The Pearsall Leader (Pearsall, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, October 27, 1916 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Borderlands Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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Author of
“THE OCCA-
SIONAL OF-
FENDER.'THE
WIRE TAP-
PERS;* “GUN
RUNNERS,'ETC
Novelized from
THE PATHE
PHOTO PLAY
OF THE
SAME NAME
Cim+M. * tJHUM STWC£*
fng as a costume model. Legar and
two of his followers, in the meantime,
entered Aimick’s studio on the pre-
tense of being a fire marshal’s inspec-
tor, caught the artist off his guard,
and carried him bound and gagged and
helpless to one of the small back
rooms of the studio building.
Peggy herself, before starting out
In answer to that summons, was still
somewhat uneasy In mind over recent
events. So she left word with her
father to call for her not later than
eleven o’clock.
But more than Dan O’Mara called
throne. “The painting—It
ting steel at us!”
Legar, however, was no longer in
need of that warning. Standing to
one side of the mantel, close beside
the wall, he attacked the huge can-
vas with his fire-tongs, beating in the
center of the picture at the same time
that Peggy O’Mara, realizing that
she was no longer being held a pris-
oner, caught up a teakwood tabou-
ret and with it precipitated her-
self on the preoccupied Legar.
He ignored that flank attack, how-
for
rraeiout
rhen
stood a magazine rifle to which a Max-
im silencer had been adjusted. And
on the floor beside the rifle lay yet
another weapon. This, however, was
a weapon of defense, for it consisted
of a craftily constructed cape which,
for purposes of disguise, could be
promptly converted into a woman s
! gfcfg#
So sure was Mauki of his defensive
arrangements that when he caught
eight of Peggy O’Mara and her father
at the window he promptly reached
: for his rifle, adjusted the barrel be-
tween the shutter slats, and took aim.
Then he pulled the trigger.
The next moment a bullet went
crashing through the window of the
0 Mara home.
Instinctively the two startled fig-
res leaped away from the window,
they did so they realized that a
. third person had entered the room.
1 And a second glance showed them
that jt was the Laughing Mask him-
selt , ,
lie stood for a moment or two. star-
rig down at the spotted warning that
lay face upward on the floor. Then
j he stared at the shattered window.
The next moment he was pushing
Peggy and Dan O’Mara bodily back
from that square of light.
Put what’s the meanin’ of all this,
anyway?” demanded ths astonished
householder.
“It means that a bullet came through
;a- window,” the Laughing Mask ex-
plained. “And I know that bullet was
As tended for your daughter here.”
The next moment the Laughing
k had caught a broom from the
corner and about it was draping one of
Peggy O’Mara’s well-worn waists.
Above this he placed the girl's hat,
tying it In place with a scarf. Then
dropping to his knees well out of sight
on one side of the window, he slowly
advanced his improvised dummy into
j the square of light.
That rough outline of a human fig-
ure was scarcely in position at the
w indow before a second pane crashed
in and the broom was knocked from
the hand of the masked man hold-
ing it. > . i
“That shot could have come only
from one of those three houses across ’
■ the way. And it’s ten to one it’s from '
that empty house on the right!”
He drew away from the window and
stood for a moment deep in thought.
“O’Mara, I want you to slip out by
your back door and get help. Call on
j a ay neighbors you can trust in a case
like this. Then hurry back here, for
1 don’t want that scoundrel to suspect
i s plans haven't worked out exactly
j as he imagines!"
“We’ll get the divli!” announced
! O'Mara as he slipped away. And while
! waiting for his return the Laughing
Mask sent Peggy for a cupful of flour.
I With thi3 he powdered her hands and
blanched her thin young face. Dan
| O’Mara had stepped back into the
house before the masked visitor had
completed his task.
“Now, T want that sniper to think
he’s done his work, I don’t wapt him
to break from cover until your friends
have surrounded that house. So take
| your daughter and carry her out, ju3t
I as though she were a dead girl.”
Dan O’Mara, doing as he was dl-
j reeled, stepped from the doorway with
ins own white-faced daughter hanging
i mp in his arms. He acted his part
with a sincerity that was not without
conviction. For, two minutes after he
had staggered into the open with that
apparently sad burden, the sniper from
drew up at the door. Margery’s eyes
widened when O’Mara explained the
reason of his daughter’s absence from
home.
‘‘But an artist like Frank Aimick
would never be able to work at night,”
she argued, with growing alarm. ”He
must have daylight for working in
color."
Dan O'Mara turned to the table at
his side.
“Here's his message, plain as day,
written in his own handwritln’,” was
the puzzled workman’s only explana-
tion.
Margery took the message in her
hand and studied it. Then her color
faded a little.
"That is not Frank Aimick’s writ-
ing!” she suddenly announced.
“We must get to that studio as fast
as my car can carry us.
Peggy O’Mara, in the meantime,
was being confronted by more than
one surprise. The first came with her
arrival at the Aimick studio, when
the stranger who opened the door In
response to her knock informed her
that the artist was out, but would re-
turn in a minute or two. The sec-
ond came with the quiet movement
of yet another man who sidled up to
the studio door and promptly locked
and barred it. But the greatest sur-
prise of all awaited her as she turned
importance than either the spindle-
! legged girl or a painted gunman.
ever, for the Iron Claw suddenly found
for his daughter that night, for ten j himself confronted by a figure of more
minutes after her departure from the
cottage Margery Golden’s limousine
Out from behind that tattered can-
vas had emerged a man wearing a
! yellow mask, tossing to one side a
1 slender blowpipe as he came. Before
he could regain his feet after that hur-
ried leap from the mantel shelf, Legar
himself had dropped the fire tongs and
whipped a revolver from his pocket.
This he leveled directly at the body
of the Laughing Mask. But before
he could pull the trigger, Peggy's
tabouret struck against his out-
stretched arm, knocking the weapon
up In the air.
By this time the Laughing Mask
was up on his feet, and face to face
with his enemy. Before the revolver
could again be brought into play the
two had clenched. Then the Iron Claw
went down before a clean-cut blow
from his opponent. He recovered him-
self sufficiently, however, to roll to
where his fallen revolver lay. But
before he could level that firearm at
his adversary the Laughing Mask, re-
membering that even the officers of
the law were no longer his friends,
dived out through the small door at
the rear of the studio and disappeared
from sight, for already the sound of
O’Mara and his rescuing party could
be heard as they swarmed up the
stairs.
The Iron Claw himself heard those
sounds, drew himself together, and
^ .
Then He Pulled the Trigger.
utes. I want you to get any help you < was now several inches lower than
can, and come after me.” ! the rest of the floor. And this, ob-
Margery stole along the shadowy viously, had released a steel ana
roadside to the spot where she had which had swung suddenly forward and
seen Legar creep in through the swept the startled Intruder fiat
bushes. She followed as best she against the stone wall, holding him
could, found herself face to face with there as in a vise. And as he stood
a tunnel-opening that showed itself pinioned there a great block of gran-
dlmly in the moonlight, and after a ite, released by some bidden nut-
moment's hesitation stooped low and chinery, was slowly descending from
crept into this tunnel, feeling her way the roof of the corridor. Margery
cautiously along the smooth brickwork quickly manipulated the chains and ro-
of its walls. She came to a turn, but- j leased the chauffeur,
tressed with heavier masonry, and “Let me at ’em!” he shouted, bran-
padded along this wall until her grop- j dishing the automobile wrench which
Ing fingers came in contact with a he still carried in bis hand. “Just
light switch. This, after a moment’s i let me at ’em!”
thought, she turned on. The next mo-
ment a number of bulbs along the cor-
ridor roof above her flowered into
light.
Staring ahead of her. she saw that
the corridor ended in nothing but a
blank wall.- But as she stared intently
1 at the wall she detected in one side of
it a partially concealed electric but-
I ton. She moved toward this cautious-
| ly, for she had learned of old to be
wary of approach to any of Legar’s
fastnesses. Then, as she advanced, f But these explanations came to a sud-
she came to a sudden stop. For she I den and an unexpected ending, for Le-
saw on the flagstone upon which she gar and his followers, skulking in the
was about to step a small cross. There j bushes, caught that betraying sound
was also a minute crevice, unnotice- j of voices and saw a chance that was
“It’s no use,” cried Margery, hold-
ing him back. ‘They have gone, the
lot of them. And we’ve got to follow
quickly, or there'll be a whole fam-
ily meet a worse fate than yours
might have been tonight!"
She had taken the wrench from his
hand and was leading him out of tbe
tunnel mouth by this time, explain-
ing that he would have to bring his
taxicab from its hiding place and at
once start in pursuit of the Iron Claw.
“It Means That a Bullet Came Through That Window!”
from the door and saw Legar himself
standing before her.
She stood there, white lipped, star-
ing from one evil face to the other as
Legar’3 companions closed in about
her.
“You’re a fine bunch o' cradle-
snatchers!” she finally and wrathfully
burst out at them, with the ultimate
1 and reckless anger of desperation in
j her eyes. “You’re a grand army o
. heroes, you are, to come five strong
| agin’ a girl like me!”
“Stop that brat!” commanded the
j irate Legar. And there was a general
| movement in the direction of the blaz-
the shuttered house was detected slip- I ing-eyed girl.
ping our of a cellar window and scur-
rying along a broken fence.
That escape, however, came before
Dan O’Mara’s friends could completely
take up their position about the sus-
. no pected house. But one of those friends
t ’ caught sight of the fugitive in the
strange-looking cape, the alarm was
f. given, and the pursuit began.
It was not a long chase, but it wa3
a last- a stern one. Determined as those in-
o dignant factory-toilers were to run
■ down the mysterious gunman so wan-
■ '■ f 1 rnnly threatening their homes, the
■ L fleeing Mauki proved himself starting-
’ nd. ly fleet of foot. He gained sufficiently
‘f- on his pursuers to round a corner,
s dodge into an empty coalshpd, and
emerge a moment later as a stooped
1 ■ "••• <• old woman in amber-colored spectacles
and a rusty gray wig. Being obviously
hard of hearing, this same old woman
r 1 could not give much Information to
'■ as the group of excited men suddenly
"" of costing her as she hobbled across the
r panel, street. ' f
Five minutes later a swarthy-skinned
man with wiry black hair was hurrv-
5 a ing across country to one of the well-
on a concealed dens of .Tules Legar, where
'Tira ; > duly reported to the Iron Clew the
n to no'-vs of his enemy's ruse and his own
spotted narrow escape.
Before the second day had passed
tr had evolved yet another plan
F . ;,>r 'be subjugation of his enemies.
' • ■ - b is took the form of a decoy mes-
' e delivered to the unsuspecting
P't-gy O'Mara, purporting to be a
d hasty request from Frank Aimick to
-mo to bis studio at nine o’clock that
night, to the end that he might hurry
•' to completion cue of his unfinished
d . nv i-s'-s for which the girl was act-
There was one man In that group,
however, who did not join in that
movement. The reason for this lay
in the fact that at that moment he
happened to he looking up at the paint-
ing of The Vigilante.”
He was about to reach for a heavy
easei-peg, to fling at the canvas, when
he suddenly straightened up, clapped
a hand to his shoulder, and turned
about. There was a look of mingled
wonder and incredulity on his face.
Then he slowly drew from the fleshy
part of his upper arm a small steel
dart, little bigger than a knitting-
needle.
The next moment a second man,
moving across the room to catch up a
curtain cord with which to tie the
captured girl, felt a sudden sting in
his hip. stopped abruptly ar.d point-
ed with a shout of anger toward the
canvas above the mantel.
Still another of Legar’s followers,
not realizing the meaning of that cry,
stepped forward and stared at the
painting. Out of the barrel-end of the
painted rifle, as he did so, shot still
another dart which buried itself in his
neck.
“Th’ darts’” he mumbled, as thick-
ly as a drunken man might. “Th'
darts 're drugged!”
stared helplessly about the disman-
tled studio. Then the instinct of self-
preservation reasserted itself. He ran
to the back of the room, dived into a
kitchenette, found a small door in its
wall, swung it open, discovered a
dumb-waiter shaft in front of him, and
escaped to the street.
The Corridors of Dread. /
Margery Golden, as^she sat in the
taxicab which carried her homeward,
was comforted by the thought that she
had at least saved the life of a factory
girl to whom she stood indebted for
her own escape from death. The
further thought that she had sent Dan
O’Mara and his exhausted daughter
safely home in her own luxurious
limousine even reconciled her to the
semewhat stuffy-aired public convey-
ance in which she found herself. She
blinked meditatively out at the back
of the heavy faced driver so sullenly
and yet so adroitly piloting her
through the tangle of traffic. Then the
abstraction suddenly went from her
eyes and the ltatlessness from her
pose. For, from the back window of
the red-wheeled taxicab immediately
in front of her she caught sight of a
peering face. And it took no second
glance to tell her that it was the
deep-seared face of the Iron Claw him-
self.
The next moment Margery was
shouting to her sullen-faced driver.
“Follow that red-wheeled taxi.” she
told him. pointing down tho side
street. “Keep within sight of it, what-
ever happens!”
Soon they had left the city well be-
hind them and were in that twilight
zone which is neither quite rural nor
quite urban. But Margery, the mo-
ment she saw the red-wheeled taxicab
come to a stop, commanded her driver
to draw in under the shadow of a
dense row of catalpa trees. There,
from the running board of her car,
able in its companicns, about this
quadrangle so suspiciously marked by
its cross. So she stepped carefully
over the suspected area, crept forward
to the button, and touched it with a
tentative fingertip.
The next moment a remarkable
thing happened. A section of the
heavy masonry shutting off the end
of the corridor, at that touch, swung
silently about on its axis, leaving an
aperture wide enough for a human
body to pass through. The girl, hold-
ing her breath, stepped through the
ponderous masonry.
This chamber, she saw, was empty, |
except for two mysterious strands of '
iron chain that ran from ceiling to j
floor, close against the wall, while |
against the other stood a deal table !
and a camp couch across which lay a
couple of very dirty blankets. But
along the floor at the far end of the
room her quick eye detected a thin
pencil of light. So she tiptoed quietly
forward until she stood close to the
door above this illuminated crevice.
Then she stooped lower, listening In-
tently. for the sound of muffled voices
came to her from the room within.
“I tell you we can t afford to fail In
this move,” she heard the voice of
Legar himself announce, ‘"rtie thing’s
got to be settled, and settled before
i morning!”
“But how?” asked one of his £ol-
! lowers.
“With two pounds of guncotton and
a time fuse.” was Legar’s reply.
“In the O’Mara cottage?” asked an-
other voice.
“Yes; 1 want that cottage wiped off
the face of the earth, and the family
with it! And I want it done before
morning!”
Margery listened, oblivious of the
passing of time, as the conspirators
behind the closed door continued to
debate on their plan of action. Then
she started, even as much as they did,
when the sudden buzzing of an elec-
tric annunciator warned that Intent
group of an intruder’s approach.
It was then and only then that the
girl remembered her parting message
too good to be missed. They closed in
on the girl and the taxi-driver. Yet
that sullen-spirited driver, when cor-
nered, fought with an energy so ex-
plosive that the entire circle became
Involved in the struggle. It was Le-
gar himself, and only Legar, who had
the presence of mind to direct the at-
tention towards the girl. He swung
suddenly about and started for her.
She saw him coming, raised tbe heavy
wrench she still carried and sent It
flat against his bony temple and took
to her heels. She jumped into the
empty taxicab and headed for the
O’Mara cottage.
Sq colorless was her face as the be-
wildered Dan O’Mara opened the door
that he started back in alarm. And
her words were even more disturb-
ing.
“Come away!” she called out.
“Come quick, or it will be too late!"
“And what’s wrong now?” asked
the astounded householder.
“Get Peggy!” gasped the girl as she
stared frantically about the little
room. “Get her away from here, quick!
The house has been mined! There’*
been a bomb left here, and any mo-
ment—”
She stopped speaking, for the pun-
gent smell of powder smoke had as-
sailed her nostrils. Then from the
open window, in which a somewhat
neglected flower-box stood, came a
faint sputter of sound.
She ran to the window. Lying in
the flower-box she saw a heavy
cylinder of metal. Even before she
caught sight of the time-fuse which
quietly hissed and burned at one end
of the cylinder, she knew what it was.
It was the infernal machine which Le-
gar’s agent bad placed there to de-
stroy the house. And at any moment
the explosion might take place.
Margery caught the heavy cylinder
up in her hands. She even tried to
blow out the fuse. But this was use-
less. Then she tried to tear it away.
But this second effort was equally
fruitless. And sheer panic took pos-
session of her at the thought of her
helplesness. The bomb dropped from
to the taxicab driver. All that was left her fingers to the floor. ' She made one
her to do was to dart over to the camp instinctive effort to warn poor young
cot. and drop down on the stone floor J Peggy O’Mara away, as the girl ran
beside it.
The next moment Legar and his
men were in the outer chamber.While
one of the men crept to a secret out-
look crevice in the farther wall Le-
gar himself stepped to one of the con-
trol chains which ran from floor to
ceiling on the other side of the room,
and by pulling one of these started ; liable,
into action some mysterious mech- j She opened them again, at the sound
anism which the watching girl could j of a sudden step. She opened them
not quite comprehend. She saw
to her side. But instead of repeating
that warning she let her arms close
about the slender body as though in
mute acknowledgment that she knew ft
was already too late. Fcr the fuse, she
could see, was burning down Into tbe
end of the cylinder itself. She even
closed her eyes, awaiting the *ner-
But even before those mumbled she beheld Legar step out on the road,
words were spoken the swarthy-
skinned Mauki, trying to hold the still
struggling Peggy O’Mara down on a
divan, felt a sharp pain above his i atom. pushed his
to see a masked figure dart Into the
room, catch up the smoking metal
cylinder, and with one and the same
movement hurl it out through the
shoulderhlade, turned about, and saw
Legar run across the room and catch
up the heavy brass fire tongs from be-
side the mantel end.
“The paintiDg!” squeaked Mauki,
. , * *** IUUUW Uiou. li <
staggering out against the model- fail to return here Inside of ten min
pay hia chauffeur, and stand looking
after the departing taxicab until it dis-
appeared from sight. Then he turned
way in through a
tangle of shrubbery, and left the lone- j blood run cold. It took her, in fact,
ly roadside as empty as a desert trail, a ponderable space of time to under-
Then the resolute browed young wo- ' stand the scene confronting her. But
man turned to her chauffeur. as she stared out she saw where her
' I'm going to follow that man. If I unsuspecting chauffeur had stepped
on the cross-marked flagstone, tor it
them run back to the ’ inner room
and stand waiting while Legar
manipulated still another secret
spring which threw open a hidden open window,
door in the back wall of that room, j The next moment a great detonar
And that door, she surmised, led by tion shook the walls of that bouse,
some unknown passage to the outer j The bomb had exploded. But the
world- | house of O’Mara still stood. And
But Margery did not give much j Peggy and her father stared open-
thought to this, for there came to her mouthed at the newcomer, who, in-
as she regained her feet the repeated j stead of staring back at them, stood
cry of a human being, a cry husky i intently regarding Margery Golden,
with terror. She ran to the pivot door “The Laughing Mask!” said that
in the masonry, swung it back, and j somewhat shaken young lady, in little
there beheld a sight which made her t more than a whisper.
“At your service!” replied the uian
in the yellow mask, with a hali-hum-
ble and half-mocking hew as he stout,
for one fleeting moment, in the cap-
row doorway.
(TO BE CONTINUED.!
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Hudson, C. H. & Woodward, Roy. The Pearsall Leader (Pearsall, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, October 27, 1916, newspaper, October 27, 1916; Pearsall, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1096130/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .