The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 3, 1904, Page 8

'FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. and inside -morrow, iing Prankerd ch T took from d in my business, you runnin’ When ou up h ¥y and kerd consult- ed accord- k rtune; he moment hard mn v York bear. him. It was 2 momentary ¢ k to his sat- isfaction he found as the train was draw umbus that he had lost his pu lumb is no placeé for » wh as found his for- t T d Prankerd hdpctor that be knev H him also that he knew 1k . ntenden:, and that this t would not be pleased t passengers on h train were of their purses. Fortunately for the conductor the de- teeti Aivis £ on the train and h med dvised of the theft “How much in that purse”? ash Pranier yeu need been ‘touche ¢ purse back ““Think leather queried pas- is to go recognizes among ssengers any known t s began in the smoking went through tha train fc In the last seat of e sgw and recogniz: » Pey mna Niven sat down tion. “Wise wn the leather n't-you, Peg?” anded Peg. lled up in the u do not leave me instan the conductor. rn rall:l‘ m an\\l-"‘ Conduetor!” she called. He came. “This man is insult- ing m and I _wish you would order’ bim away.” A It wes a poor “frent,” but the- Wori- an was 2t biy and.she had to tajke bfg chances. The conductor was soon ad- vised by Izod how matters sto6d, ahd was told to ask “the gent that had been touched” to come and “size up the slick Moll." B “Dfi you see this woman in’ your car?” asked Izod of Prankerd. Prankerd admitted that he had, “She sat for & while in the seat behind me, end later she asked me to rise from my seat while she looked for her gloves. “Nowy "Peg,” continued Izod, *‘you better tough up an’ have no rows, ‘cause T've got you dead to rights. You just-diyé ¢ »wn in that stockin’ o' yours an’_hayl out the roll it up an’ let you meoch.” Peggie'knew of nothing better than to kéep up hrer bluff, and she kept it up with vigdr ahd force. . “Weat "me fo pinch you?” “Oh, Pinch our old clapper- tongue, will you. “All #fght] thén™ , “put up your @ukes while I put the cuffs on ‘em.” . Peggié: hadf nd more than seen the handcuffs when she, changed her bluff;’ £he screamed and wept llke a woman: in a fifkof hysetrics. Prankerd pushed his wey through-the gathering and he* and the woman looked each other full in the face. Suddenly the woman again changed front. “Aw! git away, it's my pal” she said, leughing, and grabbed Prankerd's hend. “You've got me, my good woman.” If I can, T'll Nx: N P FINGERS @nb ES SN MERE “That’s what I had in Omaha; don’t you remember.Omaha?” “Yes. Iremember Omaha, but what's that got to do with pal?” “Don’t you remember the two nights you were held up out there? I'm sure you're the bloke. Ain’t forgdtten, have vou, how the fellow that held you up divvied with you? He had on a brown coat, don't you recollect, ap’ talked with you ’hout dinin’? You wouldn’t sémd a fellow like that over the road, would you?” #*Well, I'll be d—d!” was all Prankerd could say. ‘“Sre. We're pals. Shake,” said the wéman, not meaning to assent to Pran- kérd’s expressed opinion, but to his unéxpressed recognition. “Seems to me you've chanwed since + Omaha days,” said Prankerd, accepting the invitation and laughing. Prankerd meditated; he liked Peggie. “Divvy and divvy, turn about’s fair play. Hand out the roll and I'll split it with you; I'll give you half.” .Peggie produced the roll from her stocking and handed it to Prankerd. He counted it and handed. her back haif. “You'se a man,” she sald. “So are you—sometimes! The detective “viewed the exchange with greedy- eyes, but sald nothing; there was nothing for him to say. By rights, as rights go in' such circum- stances, there was nothing for any;one to say, but one Edwin”Pariby, alfo a passenger, thought otherwise. in ?srlby had - a Calvinist somewhere @mong his forbears; he 4id not khow Just: where, but no matter for that; he spelled government and justice In ge caps” and had ideas of public spirit. He stepped forward and ad- dressed Prankerd. “I beg your pardon; do I understand that you mean to allow this woman to g0 free?” Prankerd looked at the speaker with exasperating good humor. “I'm sure I D%H’T /MOVE CAU. KIND O NERVOU ) GOT A B don’t know what concern that is of yours,” he said. ot *Although you know absolutely:that she has picked your pocket?”’ T “Although I know. absolutely that she has piciked my pocket. I repeat, I don’t know what goncern it is ofyyours. The pocket was not, your pocket.. The lady happens: to be:a friend of mine; she is at liberty to pick : my pocket whenever she likes; indeed, she has ex- ercised that privilege from the first time she met me!” 11l soon make it some concern of mine!” said the virtuous Parlby. ‘‘De- tective,; I call on you to.arrest that woman as a thief, and the man as a witness, or worse; leaving the State. If you don’t, I'll do it myself, and I'll make it damned hot for you.” B G e R TN Fate, which makes hiétory. and -is much concerned to make it worth réad-, ing, ordained that ten years after Ed- win Parlby’s exhibition of public spirit the three .actors in the little scene,in the railway carriage should find them- selves settled in the same municipali- ty. The place was in the Far West, and need not be designated otherwise than as the city of Blank. The three had prospered greatly ln the interval. Edwin Parlby had, re- cently got the leading bank of the city of Blank where he could squeeze it and had squeezed. Lisle Prankerd was one of the directors; it had been in the city of Blank that he had found his fortune., He resigned from the board and part- ed with his Interests in the bank when. Parlby was elected. Peggie Niven was the local queen in the city of Blank of ¢ peared In the Tax Collector’s books in the under ‘world. She was 22 years old when she first . introduced herself to Prankerd.. She had shifted from. New York to the. West out of motives of pergonal shyness; the metropolis wished to show her courtesies which she would kave found embarrassing. The police had made her acquaintance, had’ demanded and secured a photo- graph of her none too attractive coun- tenance, had given her a number in their, gallery of celebrities,’ and were eager upon the first opportunity, to show her still other marks of their es- teem, . Y B clmgflned her very much to be ‘tora in Columbuys by the Judge before whom Stockholder Parlby succeeded in bring- ing her, that it was the will of the commonwealth that she settle in its. penitentiary for five years. “It's my last trip East,” was her resolution on receiving the sentence, which was shortened by good conduct to three years and nine monthl—ume enough, however, for her to come to some con- clusions, the most important of which was “graftin’ doesn’t pay” and that she was “goin’ to chuck it. On her re- turn to the West she-“took a fresh deal in the game,’ nd her name ap- the. city of Blank as that of the owner of certain temples where men sacri- ficed to fortune and to other heathen deities whose worship is not extinct. If a gambler “went broke” he betook himself to Peggle for a fresh “stake”; and if a friend got. “pinched” Peggle was the one to bail him out. It is even reported .that the Upper World levied upon her for contributions to charity and got them. It is not reported, how- ever, that she was ever seen in an Up- per-World drawing-room. In the words of the Under-World song, she “wouldn’t be a'lady if she could.” At the time when the directors of the Bank of the Occldent discovered that they had long wanted Edwin Parlby for president the citizens of the municipal- ity of Blank wefe universally occupled in a game of beggar-my-neighbor, which. cannot have been gambling, be- cause there was and is an ordinance against gambling'in public places duly pused and made a part of the effective law of the city. It riakes all the differ- ence that town lots are played for In- stead of chips, and that&he expanse of heaven {tsalf serves as walls and celling of the gambling hell. Every one had be- gun to assure every one else that “good — times” were coming, when every one would say in chorus that he believes the price of real estate is going up, and by a flat of lles would increase its value and make something out of nothing. Lisle Prankerd was one of those whom the last division of saving had made happy. When he said that “good times” “were coming his words ‘were bandied from mouth to ~mouth, and every one who heard them, instead of being rationally sorry and tightening his purse strings, was irrationally glad. This cheerful unreason in a community is called a spirit of business enterprise. ‘When it was known that he had bet “good times” were coming and had staked almost all he had realized on his interest in the Bank of the Occident —that he had quietly bought options on bits of town and suburban property for which there had hitherto been no market—the cheerful unreason became more cheerful and there was an In- stant disposition to back his bet. ‘What checked their cheerfulness for a moment at least was not that they perceived its unwisdom and that back- ing Prankerd's bet was precisely the ‘way to make him win it and win it from themselves, it was that Parlby had made a bet on the other side. He had for a long time bought in what- ever realty was offered at forced sale in and about the city and had become the largest holder in the county. When the “spirit of business enterprise” stood erect because of Prankerd's in- vestments Parlby reduced it at a stroke to a state of lmp dublety and surmise; he began to offer his holdings for sale at any price, at whatever he could get. Prankerd was admitted to be shrewd, but it was just possible he was “losing his grip”; it was quite certain Parlby had “done” him in the mutet of the Bank of the Occident. Lisle Prankerd did not want the property which Parlby offered; that was why he bid it In, It was also why Parlby offered more and yet more for sale, and why Prankerd continued to bid it in: until it became plain that if the “good times” really did not come, and that suddenly, the last man that any one need wish to become would be Lisle Prankerd. When matters were In this posture a card was brought one morning to Prankerd at his office. “Yes, it's me,” said Peggle, entering; “always on hand when I'm wanted, and sometimes when I'm not. I've come to talk business and you can send away that young man If you don’t want him yourself as a protection or a witness; I want to place some ‘dough’; T want to know on the level what all this shindy means between you and Parlby. The town's a good town, an’ 1 believe in it. I want to buy some lots.” “And you come to me for advice? I advise you to hold off. The = boom's all right; but it won't come tiil coming Parlby wants it to. Parlby's got me treed.” “You mean it's just a case of freeze- out?” Prankerd laughed. “You speak as. if a case of freeze-out were easy. Yes, it'’s just a case of freeze-out.” “Damn Parlby,” said Peggile. “Just my sentiments, only much more elegantly expressed,” sald Prank- erd. “All right; I guess I know all I want to,” sald Peggie. “So do 1,” said Prankerd. “Yes, 1 guess you do; but I give you a pointer. I don't know whethes I'm going to take a hand in this game or not. I don’t mostly. tell what I'm going to do beforehand: it mightn’t be con- venient. But just you don’t cash In your chips before you have to.” And with this oracular metaphor she started to take her leave. She paused at the door. “I owe that Parlby one from way back. It's about time his luck took a tumble.” Immediately after Peggie's interview with Prankerd there was & second fund in the market to oppose Pariby. Peggie had strained her credit, which was con- siderable, to the-utmost, and became a reckless buyer of options. A few days later a rumor ran like mad through the town, in especial through the Under World, that the Bank of the Occident was not safe, and depositors in & passion of haste to withdraw their accounts fought on the bank floor for priority. The story ran that the bank had been robbed in open day; the story was scoffed at in the streets and in the clubs; the de- liberate opinion was that Parlby had overreached himself, and that the rob- bery was ‘fake”; and the deliberate opinion was confirmed when it came to megting of the directors Parlby was held .to have overdrawn his personal balance, and was in the opinion of s associates discredited. Parlby, the de- liberate opinion was, had been sacri- ficed, justly enough bécause of his Dri- vate ventuyes, to save the bank. After a-day -or two a definite account was made public, but the account was too “gensational” to obtain immediate be- lief. What had happened in the Occl- dent was this: On the morning of the day when the panic had occurred a low, thick-set man with shaggy whiskers and a hand- bag entered the Occident as if it be- longed to him and demanded to see the president. The president’s sanctum in those days was a space apart, walled off by slabs of plate glass a quarter of an inch thick and screened from vulgar gaze by silk curtains in baby biue. The visitor announced that he had business of importance to both of them, and re- quested Mr. Parlby as they entered the sanctum to give orders that they might be uninterrupted. When this order had been given and the door of the sanc- tum was closed the visitor dropped his handbag in front of his chair and with one hand covered Parlby with a re- volver in excellent condition and with the other produced a pint flask. “I guess I've got the drop on you, pard, all right; don’t move, ‘cause I'm kind o’ nervous in m’ fingers, and this here gun’s got a blamed easy pull. Be- sides, this flask’s full o’ nitro-glyceri-i- ine an’ I might drop it, an’ you an’ me an’ the bank ‘ud all make our bow in hell ‘together. Sit down, careful like, s0's not to set off no electric buttona nor alarms; there's no knowin’ how little ‘ud make me lose my hold on the bottle. THere, now, that's real home- like and comfortable—reminds me o mother. Suppose we talk.” Parlby was not a coward; he said so afterward, but he remembered. that he was president of the bank and a citisen of value in the community, to say noth- ing of his being engaged at the moment to marry Miss Ansted of the San Fran- cisco Ansteds. It was Parlby's steady practice in life to say nothing of pri- vate motives when public motives could honestly be put forward; and the man certainly did look as if he meant busi- ness, and nitro-glyceri-i-ine is not to be despised. “It's up to you to do the talking™ said Parlby, putting up a creditable front. “As far as I see, you've made an ass of yourself, whoever you are. All I've got to do Is just to sit quiet; you can’t get out of the bank; you couldn’t win clear in the street If you did get out of the bank; you'll go to the pen for this morning’s joke. If there’s any- thing to be said, it's you can say it." “Sure! I'll say it fast enough. But you can come off your perch just the same. If 1 was leary of the pen I shouldn’'t be here, an’ you know it. I'll talk business with you, if that's what you want. I'm on my uppers—see” Either I get the dough I want or I croak, an’ if you don’'t give me what I want we croak together. You're my last card, an’ I'll play you, by God! What you say o' just sittin’ still ‘s tommyrot. You make out a check pay- able to yourself for the sum I name an’ have the stuff brought in here an’ stowed away in that bag, or you've seen your luck an’ we'll both of us know what's what.” Parlby’s visitor had been speaking with a flerce intentness that was con- vincing. Parly thought him mad. Per- hape that was why he attempted to reason with him. “Even if I got you the stuft and stowed it away In that bag you couldn’t get away with it. You'd bet- ter talk sense, If you've got any. I'm not to be bullied in my own office, with forty clerks in call, armed as well as you. That's the last word I have to say, and be damned. to you.” “Mr. Parlby, you will take ap that pen and write what I tell you. I take my chances of getting away, .once the stuff is In my hands. You won’t give an alarm till I've got clear of the bank. I can throw a flask on the floor outside as well as here, an’ you're much too careful of your skin to take any risks. You put up a bluff that I'm bug- house. Well, I'm not so bughouse but I can see you're so scared of me you can’t sit in that chair without holdin’ on. You take up that pen an’ write what I tell you, an’ be quick about it. I'm kind o' nervous, as I sald, an’ this gun’s got a blamed easy pull an’ the outside o’ this flask’s kind o’ slippery.” Parlby shrugged his shoulders, dropped his eyes—and searched for a pen. TR ot ol 2 It is said that the special officer of the bank and half a dozen clerks start- ed in pursuit before the man with- the handbag_had fairly reached the pave- ment. There must have been two men with handbags; such coincidences hap- pen. Possibly the coincidence was not accidental. At all events they assailed a man with a handbag and so quickly did the police patrol respond to the private alarm from Parlby’s office that the man was not yet overpowered when the wagon arrived. When he was taken Into custody he proved to be the wrong man, and the handbag proved to' be the wrong handbag. It is possi- ble that this mistake might not have been made if Parlby had personally superintended the chase, but he re- mained {n his office; he was accurately acquainted with the properties of nitro- glyceri-i-ine, which is quite as effec- tive in a paved street as in a marble- floored building, and though he may have had no regard for his own life he had other things than himself to think of. He thought of them. The next day there was-found In an alleyway at the rear of the bank a suit of clothes, a revolver andea flask, all identified by Parlby as belohglnl to the robber. The flask was found to con- tain sweet cil. “In the minds of some of Parlby’s feilow citizens this discovery confirmed the notion that he had him- self contrived the robbery; In the minds of others it served simply to make him ridiculous; in the minds of all it still further discredited him. The directors began to suspect they had been mistaken in thelr idea that Parlby was just tha man they had long wiinted for president. Certainly, as it after- ward turned out, he had made a great blunder in parting with his real estate. Peggie was never again heard to say that she would get even with Parlby. In the city of Blank there was little of anything that she was again heard to say: she soon closéd out her inter- ests there at a great profit and left the place, disappearing into the be- yond, where she still remains. Jt is just possible that she feels she has got even with Parlby, though it is questionable whether she 'would hold her haund if the chance should offer it- self to get even with him again. Al things considered, it is doubtful wheth= er Peggle's ruling trait is gentleness.