Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-02-15
CHAPTER vl-contInued.

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Consulted continually by men con-
cerned in, great projects, immersed
day and night In vast affairs. capable
of living cooYf etely as he wished-he
had been. ~ the age of forty-slx, great
but not famous, powerful but not pub
Is.sv known. At that time an event
had occurred which had forced the
blind man out unwilllngly from his
o~bscurity.
This event had been the murder OF
the great western ~fnancier, Matthew
Latron. There had been nothing In
this affair which had in any way
Swallowed dishonor upon Santoine. So
much as In his role of a mind without
personality SantOine ever fought, he
had fought against Latron; but bis
nght had been not against the man
but against methods. There had come
then a time OF uncertainty and I'M
rest; public consciousness was In
the process OF awakening to the
knowledge that strange things. APP
preaching close to the likeness of
what men call crime, had been being
done under the unassumIng name Of
business. Scandal-fnanclal scandal
-~breathed more strongly against La
iron than perhaps against any of the
other western men. He had been
among their biggest: he had his enc
mics, Of whom impersonally Santoiue
might have been counted one, and he
had his friends. both In high places
be was a world figure. Then, all OF
. sudden, the man had been struck
down-killed, because of some private
quarrel. men whispered, by an obscure
and till then unheard-of man.
The trembling wires and cables,
which should have carried to the wait
ing world the expected news Of La
irons conviction, carried instead the
new of Lo.-on's death and disorder
followed. The first public. concern
had been, OF course, for the stocks and
bonds Of the great Latron properties
and Latron's bigness had seemed only
further evidenced by the %stanchness
with which the Latron banks. the La I
iron railroads and mines and public
utilities stood firm even against the
shock Of their builders death. AS
sured of this. public interest hard Shift
ed TO the trial. conviction and SEN
tence of Latron's murderer; and 1t
was during mis- trial that Santoine's
,ame bad become more publicly
Known. Net that the blind man was
suspected OF any knowledge-much
hess OF any complicity-fn the crime;
the murder had been because Of a
private matter: but In the ca
Ger questioning into Latron's circum-
and surroundings previous TO
the crime. SantoIne was summoned
into court as q witness.
The blind man, led into the court,
sightless In the witness chair.
revealing himself by his spoken, and
more by his withheld, replies as
,ne of the unknown guiders OF the
3estiny OF the Continent and as coun-
'elor to the most powerful-himself
Sill then hardly heard of but plainly
me Of the nations "uncrowned rulers"
had caught the public sense. The
of the murderer. the crime. even
.atron himself, lost temporarily their
interest In the public curiosity over
he personality of Santoine. +,
1t had beer reported for some days
hat Santoine had come TO Seattle di- {
ectly after Warien's death; but (
Then this was admitted. his associ-
ties had always been careful to add I
Santoine. having been a close' (
'ersonal friend of Gabriel Warden, I
ad come purely In a personal capac-
~. and the impression was given that
had returned quietly some
avs before. The mere p%rolonging OF q
is stay In the West was more thar
uggestiye that affairs among the I
owerful were truly In such state as c
had proclaimed this attack q
pom Santoine. so similar 10 that I
hitch had slain Warden. and deliv-
red within eleven days OF Warden's q
must be OF the gravest signif-
ance. s
Cpnnery stood overwhelmed for the o
Iomenf with this fuller recognition s.
hlch had come upon this man In b
10 his charge: then be turned
the snrreon u
"Can you do anything for him here. A
he ASH ed. Il
The surgeon glanced down the car. =
Ihsx asfsr~s@-is II encuDa~dy~ q