Evening star., 1922-02-17

several torn bits Of scraps together
with much dif1culty. and ne was
about to turn the papers back aEa,n,
to the side Of the basket. 1t looked
like a mass Of wet paper, and that
WAs precisely what It was.
That's queer" said Kennedy, pick
ing 1t loose. Then he wrapped It up
carefully and put it in his pocket
"Inspector, can you lend me one of
your men for a couple Of days!" he
asked, as we were preparing to leave.
II shall want to send him out OF
town tonight. and shall probably
VERY well. Riley will be just the
fellow. Wen go back to headquar-
ters and III, put him under your
orders"
1t was not until late in the fol-
again. 1t had been a busy day on
the Star. We had gone to work that
morning expecting to see the very
financial heavens fall. But just about
five minutes to 10, before the stock
exchange opened. the news evnusia1 same e, IN n
on Broad street: THE System has
forced James Bruce. partner of Kerr
Parker, the dead banker. to sell his
railroad. steamship and rubber hold
ings to 1t. On this condition 1t prom
ises unlimited support to the mar
ket."
Forced" muttered the managing
editor, as he waited on the office
phone to get the composing room. so
as to hurry up the few lines in red
rivals on the streets with the first
extras. why. he's been working to
bring that about for the past two
weeks. What that System doesn't
control isn't worth having-it edits
the news before our men get it. and
foy lot fnr "a
and tragedies. well-Hello, Jenkins.
yes, n special extra. Change the big
heads-copy is on the way up-rush
it,"
$50 YOU think. this Parker case is
q mess:" / asked.
II know it. That's a pretty swift
bunch Of females that have been spec
ulating at Kerr Parker & Co.'S.
understand there's one Titian-haired
young lady-who. by the way. has at
least one husband who hasn't yet
been divorced-who is sort Of ring
leader. though she rarely goes per-
sonally to her brokers' offices. She's
one of those uptown plungers. and
the story is that she has whole
string Of scalps of alleged Sunday
school superintendents at her belt.
She can make Bruce do pretty nearly
anything. they say. He's the latest
conquest. / got the story on pretty
good authority. but until I verified
the names. dates and places. of course,
/ I wouldn't dare print q line Of ii.
The story goes that her husband is
hanger-on OF the System, and that's
been working In their interest. too.
That was why ne was so complacent
over the whole affair. They put her
up to capturing Bruce. and after she
had acquired an influence over him
they worked it so that she made him
make love to Mrs. Parker. It's long
story, but that isn't all of it. The
point was. You see. that by this de-
vious route they hoped to worm out
of Mrs. Parker some inside informa-
tion about Parker's rubber schemes,
: which he hadn't divulged, even to his
partners in business. It was q deep
and carefully planned plot, and some
of the conspirators were pretty deeply
| in the mire. I guess, i wish I'd had
all the facts about who this red
haired female Machiavelli was-what
q piece of undertaking it would have
made! Oh, here comes the rest Of
the news story over the wire. By
jove. 1t is said on good authority that
Bruce will be taken in as one of the
board Of directors. What do you
| think Of that?'
So that was how the wind lay
Bruce making love to Mrs. Parker
and she. presumably. betraying her
husbands secrets. 1 thought 1 saw
IL all: the note from somebody ex-
posing the scheme. .Parkers incred-
ulity. Bruce sitting by him and catch
ing site Of the note. his hurrying out