Charles E. Van Loan

“ II Jimmy Dacey was a middle-aged reporter on a morning newspaper, a walking gold-mine of miscellaneous information, and the owner of a memory like a filing-cabinet. All sorts of interesting things were stored away in his head, to be turned up at the price of a question. Privately, he believed that the Great Gilmore was the cleverest fraud out of jail, but since the doctor was "getting away with it," Dacey gave him the credit due under the circumstances.
Dacey interested the doctor; the doctor interested Dacey. It was an even exchange. Neither man asked or expected perfect confidence. ”

“ Nothing like the old-time reporters, these days! You know; a man in my line of—research should be interested in life in all its phases. Human nature, Jimmy! Ah, there isn't a study in the world like it!"
"And that's right, too," said the reporter.
Dacey stood on the corner, waiting for his car, and watched the Great Gilmore swing down the street, twirling his cane. ”

“ If I'm any judge, he's telling the truth when he says he doesn't know where Bad Jake hid the stuff.
"But the old rascal fooled 'em; he got well after all. Must have had the constitution of a grizzly bear. I didn't see him the last time I was down at Canyon City, because he was out with a road gang. He's been a 'trusty' for years, and the warden tells me the old coot has got religion now. What do you know about that for a combination?"
"Strange," remarked Gilmore, "but the more abandoned the life a man has led, the stronger he takes to religion when it does hit him. ”