The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-01-26

HdluS, peTHupS CUHuBlHB bHlpS oCCh-
sionally, but always travelling the
seas. 1t is time for him to arrive back
at some American port from Buenos
Ayres or some other remote port
and for few days the newspapers
again will record his story which Is
stranger Than fiction.
stowaways Are Common.
Stowaways by hundreds come into
this port from all the countries OF the
world and their stories have been told
so many times that sometimes the
newspapers omit any mention Of them.
They range from lads Of 10 and l.
years old TO old men with the vision
Of adventure ln a new land still be-
fore their eyes--and some are women.
There was recently the true story
Of the, Greek steamship Thessalonlki
that fought nlnety-mIle gales for
week during the heaviest winter
weather on the Atlantic, with engines
disabled and food lockers empty, I'M
Ill help stood by TO take of crew and
passengers. The ship was never seer
again.
Then there is the mystery Of the Cy-
cops, which never reached her port
and was swallowed up in the high
seas.
These are stories the reader feels
TO be far more strange than fiction.
for while fiction seems TO struggle TO
be real or realistic, the truth seems to
struggle to be unreal and fantastic.
or NJ least romantic.
Plots OF many Of the great operas
Of some great novels, and OF many
works OF fiction not so great, are based
upon police court cases, upon murders,
thieyery, or some other crime. Ac-
companled by music and surrounded
by the jewels Of the Diamond Horse
shoe, the sordId crime story may be-
come "high art"
In many of the hundred or so muir
ders in this city every year fire.
quently there are score which, be-
fore the police step In, are Just as
romantic MS any love story In the fic-
ton OF Thomas Hardy-although Har'
dy carried his cases to the courts and
frequently 10 the gollows, There are
murders for love, murders for great
spoils and sums Of money, and strang'
or than any fiction are the unsoyed
murders committed in this city In SILK,
bond and whisky fhefts.
3N Strange Murders D
Where, In fiction Is anything more
fantastic than that unsolyed murder
Of two Chinese government representa-
tives Ia the Chinese embassy at Wash
Ington or some OF the Chinese muir
dets in this city, Or the Italian ven,
dettas in this city, many of whose
Killings never find their way into print
because the crimes are so numerous
And the romantic murders" with dis
appointed love as the motive, how
many foolish SWANS can be found each
year in a metropolitan district o.
S.000000, and how many suicides are
committed after disappointment In .
chief interest In life? In the hand Of
master plotter and character sketch
err they are romance. but In the police
records they are merely so1dId. un
pleasant chronicles. but nevertheless
like fiction and true.
A few months ago Major Alden @
McMurtry, an officer who was dis
appointed at not seeing service ir
France. entered the cellar Of a man
sion In Greenwich, Conn, and, firms
NJ pistol flashes In the dark, after bul
let's had smashed his hand electric
lamp with tinkllug of glass, killet
two burglars who we're waiting there
to Stay him. There is the same sor'
of flght In the basement of THE HOUSE
Of Thousand Candles" by MEREDITH
Nicholson. Sherlock Homes tough
his captors in the gas chamber anC
fooled them by placing his Lighted
cigar tip on a ledge in the dark cham
Der so that they rushed against thu
wall and he escaped There Is th'
fight In the roundhouse IN kid
napped'--and scores OK other fight
of similar nature in other of Steven
sons works and In those of othe
writer's. But Major McMurirys &C
Of heroism was not brain dgment--i
was truth
Get Great Wealth.
Hundreds Of instances have beer
related Of persons having great wealth
thrust upon them suddenly In the las
few years. as we'll as Instances o
persons in humble circumstances who
by some turn Of luck, made great sum
Of money merely by getting some rec
ognition for their natural abilities,
The latest case of luck is that o
Arthur T. Walker, private secrctar
90 Edward f.. Seailes, who was III
heir of his employers estate yarionSl
estimated at between $5000000 AM
$50000000, hut which later estimate
have placed near the first figure. II
had worked twelve years for Searle
at small SALARY, was very shy, o
modes, habits, and had no lntmatloI
that he was to be the heir to mil
lions.
Many fictional stories lately hav
had as their plots financial fight
among wealthy men In Wall street, Il
business, or on the Stock exchange
Can any of these stories surpass in In
terest me true story Of the tight 70;
the last few months between Altar
4. RNnn. son of Thnmns Fortune nv