Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-10-21

IL left the situation on the south side
in the hands of the rioters for over nm
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 Oh 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
care 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 its arms. When at
last the Nathan train steamed in and
the command tumbled off at the sub
urbs. it was the younger officers who
Led the detachments Nathan retaining
GU 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 80
sturdy battery men on one flank, and
Woodrow. with, a like number on the
other showed ahead and. guided by
/ deputy shcrifrs and railway officials.
| did THEW belated work in short order
ana yet il, deep chagrin. Santley, sui
/ len and Disguised. was retained with
Nathan as adjutant but he could only
obey. The news of Melville's pros--a-
ton reached them five miles out from
town and completed Nathan's demon
allZation even Willie 1t threw him in
supreme command. The first thing he
did, therefore, was to send back a
messenger to Gunnison, trundled all
the way on hand car, to wire from
there to Omaha and Pawnee the griev-
Gus tidings that Major Melville had
been stricken down by rioters and lay
insensible in charge Of the physicians.
Nathan thought the situation demand
ed reinforcement 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 a cool
head, said he, not cold feet, and, lest
the uninitiated should misinterpret the
Ri4i ooS, AZ IL NC 0ApidluSu mere anu
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 I'D
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 i'm
mediate neighborhood Nathan had
measurably recovered his nerve. He,
hoped to make a favorable impression
on his wife's plutocratic uncle, but Mr.
Barclay shifted 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 prevented had Nathan
shown any 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
town, of the almost miraculous rescue
of the Big Horns buildings. A ire,
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. Claiming 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 a man
1t was Barclay who opposed it. Chan
nlngs all right for an assistant or sub
said he. "but he hasn't the
education or the social position SUI
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
DIS will look after the finances" said
he, III 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
1t 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 Seattles yards. whereas
Melville had sent more troops to the
south side than he had retained OH the |
forth, little McConville, with four
having been detailed to COW
IT the Seattle's lines, and Mac" had
saved their stock trains, though he
couldn't be everywhere at once and so