The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1921-08-12
The discriminating
Paper
By FRANK H. WILLIAMS

Sam jackson opened the door Of the
safe slowly, but thankfully. In the
safe was certain paper. On this
paper appeared the signature of q
number Of hot-headed young men who,
In the heat of their indignation at
what they considered a wrong dealing
on the part of the government, had
signed this document pledging them
selves to overthrow the government.
Since signing the document the young
men had all seen the error of their
ways. Now they were exceedingly
anxious to destroy the evidence of
their foolishness. And Jackson, in
entering this office and in opening this
safe, was acting for the young men of
whom the main leader was his young
er brother
The Office in which Jackson was
now sta1ling and the safe he was
now opening were those of Claude La
grange, a shyster lawyer, who had
been largely Instrumental in working
the young men up to the point Of
signing the paper and who had lately
shown a strong determination to use
the paper as means OF levying
blackmaiI upon the signers.
The minute Jackson had opened the
outer door of the safe and then the
thinner inside door he flashed pocket
light on the safes shelves and COM
partments These shelves and COM
partments were filled full of papers.
Seeing the great quantity of material
he must go through, jackson impa-
tiently jerked the papers forth and be-
gan examining them carefully. At
last he found the paper he was search
ing for and caught 1t up with sigh
of relief.
Jackson rose to his feet with the
paper in his hand Under his flash.
light he examined it more carefully
to see that it really was the docu-
ment he had committed burglary for.
Then, having satisfied himself on this
point, he moved toward the open win
dow leading to the fire-escape, through
which he had entered the room.
At this instant dim figure rose
from crouching position in front Of
the window, flashed light full on
1 Jackson and cried:
Hands Mp!"
Jackson's hands automatically went
above his head, his right hand still
clutching the paper, while his left
held the fiashlight. And as he did so
a strange thrill came to him. The
voice of the person issuing the COM
mand had been Enthusiastically femi-
nine!
''Walk over to that table in the
center of the room, put that paper in
the center of the table, and then sit
down, but still keep your hands up"
went on the voice.
And again Jackson thrilled to the
sound of the voice. There was no
mistaking the identity of the person
owning the voice-it was Clara Fer
guson, a recent newcomer to the city,
with whom Jackson had fallen vio-
lently in love and who had told him
one evening not so long ago that she
reciprocated his affection.
"Clarar' cried Jackson.
'Y-yes, it's me-" came Clara's voice.
ooh, Sam, I'm SO sorry it's you. I've
got toto arrest"
"ArrestY" cried Sam II don't I'M
derstapd this at ALL"
'sDon't you see?' cried Clara. I'm
In the federal secret service. The
government heard about this conspir-
acy these local young men were
mixed up in and sent me here to find
out all about it. And. OH, Sam, I'm
so dreadfully sorry it's you!"
"But, Clara" cried Sam dropping
his hands and starting toward her.
Hands up!" cried Clara sternly,
her pistol flashing in the light from
her electric torch as she extended the
weapon in front of her. $50 to that
table as told you, quickly!"
Sam went. And as he went he was
s0rely troubled and fearful.
Clara in the secret service? There
had always been some mystery con-
nected with her occupation from the
TIME. Sue dITlNeu III Tic CITY. % SIZE
had been detailed on the case2 There
had been rumors of al secret service
agent being on the job. That was one
Of the reasons why the young men had
! been so anxious to recover that
damning paper and why Sam, in or
der to keep his younger brother out
OF trouble, had volunteered to get 1t.
Slowly Sam took his seat at the
table, his face blanched, his heart
beating rapidly. AS he seated him.
self Clara switched on the lights in
the room and then seated herself op-
posite him. AS she did so Sam threw
the paper to the center of the table in
front of him.
''You can put your hands down-on
the tablet" said Clara, in q bust
nesslike manner. But keep them on
the tablet"
"Clara," said Sam, "this is fear
full mess we're in. How can / ever,
explain the whole thing to your