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Show m . .... -Til """"""""" H WALLACE IRWIN SZZSS1SZIIS1S11111111ZI1SS11S E Each Episode Suggested by a Prominent Author B . Serialization by HUGH WEIR and JOE BRANDT H Produced by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company H Copyright. IMS, by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. H FIFTH EPISODE H Grinding Life Down H By WALLACE IRWIN H Autlior of "Haihlmuro Togo" and H "Tcddyieo" H SYNOPSIS. ' Dudley Larnlgan, district attorney, nt- H tacks the liquor and vice trusts. Ilo Is H killed by an agent of a secret society, tho H commtttco of fifteen. Ills son, ilruco H Lnrnlgnn, Is elected district attorney and H takes up tho Unlit. Ilruco Is In lovo with H Dorothy Maxwell, whose fathor Is head H of tho insurance trust. H Bruco Larnlgan Is decoyed to an ovll re- H sort In an oltort to frame him up. Ilo has the pollco commissioner present. A flro H starts In a tenement. Larnlgan saves tho H children of Dow, ono of the conspirators. H This man agrees to exposo tho trust. Ilo H la murdered by tho Kong. H Stanford Stone, head of tho graft syndl- H cato. Insists Larnlgan must bo killed. Gun- H men aro posted In tho park to kill I.nrnl- H Kan In his automobile. Dorothy Maxwell. H over tho dlctaphono, hears the plot. Two B '' moro conspirators are killed, and Larnlgan B again escapes. H ' Uruco Larnlgan goes to Chicago to fight M tho grain trust. Ho Is followed by n ties- H perndo, Is assaulted and thrown over- board. Ho Is rescued by his long lost H brother Tom, who returns to .N'cw Vork H niul takes up tho fight. Dodson, tho head H of tho grain trust, fearing exposure, kills bbbbbbVJ BRUCC LARNIGAN, lying help, less on Ills cot In n Chicago hospital us tho result of the attack tliut li:ul so nenrly cost H Mm his life, was still full, despite Ills pain, of his deslro to crush the graft syndicate uiul nvengo Ills father's fate H ;- us well as Ills own Injuries. Unable B ', to inovo lilinbelf, lie accepted with de- B ... light tho offer of his brother Tom to H enlist lu his plnco until ho recovered. "Our next blow should bo at tho H textile trust, Tutu," ho snld. "Ayers C. 'Wood Avers, Its head Is as mean H n scouiidrel as any 1 havo fought yet. H Ilo crushes out (lie llvei of his work- H crs and grafts by getting congress to ndd to tho tariff on his products on tho H plea that ho has to pay higher wages than European mills and so should have protection." "Ilo docs, doesn't he?" asked Tom. "No; he pays the Ion est pusslblo wages to a lot of poor foreign labor- H ers he Is exploiting. Even now they H arc on the verge of striking, and I hup- H pen to know that lie Is planning to H teach them a terrible lesson If they do. B Go there. Tom. and see If you caii H save tlioso poor people." H Tom, to avert suspicion, went to H Lyndham, Mass., the site of the gieat H Avers mills, and obtained work as a H laborer. Outwardly he was Just like H nil tho other workers; actually, ho was H able to learn many things. H Meanwhile Dorothy Maxwell, hear- H lug of Bruce's almost fatal Injuries, H had been deeply shocked. She felt. H thuugh hho knew that she could not H prove this, that Stanford Stone was H In some way responsible for what had H bapponed to Itruce. and, In spite of 55?tHHpi3LMYjfB H Whan Stone Called That Ninht She H Gave Him Back His Ring. her father's pleas, sho determined to H break her reluctnutly given proniUu to B "I'd do an) thing elso for you, fa- H thcr," she cried, "but I can't do that! H When Stono called that night she H gavo him back his ring. Stuno did not nt ouco show his pow- H "It's girlish nonsense, that's all." ho H told Maxwell. "I Bhan't hold you ro- H sponsible yet, roan; don't bo frighten- H ed. Hut. of course. If tlia worst cotnei H to tho worst, I shall oxpect you tq. use your authority over her as her father. B Hut It won't como to that, I'm sure. Slio'll como to her senses In time." Tom Larnlgan, deeply distrustful of B Dorothy, would havo been vastly V cheered had he known her decision, As yet he had not dared to tell Ilruco of her treachery, fearing the effect the news would havo upon his brother In his weokened condition. In Lyndham the threatened strike had been called. I. W. W. organizers, preaching the Industrial revolution and the right of workers who were underpaid under-paid to make actual war. by destroying destroy-ing the proorty of tlie'r employers, were stirring up oil sorts of trouble. Tom, while holding tho deepest sympathy sym-pathy for the woikers. advised them against the destruction of property. Uut the I. W. AV. men had more Influence, In-fluence, with the Ignorant workers Umn Tom. Moreover, Aycrs, with a rellne-ment rellne-ment of meanness, was doing his utmost ut-most to provoke an outbreak. At his Instance strangers appeared In town-thugs town-thugs from Boston who mingled with tho workers anil pretended to be among them. Acting under his orders, those men set flro to ono or two buildings, build-ings, and Hie strikers, of course, were Tom Then Road a List of Grievances of the Textile Workers. blamed. As a result statu troops were bent "Ilo careful," Tom pleaded, '"f hey've got tho soldiers now. What they want Is a good excuse to (Ire into a crowd of strikers. They think that will create cre-ate a relgu of terror and that the strikers strik-ers will nil go back to work with public sympathy ou the other side." Gradually Tom's counsel bore frutu Ilo was ablo to make the soberer spirits spir-its among the strikers listen to him and so prevent tho 1. AV. YV. men. whom ho suspected of being secretly lu thoVny of Aycrs, from Inciting th'ciu to acta of violence, Tom decided, too, to adopt an old trick of 1! race's. Trusting to his being be-ing unknown to Ayers, be slipped a note into his pocket ono day. "Uruco Larnlgan Is out of the wny for tho time, but hU brother Is not." ran the note. "1 know your scheme here, and I shall block your plans. He careful or jou will bo the first to suffer for the crimes of you and your associates. Tom Lnrulguu." Ilo was not. however, ns unknown us he fondly Imagined himself to be. The spies of Stone and Ayers wele nil around, anil some hint of Tom's activities activ-ities had already come to the graft syndicate. Kven before be slipped the warning note Into Ayers" pocket there Unit been discussions among the chief grafters us to the best means of he-curing he-curing his elimination from tho light. Tom felt that he was terribly helpless. help-less. Above idl ho ne 'ed money, and he was almost penu ss.. And then one day chance brought help to his very door. An automobile bad broken down outside of his cottage, nud he went out to offer nld. To his amazement, amaze-ment, he discovered that lis only occupant oc-cupant wns Hen Trovers, with whom ho hud unsuccessfully prospected for gold In the west. "Tom." cried Hen. "I've looked everywhere ev-erywhere for you! I struck it rich last year, Tom. I'm n millionaire! Honest Hon-est I am! What nru you doing here" "It's a long story. Hen," said Tom. "Como In, and I'll tell you." Hen accepted tho Invitation nnri listened, wide eyed with wonder, tt Tom's tnlo. Tom then read u list ol grievances of the textllo workers. "I want to buy n stack of chips and lit in that game!" Ben announced when Tom hod finished. "By gorry. that's tho sort of action I'm looking for! I guess my money will help, too eh": You como to New York with mo and I'll back your gamo to tho last cent!" So Tom was able. Biiro of nil the financial backing he needed, to go to New York. And. nrrlvlng, Ben found an Invitation to a reception In thr homo of Ayers himself. "I'll take you with me Introduce you as my old partner." said Hen. ".My partner you me, too. Tom that goes'' A) c. ut n meeting of the graft syn dlcate, produced his note of wuruiu' from Tom to tho cmiatct nation of and especially of Stone, who had be llcved Tom well -nt of the way "You're JjIcc. Stone"" snld Ajen I snccrlngly. "Leavo this man to nioS I'll get rid of hlml" J Tliero was no opposition. Uvcryonq was glad to hnvo some ono else under tako the task of removing one of tho hated and feared name of Larnlgan. At tho reception, which wns held thnt night, Hen and Tom wcro lato In nrrlvlng. Hut Tom, muklng good tiso of his eyes mid his ears alike, man-nged man-nged to pick up some Information that Fccracd likely to be of value later. AVhllo ho wns so engaged Trovers mado a point of talking to Ayers and expressed ex-pressed great sympathy with .the textllo tex-tllo magnato In connection with the labor troubles at his mills. "The better you treat 'cm the moic they want." said Hen In pursuance of his plan to cotcli Ayers off his guaid. "I bellote In sweating them! Working Work-ing people arts meant to work, not to strlko for more money.' "You'ro n uinn after my own heart!" laughed Ayers. entirely without suspicion suspi-cion thnt Ben was only leading lilm on. "Why, they've even begun to threaten mo personally. Look here! Hole's u Jctter I got the other day."" I'rom Ills pocket ho pulled the note that Tom had sent him and smoothed It out for Ben to read. "I'd like to meet tho man who wrote that!'" he snarled. "I'd show him whether or not it wns fiafe to' threaten me, tho hound! But ho'll keep out of my way. you'lf sec" "Tom Larnlgan!" snld Ben. seeming to bo vastly surprised. "Why. my old partner here Is nlwnys talking about n man of that nome. Maybe ho can find him for you. Shall 1 ask him?" Ayers nodded. And Tom. coming np, grinned sourly nt tho sight of the note. "Know him? I should say so. the skunk!" ho snld. "Saw him tonight." "But ho's uo friend of yours, eh?" chuckled Aycrs. "Friend?" snapped Tom. "No, Mr!" "If you'll excuso your friend I've got a proposition to mako to lilm," said Aycrs sllklly. Ho led tho wny to his library. "Look here." ho said. "'If you'll bring that man Larnlgan here to mo I'll pay you $1,000. cash down-tonight! down-tonight! That's nil I want. You need not do anything more.'" "Easy money!" snld Tom. grinning. "I'll go out now and seo If I can find him." "Go, nnd good luck to you!" said Aycrs, greatly excited. Tom. us ho reached the street, was amused. "But I guess I'd do well to have some ono wltli me If I go back." ho reflected. "I mightn't get In otherwise, other-wise, nnd I want to talk with Mr. C. Wood Ayers when he's alone." He hung nbout for n time, wishing ho knew some one who would be willing will-ing to luicrsonntc him for n few moments, mo-ments, lie dared not trust n stranger. Ho was afraid that he might encounter somo spy. And. "while he wnlted, by thp strangest of coincidences be saw nn automobile pass. In the back scat of which rat Dorothy Maxwell. Had ho only known the truth ho wonltrimve stopped tliut car at tho risk of his own life. Kor In It Dorothy was going to save him, ns she believed. Deeply suspicious suspi-cious of Stone, sho had been watching him. nnd sho had learned that Stone, afraid that Aycrs would fall, had sent Dunn, tho successor of tho dead bully. Black, to attack Tom at Lyndham. One of his women spies had tpotted Tom, nnd had reported nfter Aycrs had promised to tako care of Tom. Sho was to go with two thugs and point Tom out to them. Dorothy, determined to Rave Bruce's brother, disguised herself ns this woman wom-an nud succeeded In being tnken nlong lu the car In her place. It wns us she set out upon this errand that Tom saw her. nnd sneered nt the sight of her, since ho had recognized her nt once. However, ho dismissed Dorothy from his mind. And nt last he decided to risk returning alone to Ayres' house. Until, ns he ucared it, he camo upon n young man reeling, plainly helpless from drink. "Tho very man!" thought Torn. "Here, bucko," ho said, taking the young fellow's arm. "I'll look ofter you." "Mush 'blisucd." said the young fellow. fel-low. Ho went nlong ns meekly ns If Tom had been his oldest friend. Tom's plan worked to perfection. "All. you got him! Good!" cried Aycrs. "Here, tako htm In ami pitch him on to that sofa. I'll settle with you beforo 1 talk to you." Tom obeyed. Then ho followed Ayers Into the library. "Keep your money." ho snld. "I've tricked you, Mr. Ayres. It's I that am Tom Larnlgan." Ayers staggered to his feet. "You?" he cried. "My God, who Is tho other man?" Ho leaped for tho door. And Tom; following, saw that tho couch had mysteriously closed. Suddenly he understood. un-derstood. Tho sofa was a "murder couch," designed to closo and kill Its occupant! it was murder Ayers had 1 planned tho murder of an Innocent man that Tom had, unwittingly, helped help-ed him to do. Ayers struggled desperately with the couch. At lost, ho got It open. The young man was there dead, and Ayers cried out in agony nt the sight of his fare. "I'vo killed my son!" ho groaned "my only son!" Slowly Tom passed out. Ho met a policeman. "Hero's my namo nnd nddress. otll-cer," otll-cer," ho said. "You'd better go to the Aycrs house. A caso of something like murder." And meanwhile Dorothy had aroused the suspicions of Stanford Stone's thugs. They hnd gagged nnd bound her and thrust her down In the cnr. while they went Into n roadhouso to celebrate their success In ndvnnce. Episode No. 6 next week. ..'. To Be Continued r |