New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1902-07-23
Master Of
the l1e
ny FRANK D. BLUI
Cops ght, 1soa, by Frank D. Blue

Il x
II eop5 1901 ~ Frank 2. Blue
So $3.50
al the men Wsnt out at East Cor
! sinth this morning; not a train out 4
was the laconic telegram handed to
the superintendent when he reached
his Office With him action was first,
reflection afterWard, and he shouted;
Here, You boy, go hunt up Cardigan!
Get him here! Hustler q
In an incredibly short time Cardigan
showed up, hat on one side Of his head,
hands in his pockets, coolly Whistling
the latest popular air, the picture Of
lunconcern, a striking contrast to the
busting activity Of his superior Off
GER
Say, Cardigan, do you know there's
a strike at East Corinth?!' ~ s.s
| Yep; heard So" was the brief re
sponse
well, what in blazes are you doing
!, here anyway? Why amt you down
| there? Get down on first train. IT
leaves in ten minutes And see that
Iyou get trains out. Do you hear p
! Underneath the apparent Indifference
Of Cardigan lay quiet, calm and cool
| action, and long before he had made
all plans to go to- East Corinth. 1t
| would never do to say so, however, to
the superintendent, who had a failing
for always wishing to be first to give
orders. II
'.All right; I'll go. Any further or.
dersg
Eyes; you fire every son Of a gun
that won't go back to work at once
Do you understand % Ell :.
| And Cardigan did understand. He
! understood the superintendent better
than the latter understood himself and
well enough to take his instructions
with grain Of allowance.
| "Don't compromise the company il
any way, and send an immediate re
port Of things when you get there
were his final Instructions.
: East Corinth was 800 miles away
and it was late in the evening when
1.-THE uperintendent received the follow:
ing telegram: 1s.
All men out ttRed Jack Podeck is
running strike. Swears not a train shall
Eleave here. All sympathize with yard
men. Things shaky. Il CARDIGAN.
Cardigan was very popular among
the men. He had risen from them
having himself twisted brakes an6
shoveled coal, and reaching his presen,
position, train master, by sheer force
of charac ter, combined with hard and
willing work .E .... ....... IKE
The strike ran along without Incl
dent for several days. Each attempt
to get a train out resulted in failure
The men were watchful and headed
off each move toward getting yar6
work done. It would seem no hard
matter to get trains out once in awhile
as the engineers, fremen, conductors
and brakemen were not engaged il
the strike, but sympathy ran rampant
and failure was recorded each time.
! One evening the superinte re
ceived a section of telegram reading
II will get a train out tomorrow
apparently from Cardigan, but the op
orator said the wire went down, ant
he could not get the rest, and direc1
communication ceased. ss,. ,.s IS ;saz
All trains had to pass the telegraph
tower, where the interlocking switche.
were, point closely guarded BY the
strikers, pickets being constantly OF
guard. Cardigan knew this point held
the key to the situation, and he direct
ed his attention to it. He tried to ge'
authority from adquarters, but TIL,
telegraph operators, though not on /
strike and apparently playing fair
managed to favor the strikers It is {
| comparatively easy matter to have til,
wires down." Nothing daunted b,
this, Cardigan resolved to tsstand th,
4 layout and Ego it alone. 2 Il
To get dependable men not in sym
pathy with the strikers was not al
easy matter, yet it was accomplished
! in time. Taking these men aside, h.
| told them to go, down into the yard a
noon, a time when few strikers wer,
around, and disconnect all the brak,
Il chains on train Of cars that had beer
ready to go east since the strike be
! gan. He then went to the tower. Nor
/ Collum, one Of the best known oper
ators Of the middle west, was ii
charge. Ss
Mort, = Cardigan said, II want yol
to give clear track for an outbount
i freight at i O'clock 80 ...s
All right, sir, : he said. But dom
you think you had better wait TIL
4 wings grow on your box cars? You'll
neversget a car by on wheels
It won't cost much to try Caddi
gan laughingly replied, and at tn
i worst it can only be another failure
digan then went to the engin
house and had old 142 fired up. Sh,
was in charge Of Andy Devine
Il want you to be right on time
Andy, 81 said; Caddigan. Back RICH
down into the yard, couple on to tha
train of cars and start for Europe
sraigh tsacross the pond. Pay no al
istention to any stop signals until yo1
are atsleast ten miles out. q :.
4 II do 1t, sir, but suppose I lose "a,