Life — October 21, 1915 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

740 Interviews with Dead Celebrities TR castle was not only in ruins, but was so hidden in a tangled mass of forest that I had great trouble in finding it. But at last my patience was rewarded. Sitting silently on the rear porch, smoking his ghost of a corncob pipe, his great beard reaching to the ground, I discovered him—the most dejected creature I remember ever to have interviewed. “T am glad to see you,” he said, his spectral cye brightening. ‘ You behold in me the victim of the world’s great- est injustice, and that is saying a great deal.” “Mr. Bluebeard,” I replied, “that is one reason why I have come. I've always been for the under-dog, and I don’t mind telling you that I have always entertained for you a great re- spect. I've always felt that your side of the case had never been properly presented, and I want to give you this opportunity to square yourself.” There was a moment of intense si- Ience. Then, with a voice freighted with emotion, he replied: ir, I thank you. That wife of mine! My, but she was a terror! She never would let me go out nights. I never even could sneak off in the afternoon to play a respectable game of golf but she nagged me about it. Now, with regard to that secret room. Nothing in it, I assure you. That was the only room in the house where I could go off quietly by myself and rest up. If I hadn't kept it under lock and key she would have gone in there, disarranged all my papers, filled it full of sofa pillows, introduced a new sys- tem of hygienic decoration, hung up lace curtains, and, in fact, made it unlivable for a simple soul like me. It was the only place I had to go and recuperate from the constant round of feminine festivities she was constantly forcing on me.” “But didn’t you get angry one day,” I said gently, “and lose your temper when she broke in, and——” He waved me off. eo NANEATIAN ISLAND 2000 A.D. REDUCED FROM TWENTY-FIVE “Nothing in that, I assure you,” he said. “I defended myself, that’s all. She wanted to get in there and move all the furniture, and for the only time in my life (can you blame me?) I stood my ground. Then—because she didn’t have her own way—she took the car out, drove it at reckless speed, was run into and came to her end. And they say I did it.” He buried his face in his hands. “Never mind, old fellow,” I whis- pered in his ear as I left him; “you shall be vindicated. I'll give the true story of the most hen-pecked man in history.” Filled with a deep sense of grati- tude, he could only press my hand as 1 made my exit. Old Adages Disproved HAT actions speak louder than words, This adage was invented before the formation of the woman- suffrage party, or the birth of Theo- dore Roosevelt. “ Words speak louder than actions,” is now the order of the day. Surprising 'HE Sun prints a three-column ar- ticle in defense of the Rock Island Pirates’ and Pillagers’ Asso- ciation, The author is an unnamed ex- pert and “critic” of the Interstate Commerce Commission's report on the looting of the Rock Island. Here is part of it: The Interstate Commerce Com- mission showed a surprising lack of real information concerning the Property, considering that its in- vestigators spent more than fifteen months going over the books of the company, not to mention the various times when it had officials of the property on the stand in Washington. But, on the other hand, when we note how carefully Mr. Daniel Reid burnt his books every month, and when we consider the marvelously weak memories of all the “officials of the property” when on the stand, and the other highly evolved devices for con- cealing fraud, we might say that the In- terstate Commerce Commission showed a surprising skill in revealing the es- sential skulduggery of those supreme financial prestidigitations. comicbooks.com