The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-10-26

his friends would be down to-"
I'm the one-or one of them" and
Gramont chuckled as he reflected on
the ludicrouS aspects Of the whole af-
fair. I'm going TO Houma now, and
then back 20 the city. My cars over
next door. Mr.. Fell wanted me to
warn YOU TO lay low on the lottery
business. He's got a notion that some
ones been talking"
you 20 tell the boss retorted the
other in an aggrieved tone, Ito keep
his eye on the guys that can talk,
Who'd we talk to here? Besides, we're
workin' our heads off on these here
boats. Memphis lzzy is attending to
the lottery-he's got the whole layout
up TO the house, and we amt touching
1t. see? Tell the boss all that"
Tell him Yourself" Gramont
laughed, good-humoredly. "Gumberts
is coming out day after tomorrow, is
be? Thatll be Friday. HIM l think
that I'd better bring Fell out here the
same day. If l can make ii. proba-
bly, won't see GumbertS until then
Tn not working in with him and he
doesn't know me yet-but I'll try and
get cut here on Friday with Fell. Now,
I'll have to beat it in n hurry. Any
message to Sendi'
Not me-" was the answer.
Gramont scarcely knew how he de
parted, until he found himself scram-
bling back through the underbrush Of
the Ledanois place.
lie rushed into the house, found the
fire had died down beyond all danger,
and swiftly removed the few things
they had taken from the car. Carry
Ing these, he stumbled back to where
he had hidden the automobile. He
scarcely dared to think, scarcely dared
to congratulate himself on the luck
that had befallen him, until he found
himself in his own car once more, and
with open throttle sweeping out
through the twilight toward Paradis
and llouma beyond. A whirlwind of
mad eXultation was seething within
characterization as sudden and ire
mendous rs the past weeks had been
uneyentful and dragging.
Gramont, in common with many
others, had heard much indefinite
rumor of an underground lottery game
that was being worked among the ne
groes Of the state and the Chinese vii
lagos along the gulf coast. And o
he knew definitely.
Lotteries have never died out In
Louisiana since the brave old days Of
the government-Ordained CANDLES,
laws and ordinances to the contrary.
No laws can make the yellow man and
the black man forego the get-rich-
the Pacific coast lotteries obtain and
will obtain wherever there is a China
town. In Louisiana the days OF the
grand lottery have never been forgot
ten. The last two years Of high
wages had made every negro wealthy,
comparatively speaking. The lottery
mongers would naturally find them a
ripe harvest for the picking. And who
would gravitate TO this harvest field
If not the great Gumberts, the I'M
caught Memphis lzzy, the promoter
who had never been "mugged!"
Here, ut one stroke, stumbling on
the thing by AAeer blind accident, Ora
mont had located the nucleus Of the
whole business!
Gradually his brain cooled to the
realization of what work lay before
him. He was through Paradis, almost
without seeing the town, and switched
on his lights as he took the highway
to HOsma. Sober reflection seized
him. Not only was this crowd Of
crooks working a lottery, but they
were also managing a %stupendous
thievery Of automobiles, in which cars
were looted by wholesale! And the man
at the head Of 1t all, the man above
Memphis IzZy and his crooks, was
joachim Fell of New Orleans.
Did Lucie LedanOis dream such O
thing? No. Gramont dismissed the
question at once. Fell was not an IN
usual type Of man. There were many
joachim Fells throughout the country,
he reflected. Men who applied their
brains to crooked work, who kept
themselves above any actual share in
the work, and who p%rOfited hugely by
tribute money from every crook in
every crime.
To the communities in which they
lived such men were patterns Of all
that wealthy gentlemen should be. Sci
dom, except perhaps in gossip Of the
underworld, was their connection with
crime ever suspected. And-this
thought was SOLDERING to Gramont-
eve did they come within danger OF
retribution at the hands Of the law.
Their qualifications extended too far
into politics; and the governors OF
some Southern states have unlimited
powers Of pardon.
This is Il big day!" reflected Ora,
mont, dismissing the sinister sugges
ton Of this last thought. "A big day
What 1t will lead to. / don't know
Not the least Of 1t Is the financial end
of 1.-THE oil seepage! That little
iridescent trickle Of oil on the water
means that money worries are over
both for me and for Lucie. I'm sorry
that I am mixed up with Fell; I've
enough money of nv own 70 drill al