Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-15
TEN YEARS TRIAL I3 @
 The Story of a
 Soldiers Struggle By Brigadier General
 CHARLES KING
Copyright. 1901, by Charles King.

hour. Word was sent to little Major McConville, but he, with his men, was moving and guarding cattle trains. The best he could do was to send com pany on the run, but their captain had had no experience. The sheriff vainly tried to tell them how Langdon had handled things over at the Big Horn. He would take no responsibility. They dare not, and the mob saw it in twin king The only wonder is they did not dash upon this isolated command and by sheer force of numbers bear it down and seize it's arms. When at last the Nathan train steamed in and the command tumbled off at the sub- urbs, it waa the younger officers who. led the detachments, Nathan retaining 10 of his men ostensibly to guard the train. But it was his own precious hide of which he was thinking. He decided to establish his headquarters in his own car, while Torrance, with 30 sturdy battery men on one flank, and Woodrow, with like number on the other, showed ahead and, guided by deputy sheriffs and railway officials, did their belated work in short order and yo@ in deep chagrin. Santley, sul-! len and dfsgusted, was retained with Nathan as adjutant, but he could only. obey. The news of Melyille's prostra-. ton reached them five miles out from town and completed Nathan's demor- alization even while it threw him in supreme command. The first thing he did, therefore, was to send back a L. fIl lad al the way on a hand car, to wire from there to Omaha and Pawnee the griev- ous tidings that Major Melville had been stricken down by rioters and lay insensible in charge of the physicians. Nathan thought the situation demand ed re-enforcement at once; so did old Gray Fox, commanding at Omaha, and the latter ordered thither just one man, captain of infantry senior in rank to Nathan. What they needed was cool head, said he, not cold feet, and, lest the uninitiated should misinterpret the phrase, let it be explained here and now that "cold feet" is soldier syno- nym for "scare."
 Things were indeed in grievous shape when the vice presidential car rolled into the Seattle yards and ranged up alongside that of Captain Nathan. By that time, thanks to Santley, sentinels had been thrown about the sacred pre- cincts, and, seeing no rioters in the inn mediate neighborhood, Nathan had measurably recovered his nerve. He hoped to make a favorable impression on his wife's plutocratic uncle, but MT. Barclay sniffed the fumes of smolder- ing thousands, and the sight Of half a mile of smoking ruins, up the track soured him utterly. All this could have been dpreyenteda had I Nathan shown1any dash, pluck, energy-any of the qualities railway men admire and so many possess. And then to think that even now the Big Horn was open! He had seen Channing's first train whistling down the opposite side of the gorge. He learned from his satel- lites, boarding the car to the east of of the Big Horns buildings. A tre- mendous story it made by that time, and the heart of the magnate was sore in his bosom that such i'll should have befallen the Seattle, such good fortune the Missouri Valley. He hated Chan ming, anyhow Charming was sprung from the ranks and had worked his way up step by step from section boss to superintendent in one road after an- other. He had been assistant general superintendent of the Seattle only a few years back, and when the vacancy occurred that should have been tender ed to so energetic and valuable man it was Barclay who opposed it. Chan ning's all right for an assistant or sub ordinate" said he, "but he hasn't the education or the social position a su- perintendent should have" So man with Barclays requirements got the promotion over Channing's head, whereat the latter instantly resigned, went over to the Northern Pacific for a short term, and then it was the Big Horn that rendered him the superin- tendency and within another year made him general manager.
 If the president and board of direct ors will look after the finances" said he, .I'll run the road.' And run it he had and marvelously well, to the secret dismay of the Seattle And now at the first serious clash he had strengthened things out for his own road while the strikers were smashing things for the Seattle, and Barclay could have cursed the day he let him go.
 But that wasn't all.
 It took hours to gather his forces and count the costs. Then he could have sworn that Melville had so ordered the distribution of troops as purposely to expose the Seattle's yards, whereas Melville had sent more troops to the south side than he had retained on the north, little McConville, with four companies, having been detailed to GOV CT the Seattle's lines, and 'Mac" had saved their stock trains, though he couldn't be everywhere at once and so protect their sheds and shops. Bar clay had only succeeded in getting his division superintenGents, with impro- vised crews, at work and his cattle off their cars and into the corralS when nightfall came. He had found only a meager half dozen laborers for the nee essary work, Charming having earlier gathered in every willing hand the l town afforded, and when the morning of the morrow dawned the Big Horn shop whistle sounded as of yore, and | its east bound train set forth on time, 1 xubi1a fhara yfrara cfiJl only SiInDon and