San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-25

seen. In few days quarrels, st
tacks, even murders, drunkenness,
still greater scandals began to ter
rorize the inhabitants. A very bru-
tai police, hastily organized, arbi-
trarily led, increased the disord-
er instead Of remedying Il. For
me, since my meeting with Bella,
1 hardly need read the alarming
reports printed in the papers every
day, and 1t required some special
incident to attract my attention.
One morning I had gone out, as
usual, to buy the paper which /
had become accustomed to read,
when found the stalls closed and
surrounded by mobs which COM
mented bitterly upon the first act
of authority Of the master Of the
city; Avery had forbidden the pub
LEGATION of the papers until further
orders. Not waiting to listen to
the mutterings Of the mob, which
was no altogether unreasonable, I
fastened to 60 to the millionaire,
whom I found in the Government
Palace, in a large hall, surrounded
by his staff, celebrating over the
situation. "Well-What do they
say?" "But-they say, they say
they are not satisfied" eve shall
see," said the King Of Gems, 'Her-
nu will open the screens"
At signal Hernu, the mechan:-
clan, climbed a ladder, ran along
an iron balcony, on the wall, press
cd on some buttons here and there,
and at each one Of his motions
small luminous disk appeared on
the immense roof like a distant
eye, which was reflected upon n
series of screens automatically un-
covered before us, the entire
length Of the hall. Can you mag
inc that instantaneously the entire
life of the city appeared cinema
geographically on the screens?
Avery, Hartwig, old Rassmus, Ko-
stitch and I went from one screen
to the other, surprised and moved
as we watched the crowds moving
before our eyes. We saw them
gather, argue passionately and In
few minutes frenzy seemed to
seize him; in an access Of rage all
those mobs, disappointed as they
were, jumped upon the empty
stalls, turned them over and set
fire to them, and then picking up
whatever they could find, benches,
chairs, debris Of all kinds, piled
them on the flames. The open
mouths of the mob showed that
they were singing songs Of revolt.
"They will destroy the city"
said kostich. "They must be stop
ped. You, Sir, must speak to them,
stop them" said / to Avery. He
shrugged his shoulders without re-
plying. "Will you let me stop
them?" asked Kostich calmly,
with a few of my sulphurous
bombs" Avery laughed cruelty;
he looked at Kostich, reflectively.
The ragged voice of old Rassmuss
was heard then. "No useless vio-
lence, Master. What will it ac-
complish. Let me distract the at
tention of these irritated children.
| ask but one hour, two at the ut
most" He came trotting up and
whispered into Goldfeller's ear,
whose visage cleared. "Do it." said
he. Rassmuss had already disap-
peared through a door suddenly
opened in the wall, followed by
Goldfeller. We were alone, watch
ing on the screens the progress Of
the spectacle which became greater
minute by minute. 1t was easy 10
see that nothing could stop the
fury of destruction and that at six
thousand feet above the earth hu-
man folly was the same as on the
surface.
About an hour and . quarter
had elapsed since the old chemist