Produced by V. L. Simpson, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) A REPUBLIC WITHOUT A PRESIDENT AND OTHER STORIES BY HERBERT D. WARD AUTHOR OF "THE NEW SENIOR AT ANDOVER," "THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS," ETC. NEW YORK TAIT, SONS & COMPANY Union Square Copyright, 1891. BY HERBERT D. WARD. A REPUBLIC WITHOUT A PRESIDENT. PART I. On the morning of the eighth of June, 1893, at about ten o'clock, crowds were seen clustered in front of the daily newspaper bulletins in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boston. The excitement rivalled that occasioned by the assassination of Garfield, and by night the country was as bewildered and aghast as when the news came that Lincoln was murdered. This was the announcement as it appeared in blood-red, gigantic capitals by the door of the New York _Tribune_ building: UNPRECEDENTED CALAMITY! AWFUL MYSTERY! THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE SPIRITED AWAY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE! TWO SERVANTS FOUND GAGGED! NOT A TRACE OF THE DISTINGUISHED COUPLE! THE COUNTRY AGHAST AT THE DREADFUL POSSIBILITIES OF THIS DISAPPEARANCE! Extras found enormous sales, but they contained no more news than this. Business was brought to a standstill and stocks fell in half an hour from five to twenty per cent. The land was convulsed. It was true that there were those who thought the whole thing a colossal hoax perpetrated by the defeated party. But as time went on the startling and incredible news was confirmed. The evening edition of the New York _Sun_ had these ominous headers. THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE HAVE ACTUALLY DISAPPEARED. THE GAGGED SERVANTS OF THE WHITE HOUSE TELL THEIR STORY. THEY ARE IN PRISON ON GRAVE SUSPICION OF CONSPIRACY. THE CARD OF AN EMINENT POLITICIAN FOUND IN THE VESTIBULE OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. IS A DARK POLITICAL PLOT ABOUT TO BE UNEARTHED? The next day found the situation unchanged. Rumors of every description ran wild. Telegrams of condolence from all the sovereigns of the world were received at Washington by the dazed Department of State. These were fully given to the omnivorous press. By order of the Vice-President, all other news was for the present rigorously withheld from publication. To this censorship the press submitted cordially. Mystery was brooding over the land, and despair laughed detectives in the face. Men met each other and asked only this question: "Have they been found?" A sad shake of the head always followed. "No wonder," the Governor of Massachusetts was heard to say, "with thousands of assassins coming over here every year. Even our President was not safe. God help our country!"