St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-07-16
MASTER OF THE STRIKE.

NTH this morning; not train out,
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
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
unconcern, striking contrast to the
busting activity of his superior Off
Ger.
"Say, CaddigW, do you know there's
a strike at East Corinth"
"Yep; heard So" was the brief re.
spouse.
"Well, what in blazes are you doing
here anyway? Why amt you down
there? Get down on first train. 1t
leaves in ten minutes. And see that
you get trains out. Do you hear?"
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.
"All right; I'll CO. Any further Or
ders?"
Eyes; you fire every son of a gun
that won't go back to work at once.
Do you understand"
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 in
any way, and send an immediate re-
port of things when you get there"
were his final instructions.
East Corinth was 300 miles away,
and it was late in the evening when
the superintendent received the follow
ing telegram:
All ll6l Oul. Itu JdCh OucCh IL
running strike. Swears not train shall
leave here. All sympathize with yard
men. Things shaky. CARDIGAN.
Cardigan was very popular among
the men. He had risen from them,
having himself twisted brakes and
shoveled coal, and reaching his present
position, train master, by sheer force
of character combined with hard and
willing work.
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 yard
work done. 1t would seem no hard
matter to get trains out once in awhile,
as the engineers, tiremen, conductors
and brakemen were not engaged in
the strike but sympathy ran rampant,
and failure was recorded each time.
One evening the superintendent re-
ceived a section of telegram reading:
Il will get train out tomorrow
apparently from Cardigan, but the OPP
orator said the wire went down, and
he could not get the rest, and direct
, communication ceased.
: All trains had to pass the telegraph
tower, where the interlocking switches
were, a point closely guarded by the
strikers, pickets being constantly on
guard Cardigan knew this point held
the key to the situation, and he direct
ed his attention to it. He tried to get
: authority from headquarters, but the
, telegraph operators, though not on a
| strike and apparently playing fair
managed to favor the strikers. 1t is a
| comparatively easy matter to have the
: wires down" Nothing daunted by
this, Cardigan resolved to stand the
layout" and "go it alone"
To get dependable men not in sym
pathy with the strikers was not ar
r easy matter, yet it was accomplished
in time. Taking these men aside, hi
told them to go down into the yard a
noon, a time when few strikers were
: around, and disconnect all the brake
n chains on train of cars that had beer
: ready to go east since the strike be
j gan. He then went to the tower. Nor
o Collum, one of the best known oper
S ators of the middle west was il
: charge.
:, Mort" Cardigan said, II want yo1
;, to give a clear track for an OUTBOUND
a freight at 1 o'clock"
a "All right, sir" he said. "But don
d you think you had better wait til
wings grow on your box cars? You'll
never get car by on wheels"
5 at won't cost much to try" Caddt
y gan laughingly replied, "and at tn
worst it can only be another failure"
lie Cardigan then went to the engin
1t house and had old 142 fired up. Sh
u was in charge of Andy Devine.
n 81 want you to be right on time
a. Andy" said Cardigan. Back rigl
~ down into the yard, couple on to tina
h train of cars and start for Europe
,e straight across the pond. Pay no a
N tention to any stop signals until 20
sc are at least ten miles out"
'I'll do it, sir, but suppose l lose m
Ia cars
O. go on, Andy" Cardigan Gale
o, back. you'll have your cars all RICH
u Trust me for that"
The engine went to the yard withol
, trouble and no effort was made to DR.