Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1925-01-14
Careth's Beat With
News
By WARRINGTON DAWSON
%, Doubleday. Page 4 Coz


Gareth threw down the telegram
after reading it and sprang from MS
desk In pushing back his chair he
was careful not to upset and break II,
knowing he would not be supplied
with another
spare no effort" indeed. If he
had been told not to spare cash for
necessary expenses, the message
would seem more to the point. Nine
times out of ten he beat the opposl-
ton, just by alertness and initiative
and physical speed and-well-say
luck: and eight times out of those
nine he wouldn't even know OF MS
success until much later, accidentally.
But when he slipped up, as ne must,
in competing with an organization
which employed three men to 40
what he did alone, and which al
lowed them to spend ten dollars TO
his one, he would find his nerves put
on edge at critical juncture IKE
this. Three minutes! The wonder
was he hadn't been beaten by three
hours. OF course, though, he ought
not to have let them beat him.
The next day, the French parl1a-
ment was meeting; both houses as
sembled, at Versailles, to elect ne"
President of the Republic. A pass
had come in the affairs of the nation
when the question was OF WORLDWIDE
importance. The group Of American
evening papers whose Paris news
service Gareth managed" Che had
been given the title of Manager to
balance a scarcely decorative salary
simply must be first in the field with
the news. He was perfectly aware
that the telephone wires would be
leased by men who could afford TO
do it, and large sums would probably
90 for brides. To offset this was the
fact that the censors would be watch
ing jealousy with the high motive
of delaying all messages impartlally.
Unless a first flash caught them nap
ping, there would be confusion
abolishing privilege as 1t would order.
so he must get that flash, If he would
beat the others And he had to beat
them.
Not as purely personal matter.
He had set out to help build up this
new service out of nothing, with no
facilities at hand and every odd or
money and of influence against him,
and-he was going to see 1t through.
He knew at what cafe on the boule-
ward some of his newspaper friends
would gather that night They were
good fellows, and while swapping
stories would drop hints He might
No, he wouldn't. His program had
been prepared and he wasn't going
to be ratified by foolish telegram
Nevertheless, when the crucial
moment came, at Versailles next day
he caught his breath as if for cold
plunge. He had staked everything
upon psychological observation at
famous trial on whose verdict he had
beaten the world to his own surprise
If the same law failed to work now
he was done.
From gallery Gareth watched the
crowded Congress hall, tense with pas
sions and heavy with breathing The
speeches. heard in scattered portions,
reused the ferVors of partlSanshlp on
benches where senators and deputies
sat with a common rank. Then came
the vote and the rush for the room
where ballots We're counted.
Gareth knew his ground well, hav-
ing paced it in advance. SO he pro-
ceeded quietly to the vast hall serv-
Ing as antechamber to the secret
room The most brilliant and eminent
figures in the life of Paris-social,
diplomatic, political, intellectual
were pressed and packed against the
forbidden door like shoal upon shoai
of herring.
With crash, the news broke The
doors did not have Il chance to open,
they were driven in. Yells, punctn-
ated by a roar of footballs, rang and
re-echoed The result, cried out in
stentorian tones, was caught up and
repeated. again and again and again,
Not at the first cry, nor at the
second, but at the third and fourth,
Gareth dashed out of the far door ana
down the deserted stairs, four steps
at leap. He had been sure enough
of his advantage to wait for conflr-
nation. As he leaped, his fingers
were busy, choosing from some writ
ten cable forms he held the one with
the result which proved true. me
others, he crushed into his pocket ana
read and re-read the one in which
only the figures Of the vote were lack
ing. He added those, with polite,
"Send that at once, will you please!
at once please Gareth repeated
rhe telegram went at the first flash
In the stairs he had heard the croWn
catch in an all but inextricable jamb
behind him He could not stop to
look back. But he looked now, from
his vantage ground within the tele-
graph office He saw the advance
fringe Of the battling rabble reach
the door, and jamb anew, for the