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The Wingham Times, 1913-05-08, Page 7( ti Ti -1F. LION AND THE MOUSE. By CHARLES KLEIN:. f1 Story of dmerican Life Novelized From the Play by 41RTCJUR HORNB4OW. rr..•ro. COPYRIGHT, 1906. BY G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY. "7'he Lion and the Mouse," .novelized from Charles Klein's great play, is an American story of the hour dealing with the billionaire. Its leading charac- ter is the richest man in the world, in the thinly veiled John Ryder the reader will immedi- ately recognize; another John of worldwide fame. John Ryder's unscrupulous methods are re- vealed in the conopiracy too ruin an incorruptible judge who rules adversely to the interests of or- ganized capital. The judge's daughter determines to save him. Her heroic struggles in conflict with the money oc,opus make a story of absorbing interest and great dramatic power. In his willingness to renounce his fa- .ther's fortune for the girl of his choice, Ryder's son displays a nobility which wins the reader's warmest admiration. CFHAPTER, I. HERE was unwonted .bustle in the usually sleepy and digni- fied New York offices of the Southern and Transcontinent- al Railroad company in lower Broad- way. ' It was the regular quarterly meet- ing of the directors of the Southern and Transcoutineutal Railroad comps- guy, but it was something more than mere routine that had called out a quorum of suck strength and which made today's gathering oue of extraor- dinary importance in the history of the road. That the business on hand t•t wa s of tl a greatest significance was asily to be inferred from the con- cerned and anxious expression on the ,directors' faces and the eagerness of rthe employees as they plied each other iwlth questions. "Suppose the injunction is sustain - <ed?" asked a clerk in a whisper, "Is not the road rich enough to bear the .ioss?" The man he addressed turned impa- tiently to the questioner. t "That's all you know about railroad- ing. Don't you understand that this, :suit we bare lost will be the entering lwedge for hundreds of others? The " cry existence of the road may be at • stake. And between you and me," he added in a lower key, "with Judge !Rossmore ou the beneh we never stood much show. It's Judge Rossmore that ecates 'ern, not the injunction. They've found it easy to corrupt most of the .supreme court judges, but Judge Ross - mere is one too many for them. You could no more bribe him than you could have bribed Abraham Lincoln." "But the newspapers say that he, ftoe, has been caught accepting $50,000 .worth of stock for that decision he rendered in the Great Northwestern. .case." i "Lies! All those stories are Iles, replied the other emphatically. Then, ,looking cautiously around to make sure no one overheard, he added cons ttemptuously: "The big interests fear biro, and they're inventing; these liea to try and injure him. They might as well try to blow up Gibraltar. The fact is the public is seriously aroused this time, and the railroads are in a pante." It was true. The railroad, which ,heretofore had considered itself' sune- ri0r to law, bad foundtitselt elgeked in its career of butlaWry and. oppression. the railroad, this modern octopus of :steam and steel which stretches its greedy tentacles -out over the land, had at last been brought to book, ' John BurketeRjder, the richestman iul.the world—the mats whose name. bad spiriead to the farthest cerners. of the earth because of'his wealth; and whose 'money, Instead` o4' being a bieitaing, prothised to beebmn•nOt only a corse& to, himself, but a' source' of; dire petit to' ail mankind—was a- genius born of 'the railroad age. No other age could bevel brought him forth. His .peculiar taleuts fitted exactly the conditions of his time. Attracted earl In life to thenewly diaaeVeredl:"oil Wait Of Penn: oyivania, he became" at dead& in tine' w product and later a redtter, Ile- t)uirleg with capital, laboriously saved, hint one refinery, then anotlitet. The railroads werecutting, each other's throats to secure the freight Wetness .of the oft men; and John Biiirka'tt1•Ry der saw his opportunity. He made! secret overtures to the road, gueran- teelug a vast amount of business• If he could get exceptionally low rates, and tho illegal compaet Nana Made. F l&• . r etftors undersold in the market 401Yt r p stood no chance, and one t one they ,ere crushers out Of existeinte, Ry+lrr•' ttlirti these ntaneavere "busteantS." That' Y. 1e tt art anif:l Win the s t called theta I •S't'dltdc e � fi Coro:seue prospered and slowly built ftp the foundations of the extraerdinaty fort .:ttte %thieh Is the talk anil the 'Wens tier t.r t w i'!rl today. Master now 'of Vie ill :i*,nation, Ityder succeeded in 10,+ ttenttl':n of organizing the Em- pire Treaties eat:many, the most pottn Aortal', the tu:,st secretive and the roost 'wealthy busluess institution the coact- iba,eltetal world has yet knOWn. temszsameasonssmtosnmneeeseenesnonenstee Yet with all this success John Bur- kett Ryder was still not content. He was now a tacit man, richer by many utillious than be had dreamed he could ever be, but still he was unsatisfied. IIe bectune money mad. He wanted tb be richer still, to be the richest an lu the world, the richest man the world had ever known. And the richer he got the stronger the idea grew upon him with all the force of a morbid obses- sion.. ' Yet this commercial pirate, this Na- poleou of finance, was not a weeny bad man. He had his redeeming quail- ' ties, like west bad teen, His most pro. l nouuced weakness, and the one that had made him the most conspicuous lean of his time, was an entt're lack of moral principle. No honest or honor- able man could have amassed such stu- pendous wealth. In other words, John Ryder had not beep equipped by na- ture with a conscience. He had Ito sense of right or wrong or justice where his own interests were concern- ed. He was the prince of egoists. On the other hand, he possessed qualities which, with some people, count as virtues. Ile was pious and regular in his attendance at church, and, while lie had done but little for charity, he was known to have encouraged the giv- ing of alms by members of his family, which consisted of a wife, whose timid voice was rarely heard, and a son Jef- ferson, who was the destined successor of bis gigantic estate. Such was the man who was the real power behind the Southern and Trans- continental railroad. Moro than any one else Ryder had been aroused by the present legal action, not so much for the money luterest at stake as that any one should dare to thwart his will. It had been a pet scheme Of his, this Purchase for a song when the land was cheap of some thousand acres along the line, and it is true that at the time of the purchase there had been some idea of laying the laud out as a park, but real estate values had iuereased in as- tonishing fashion. the road could no longer afford to Barry out the original scheme and had attempted to diaposo of the property for building purposes, including a right of way for a brtttleh road, The trews, made public in the newspapers, had raised a storm of pro- test. The people in the vicinity claim. eel that the raiirond secured the lams ou the express condition or a park be- ing Iaidl out, and in order to make n legal test they bad secured au tujuuc- tion, which bad been sustained by Judge Rossmore of the Cuited States circuit court, These details were hastily told and retold by one Clerk to another as the babel of voices in the- inner room grew louder and more directors kept arriv- ing from the ever busy elevators. Tito meeting was called for 8 o'clock. Ass other live minutes and the chairman would rap for order. A tall, strongly. built man with white mustache and' kindly smile emerged from the direc- tors' room and, addressing one Of than` clerks, asked; "Hee Mr. Ryder arrived yet?" The alacrity with which the em- ployee hastened :forward.to reply would'. Indicate that his interlocutor was a petsod of more than ordinary impor- tance. "No, senator, not yet. We expect him any minute." Then with a defer- ential smile he witted,- "Mi; Ryder usu- . ally arrives on the stroke, sir." The senator gave a nod of acquies- cence and, turning on his; heel, greeted' with a grasp of the hand and affable Mild his fellow diree(ors as they pass- ed in by twos 1ihd.4threes. Senator Roberts was -in the world of polities what bis friend John Burkett Ryder wets in the. world of finance—a leader of sten. He started life in Wis- consin as an errand boy. was educated in the public schools and later became clerk in n airy goods store, finally go- ing into business for his own account on n largo settle. IIe was elected to tate legislature, where his ability as nn organizer soon gained the friendship of the then in power, and later %vas sent to congress. where lie was quielay Initiated in the game of corrupt poll. ties. In 13+5 iie entered the Cni:e 1 Estates senate, tie soon ttertinn' the aeknowlelged saddler of a eoitsicler.tltie majority of the' 11e1w:blicnu t;cuatbt•., and from then ort he tensa f1,:ure to !le reckoned with. A very ambit -tows ratan. with n (-'rent love t,f power awl r rC 1 • % , t4 I i; 1 11 r u 1tt that alt , Hutt tbo tent -teal or h 1tot uI IP or poi1 les tm,•teetied to hint. Ile was in polities for :ill tiure %:•sr' in it, and he ow in Ise I t1:,d position un'y n spirt, ild of tett•il:nlly for Lie (V() pot h:aeilato to ma'.,' s1104 ai::,t:'res a ii'1 ''ar,:or•1t1• int: ,rata srek- i't'.", eateeee el Wash''' :,', ns vomit rtalae' 11:111 t.t nrcnniplieli this putlutse. ,lel is 1111•e tory 11 • hna It et gad tome t , tra t s ft:010411h1 %vitt, John ttsrc- ':r'1 li rdt t• Mach. tali' n master iu Id; own field. was useful to the other. \o:titer woe troubled with qualms 1,1 s!otscirnt•e, so they never't[uarrele,l. It Ryder interests uceded ttnything In the senate, llo1erts fatal his fellottermi w'r:.t there to :attend to it. Just now tar' ('ttintrt was tuitt'shatecl In defense of the raffroadtlt ttgntnst the attacks of the new rebate bill. to fact. tinder managed tb keep the senate buss ail tIi+a i INtGHAM TIKES,. MAY the time. 'Sleben, ou the other band, the senators wauted anything—and they ofteu did—Ryder saw that they got it, lower rates for this otte, a Pat job for that one, not forgetting them- selves. Senator Roberts. was already a very rich man, and, although the world often woudered where he got it, no ono had the courage to ask him. But the Republican leader was stir-, red with an ambition greater than that of controlling a majority in the senate. He had a daughter, a marriageable youug woman who, at least in her fa- ther's opinion, would make a desirable wife for any man. His friend Ryder had n son, and this son was the only heir to the greatest fortune ever ' amassed by oue duan, a fortune which at its present rate of increase by the time the father died and the young couple were .ready to inherit would probably amount to over $0,000,000,000. Could the inmate tniud grasp the pont- blades of such a colossal fortune? It staggered the imagination. Its owner or the man who coutrolled it would be master of the world! Was not this a prize any titan alight well set himself out to win? The senator was thinking of it now as he stood exchanging banal , remarks with the men who accosted him. if he could otuly beteg off that tnart:tage, he would be content. The ambit on of his lite would be attained,n{' There was uo difficulty as far as John Ryder was concerned. IIe favored the, match and had often spoken of it. In- deed, Ryder desired it, for such an alliance would naturally further his business interests in every way. Rob- erts knew that his daughter Kate had more than a liking for Ryder's hand- some young son. Moreover, Date was practical, like her father, and had sense enough to realize what it would mean to be the mistress of the Ryder fortune. No, Kate was all right, but there was young Ryder to reckon with. It would, take two in this ease to make a bargain. Jefferson Ryder was, in truth, an en- tirely different man from his father. It was difficult to realize that both had 1 sprung from the same stock. A. col- lege bred boy, with all the advantages his father's wealth could give him, he had inherited from the parent only those characteristics which Would have made him successful even if born poor —activity, pluck, application, dogged obstinacy, alert mentality. To these qualities he added what . Itis father sorely lacked—a high notion of honor, a keen sense of right and wrong. He bad the honest man's Contempt for meanness of any description, and he bad little patience nce with the lax, so called business morals of the For him a dishonorable or dia!ionoet it was John Burkett Ruder, the Colossre •. action could have no apologist, and he Could see net difference between the crime ot the hungry wretch who stole a loaf of bread and the coal baron who systematicstlly robbed botb his employ- ees and the public. In fact, had he been on the bench be would probably have acquitted the human derelict who in despair had appropriated the prime necessary of life and sent the overfed, Conscienceless coal baron to jail. The hands of the large clock in the outer room pointed to 3. An active, dapper little man with glasses and with books under his arm passed hur- riedly from another oiltee into the di- rectors' room. "There goes Mr. Lane with the min - Utes. The meeting is called. Where's Mr. Ryder?" asked one of the directors. There was a general move of the scattered groups of directors toward the committee room. The. clock over- head began to strike, The last stroke had not quite' died away when the big swinging doots front the street were thrown open and there entered a tall, thin mail, gray headed, and. with a slight stoop, bet keen • eyed mics l alert. lie was carefully dressed in a well ting frock coat, white waistcoat, black tie and silk' hat. It vaas•'JolZG ButkettRi+der, the Woe - nut CHAPTER Xt., T fifty-six John 13t+tkett Ryder wart stirptisingln well preserv- ed. v - ed. With the excen tibd of the slight stoop already noted and the rapidly thinning snow white hats, lila step was as light and elastic and bis brain as Vigorous and alert as in a man of forty. Of ohd •I tglisii stoek, physical oc , his p ys Cai makeup presented all those strongly marked diameter - 'sties of orae race which sprung' froth An tCr S 's: ori' es a. Ori e t but modtr�ed g �. by nearly 300 years of different elfttinfe' not customs hag gradmtally predlted" the distinct grid trite Americantype; as easily* recognizable among the fans~'. fly of ttsttions as any other' of the earth's Chitdran. Tall and distinguished looking,ltydelt would have attracted attention any- where. Men who have acecnotpltshed roach in lite usually bear plainly upon their uersethe the indetin*ble Sttt'h4e ot,` 1943 aebieYenment, whether of good or evil, which renders them conspicuous among their fellows,We turn after a man in the street and ask, Who is he? And trine times out or ten the object of our curiosity is a wan who has made his mark ---a successful soldier, a fa- mous sailor, a celebrated author, a dis- tinguished lawyer, or even a notorious crook. There was certainly nothing in John Ityder's outward appearance to justify Lombroso's sensational description of !tarn: "A social and physiological freak, a deget'este and a prodigy of turpt- tutle tit its. in the pursuit of money, crushes with tho insensibility of a steel machine every one who stands in 1119 way." On the contrary, Ryder, outwardly at least, was a prepossess- ing looking man. alias head was well shaped, and be had an intellectual brow, while power was expressed in every gesture of his hands and body. Every inch of him suggested. strength and resourcefulness. His face, when in good humor, frequently expanded Ina pleasant smile, and he bad even been kuown to laugh boisterously, usually at bis own stories, which he riglitly considered very droll, and of Mitch he possessed n goodly stock. nut in repose his face grew stern and forbidding, and when his prognathous j:tw, indicative of will power and bull- dog tenacity, snapped to with a click - like sound, those who heard it knew that squalls were coming. Itut it was John Ityder's eyes that were regarded as the most reliable barometer of his mental condition. Wonderful eyes they were, strangely (eminent and expressive. and their most singular feature was that they pos- sessed the uncanny power of changing eutor like a cat's. When their owner was at peace with the world, and had tentpertarfly shaken off the cares of Luslness, his eyes were of the most restful, beautiful blue, like the sky after sunrise on a spring morning, and looking into their serene depths it seethed absurd to think .that this man could ever harm it fly. Ills face, while under the spell of this kindly mood, wits so benevolent and gentle, so frank and honest that you felt there was nothing in the world—purse, honor, wife, childthnt, if needs be, you would not intrust to bis keeping, When the period or truce was ended, when the plutocrat was once more ab- sorbed in controlling the political as web as the cotnmercial machinery of the nation, then his eyes took on n suakish. greenish hue, and one could plainly read in them the cunning, the avariciousness, the meanness, the in- satiable thirst for gain that bad made this man the most unscrupulous mon- ey getter of his time, but his eyes had still another color. and when this last transformation took place those de- pendent upon him and even his friends quaked with fear, for they were his eyes of anger, On these dreaded occa- sions his eyes grew black as darkest night and flashed fire as lightning rends the thundercloud. Almost ungov- ernable fury was indeed the weakest spot in John Ryder's armor, for in these moments of appalling wrath he tras reckless of what he said or did, friendship. self interest, prudence, all were sacrificed. Such was the Colossus on whom ail° eyes were turned as be entered. In- stantly the conversation stopped as by magic. The directors nudged each oth- er and whispered, Instinctively Ryder singled out his crony, Senator Roberts, !rho ndvuneed with effusive gesture, "Hello, senator:" "You're punctual, as usual, Mr. Ity- der. I never knew you to be late." Ryder passed on and into the' direct ors' room, followed by Senator Roberts and the other directors, the procession being brought up by the dapper little aaeretatiy bearing the minutes, With a nod here and there Ryder took his place in the chairman's seat and rapped for order. Then at a siga from the chair the dapper little secre- tary began in a monotonous voice to read the minutes of the previous meet- ing. eeting. Quickly they were approved, and the chairman proceeded as rapidly as pos- sible with the regular business routine. That disposed of, the meeting was ready for the chief business of the day. Ryder then calmly proceeded to present the facts in the case. Sotne years back the road bad ac- quired as an investment some thou- sands of acres of land located in the outskirts of Auburndale, on the line or their road. The land was bought cheap. and there had been some talk of layiug part of it out as a public park. This promise had been made at the time in good faith, but it was no condition of the safe. If afterward, owing to the rise in the value of real estate, the road found it impossible to carry out' the original idesi, surely they were masters of their own property! The people ot Auburndale thought dif- ferently and, goaded on by the local newspapers, lied begun action in the courts to restrain the road from divert- ing iverting the lands from Its alleged original purpose. Tbey had succeeded in get- ting the injunction, but the road had and lit it tooth a d nail and finally earned it to the snpreme court, where Judge Itossmore after reserving his opinion had finally sustatned the In- junet[ou and decided against the rein road. That was the situation. Several director's speke, the argu- ments of each one being merely n reg Iteration of those already heard. Ry- der did not listen to what was being hMould he said. Why'S�t S e'7 ns not familiar with et'e •S' movable phase of the game? itettersithatt theee men 'tvho merely tacked. be was planning how the railroad ante all itis other interests Could got rid of tate troublesome judge, Ro•.snlore. He who eontroiled legislatures. find dietated to snpreme mart judges had found ltitnself powerless when eaeh titre or the legal machinery had brought him face to fete With Mudge toSSmore. SOK After sett had been decided against him and the interests he represented, and etleb time it was *judge Rossmore who had handed down/ the decision, So for years thee two ram had fought a silent but bitter duel in which principle on the one side and attempted corruption on the other were the gage of battle, Judge Ross - mom fought with the weapons which his oath and tate law diree:ted iritu to use, Ryder with the only weapons he understood—bribery and trickery. And eaelr time It had been Itossnmore who ban emerged triumphant. Despite ev- ery maneuver Ryder's experience could suggest, notwithstanding every card that could he played to untlerturno Itis cretllt and reputation, ,fudge Itessmtorc stood. higher in the country's confi- dence than when he was first appoint- ed. So when Ryder found he could not corrupt this honest judge with gall he decided to destroy him with calum- ny. No scrapies embarrassed Ityder in arriving at this determination. From his point of vier -r he was fully justified. "Busiuess is business. Ile hurts my interests; therefore I remove hire," So he argued, and he consid- ered. it no more wrong to wreck the happiness of this honor'abte duan than he would to have shot a burglar itt self defense. So having thus tran- quillized his conscience he .tad gone to work in his usually thorough manner, and his success had surpassed the most sjiugutne expectations. This is what be had done. Like many of our public servants whose labors are compensated only in niggardly fashion by au inconsiderate country, Judge Rossmore was a man of but moderate means. His income as justice of the supreme court was $12,000 a year, but for a man in his position, having a certain appearance to keep up, it little more than kept the wolf from the door. Iia llved quietly, but comfortably, in New York with his wife and his daughter SAirley, au at- tractive young woman who had grad- uated from Vassar and had shown a marked taste for literature. The daugh- ter's education had cost a good deal of money, and this, together with life in- surance and other incidentals of keep- ing house in New York, had about tak- en all he had. Yet he had managed to save it little, and those years when he could put by a fifth of his salary the judge considered himself lucky. Se- cretly he was proud of his compare- tivo poverty. At least the world could never ask him "where he got It." Ityder was web acquainted with Judge Itossmore's private means. The two men had met at a dinner, and, al- though Ryder had tried to cu+tivate the acquaintance, he never received touch encouragement. Ryder's son Jefferson. too, had met Miss Shirley Itossmore and been ingest attracted to her. but the rather having more atn- ltit•lans plans for his heir quickly dis- couraged all attentions In that direc- tion, Be himself, however, continued to gleet tate judge casually, and one evening he contrived to broach the subject of profitable investments. The Judge edinitted that by careful hoard- ing tinct tench stinting he had managed to save a few thousand dollars which he was anxious to invest in something good. Quick as the keen eyed vulture swoops down on its prey the wily financier seized the opportunity thus presented. And he took so much trou- ble In answering the judge's [uexperi- enced questions and generally macre himself so agreeable that • the judge found himself regretting that he and Ryder had by force of circumstances been opposed to ettclt other in public life so long. Ryder strongly recom- mended the purchase of Alaskan Min- ing stock, a new and booming enter- prise which had lately become very active in the market. Ryder said he had reasons to believe thnt the, stock would soon -advance, and now there was an opportunity to get it cheap. A. fere days after he had made the investment the Judge was surprised to receive certificates of stock for double the amount he bad paid for. At the same time he received a letter from the secretary of the company explain- ing that the additional stock was pool stock and not to be marketed at the present time. It was in the nature of a bonus to which he was entitled as one of the early shareholders. The let- ter was full of verbiage and tecbnieai details of which the judge understood nothing, but he thought It fiery liberal of the company and, putting the stock away in his safe, soon forgot all about It. Had he been a business man he would have scented peril. l,e,wottid have realized that he bad now in bis possession $50,000 worth of stock • for which he bad not paid a cont and fur- thermore had deposited it When -a reor- ganization came. But the judge was sincerely grateful for Ryder's appareutly disinterested advice and wrote two letters to him, one in which he thanked him for the trouble he bad takett end another in which he asked [tire if he was sure the company was finaneially sound, as the investment he coutempla.ted making represented all his savings. g He added in the second letter that he had re- ceived stock for double the amount of tars investment and that, being a pet- feet enfeet child lit bt iuess transactions, he had been unable to account for the ex- tra $10.000 worth until the secretitry of the company Lal Written Bim ssidran g him that 'everethitrg vvab In order. 'these letters Ryder kept Prom that tithe on the Alaskan& Min - Ing company underwent mysterfous changes. New capitaltstk gained cote• trol end the name was altered to the (Treat .Northwestern Mining 'company., Then It became Involved in litigation, and one suit, the Otittonte of which meant millions to the company, was carried to the supreme *curt, where Judge Rosstrtore Wee sitting. The judge had by this tittle forgotten alt about the company In tvh'Ich he owtmed 176.1;/04{0.10,,,,,11.11 11111114111,11A11111111111pi1IllyIII,PII"11111111111111111111111111W 9 OU J1k1 '$ 1111111.1119111111) , .n lr7•,1 itis ,1 , 1, .t1cl rePaableP.reparation.forAs- siinilating illabOd andIleg uia- ting theStomachs anuBo\+;els of I N A111t5.•e Of Al ii Promotes'Di estion,Ch1erful- •nessandRest.Contains neither Optucln,Morphine norHHlneral, NOT NAILC 0TIC. l a e ,i"O14tirS1BVELPJ1 5I1 Ilesin .fuJ- speo Rool lis sltiae So ifrvA 11q?dey ot r m12:- 1,1- grwt'jar Aperfect Remedy for Constipa- don, Sour Stomach,Diarrhoea, Worms ,Collvutsions,Feverislt- ness and Loss O$' SLEEP. Tac Shone Signature of NEW YORK. tan CASTOR! For Infants and Children. The bind You Have Always Bought Bears the Signature of in Use 1 For fiver TMrty ears r,b nonai nt • .. -' tel' y°t'd THC OCNtAUR OOMPARY, $ W YDRR CM& %