The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-07-25

rent to his landlady and to buy food.
A prosperousl looking, fur-collared
stranger, whom he saw in the pawn
shop. stops Ainsley, takes him to
his home, and feeds him.
The man throws Is ors2O thou
sand-dollar bills ON the table, ad-
mits he is a. bootlegger and an all
round crook, and attempts to en-
list Ainsley as an accomplice. Justly
feeling insulted, Ainsley pays the
crook for his supper and leaves the
room, preferring starvation or
even suicide-,to accepting the
other mans proposal.
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
l rose from the bed and opened
my suitcase. l was sure that there
was nothing in it that would identi-
fy Mrs. Gannon's missing ledger as
John Ainsley, but wished to be
positive. Pride forbade that even
after l was dead, persons who once
had known me should know the hu-
initiation of my end.
closed the case and sat down
once more upon the bed, to gather
all my strength. AS l sat there
thought of the man who had fed me
The display of money which he had
made was assurance that he was an
extremely successful criminal, prob
ably one of those "super-criminals"
created by the police to cover up
their own incompetence.
laughed at the idea. This man
was nothing but the most mediocre
sort of person. Beyond vicious
cunning, he possessed no mentality
at all. The reason for his success
lay in the fact that the men opposed
to him, the police, were also medic
critics. Imagine a man of real intel
lect devoting himself to the stupid
career Of rimedetection! Gradual
ed policemen were the detectives
who protected society against the
schemes Of such as my fur-collared
friend. And while a policeman may
be morally and physically an excep-
tional person, mentally he must be
on the level Of laborer.
The supercriminal existed only in
the newspapers. In. reality he was
! such a person as my fur-collared
friend. And the limitations Of that
person had been made clearly evil
dent to me tonight. He knew his
limitations himself, and he had ask
ed my aid to overcome them. Why
if l chose, could be supercrimin-
al, real one, not a myth invented
to please the writer's of newspaper
headlines and their readers.
1t would serve society right if
turned against it. | was gentle
man, man qualified to act as arbit-
err in matters of taste and culture,
man admirably familiar with the
arts. Yet the world passed me by,
and preferred to bestow its honors
and rewards upon a,glorified grocer
or vendor of pig-iron.
1t had taken ten generations Of
aristocratic forbears to produce me.
While l did not profess to own the
creative instinct, nevertheless, by
sheer virtue of my family traditions,
l was qualified to judge the works
of sheer virtue of my family tradl-
tions. l was qualified to judge the
works of creative artists and say:
"This is good; that is bad"
Such as l were produced upon this
earth to guide and instruct the COM
mon people. We were not meant to
battle in tawdry ways or the gross
material things of life. The SUI
preme achievement of evolution is
the gentleman; and society permits
gentleman to starve. | can con-
ceive no harsher indictment against
society.
Then I smiled at my own heat.
had had my opportunity to become
criminal earlier this evening, and
had refused it. l had no intention
of changing my mind, and accepting
the offer of my fur-collared friend.
So, then, let me die, as a gentle
man should, without repinings, or
anger, or sneers, or other vulgari-
ties. And let me die, as unfortunate
ly l had not recently lived, upon
full stomach
There were places in New York
where one might still dine frugally
it is true, but amid clean surround
ings, in an atmosphere of breeding,
for the small sum that still re-
NAMED to me. Such a place was
Carey!s, an Italian table-d'hote res
taurant south of Washington Square.
Dinner could be procured there for
dollar and half; with twenty
five cents for cigarets, there would
still be quarter for the waiter. l
regretted that the check-boy in the
courtroom would be forced to get
along without gratuity from me.
With my stomach filled; putting at
cigaret, l would stroll leisurely
to the west, coming at length upon
dock on the North, River. After
that-who knows.
There was no need to say any
thing Mrs. Cannon. Tomorrow or
the next day, finding my room un-
occupied, she would rent it to some
one else; L had paid her for a week
III advance, and she would consider
my departure something in the ma
ture of an unexpected profit. There
was not the slightest danger that
she would report my absence to the
police. She would confiscate my
poor suitcase and its meager con-
tents, and gain still another petty
profit -.
So walked downstairs, much
stronger than when had done so
on my way to visit Weinberg, but
still weak and hungry again. In the
hall little Peter met me.