The St. Mary banner., 1921-08-20
The discriminating
Paper
By FRANK II. WILLIAMS


Sam Jackson opened the door of the
safe slowly, but thankfully. In the
saIe 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 d wrong dealing
on the part of the government, had
signed this document pledglng 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 fo0llshnesS. And Jackson, la
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 standing 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 strong determination to use
the paper as a means of levying
blackmail upon the Signers.
The minute Jackson had opened the
outer door of the safe and then the
thinner inside door he flashed a 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 it 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 tire-escape, through
which he had entered the room.
At this instant a dim figure rose
from crouching position in front OF
the window, flashed a light full on
Jackson and cried:
Hands up"
Jackson's hands automatically went
above his head, his right hand still
the paper, while his left
held the flashlight. 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
the identity of the person
owning the voice-it was Clara Fer
,uson, recent newcomer to the city,
with whom Jackson had fallen vio-
emily In love and who had told him
,ne evening not so long ago that she
his affection.
Clara !" cried Jackson.
"Y-yes, it's me-" came Clara's voice.
ON. Sam, I'm so sorry It's you. I've
,ot toto arreSt!
"Arrest?" cried Sam. 81 don't un-
lerstand this at ALL
Don't you see?" cried Clara. I'm
n the federal secret service. The |
heard about this conspir-
icy these local young men were |
mixed up In and sent me here to find |
,ut all about it. And, oh, Sam, I'm
% dreadfully sorry it's your
"But, Clara" cried Sam dropping
lis hands and starting toward her.
Hands upw cried Clara sternly, |
Ter pistol flashing in the light from
Ter electric torch as she extended the |
Weapon in front Of her "Go to that |
able as | told you, quickly!"
Sam went And as he went he was |
orely troubled and fearful.
Clara in the secret service? There
lad always been some mystery con-
lected with her occupation from the |
fme she arrived in the city. So she |
lad been detailed on the case? There |
lad been rumors Of a secret service
gent being on the job. That was one
f the reasons why the young men had |
,een so anxious to recover that
paper and why Sam, In or
Ter to keep his younger brother out
f trouble, had volunteered to get it.
Slowly Sam took his seat at the
able, his face blanched, his heart
eating rapidly. AS he seated him
elf Clara switched on the lights in