foggy gloom. And mirroreG
In his face was an inefable LONELINESS:
which by its very pfofundity mus
needs be mute.
He pressed his hands to his fore
head and slowly shook his head, again
and again, his eyes closed.
Yes. Yes, he had failed once more
he would fail next time. He woult