The stout man, who happens to be a stock broker, says no more.

“Get yer extra, all about six millionaires killed; get yer extra!” cry the newsboys.

“Make it seven,” shouts a coarse voice from the very heart of the mass of humanity.

And seven it is to be.

The bulletin is being cleared for a fresh notice.

“Bet you it’s a Banker this time,” a book-keeper, who had deserted his desk to get the latest news, says jestingly.

“Ah, it’ll be a dead shoemaker next,” laughingly exclaims a messenger boy who has heard the book-keeper’s remark.

By a strange coincidence the name that appears the following instant is that of Henry Hide, the head of the leather Trust.  The ribald jest of the boy proves to be all too true.

CHAPTER XXV.

BIG NEWS IN THE JAVELIN OFFICE.

Inside the newspaper offices there is even greater excitement than on the streets.  The editors are non-plussed at the appalling news that comes pouring in from every section of the laud.

How is the news to be conveyed to the people? is the question that the oldest journalist is unable to answer.

In selecting the leading feature of the day’s terrible news, what is to be considered?  The fact that an astounding number of murders or accidents have simultaneously stricken with death a score of the leading men of the country, is in itself a matter of unprecedented importance.  But the end is not in sight.  Every half hour brings tidings of still other deaths and murders.

The peculiar feature of the news is, however, that in every instance where a banker, mine owner or financier is murdered, the evil-doer has committed suicide.  What does this indicate?  Is it a concerted move on the part of some society; or is it the result of an inexplicable fatalistic phenomenon?

Just as a decision on these points is arrived at, and the editors have given their orders for the make-up of the extras, some account, either of the death of a railroad magnate or the head of some one of the great trusts, is received.  The necessity of a change in the form of the paper is made imperative.  For the thought that a rival sheet may feature the news forces a change.

Extras of the evening papers are being issued every half hour.  The excitement on the streets exceeds even that of the days when the reports of our wars was the all absorbing topic.

In the present calamity men know not what to think.  To some it is apparent that a modern juggernaut is abroad; others hold the belief that a conspiracy is being carried to its bloody fulfillment.

No more accurate idea of the confused condition of the public mind can be gathered than from a study of the action in the editorial rooms of the great New York newspaper, the Javelin.

The editorial staff of this paper is composed of the brainiest men in journalism; men who have won distinction in their profession by reason of their ability to handle the news of the day in a manner that will satisfy the demands of the public.