The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-12
CHAPTER XIV.

of Mr.. Griggss telegraph letter in the
Times it seemed to both Senator Shacklett
and his wife that it was only day until
the events of months had passed, his sue
cessor elected, and Washington had been
left behind them. Mrs. Shacklett said the
final homeward trip to Warsaw was like
going home from funeral where one had
only a slight acquaintance with the de-
ceased. Her husband said that it was to
him more like what he had always mag
ined going home from college after gradua-
tion was like.
After they changed cars at Burlington
they moved over to the eastern side of the
car, and Mrs. Shacklett did not take her
eyes off the Mississippi river while they
were on it's banks for miles. She felt that
she always absorbed strength from the
river, and that it was impossible to do
petty things in sight of its vastness and
greatness and power.
Once installed at the Heights, overlook
ing the river and the wide landscape, she
felt restful spirit, which Shacklett him.
self experienced in part. For while they
were vibrating from this plan to that one,
and Shacklett was making such frequent
trips to Chicago and the East that his wife
said she felt that he was the bob on the,
end of a great pendulum, which swung
toward her at almost regular intervals. In
her new happiness she was full of odd little
conceits, which amused her husband and
gave an outlet for her OVERLOOKING spirits
that she herself called Stiffness at times.
Then came the position as general counsel
of the railroad and some hard work for
Shacklet., who said that he was now in
deed pendulum, swinging from the law
of contributory negligence, in personal in
jury cases, to the decisions upon rever-
sionary interests and eminent domain, in
cases growing out of the extension of the
road that was being built. Shacklett had
stipulated that he was not to do any but
strictly law practice for the road, and that
the conduct of the lawmakers should be
placed entirely in other hands. So he kept
away from Springfield except when he had
business in the Supreme Court, and his
work took him into the Circuit Courts of
all the counties on his road, where he
quick TO make friends among the lawyers,
and soon had a reputation for doing an
immense amount of work in a short time
He said he enjoyed the new phase of his
life, and told his wife that he much pre-
ferred TO be the pendulum swinging from
one court to another to being the clock
work that wrecked itself as soon as the
pendulum's restraint was taken off.
In one particular case Larry McNoogan's
COW ran against the pendulum and started
the swinging, which, before it ceased, made
| the clockwork sound an alarm that was
heard all over the State She gave up her
| life, it is true, but Larry did all he could
| to prevent the catastrophe. Indeed, that
| is how 1t all came about. The COW man.
aged in some way to get within the inclosed
right-of-way of the railroad and when
Larry tried to drive her out where the
wires joined the hedge and could be sep
| arated she became frolicsome. The Jack
snipe was coming, and, being the fastest
| train on the road it could not afford to
! slow down on the chance that the man
would fail to keep the COW off the track
/ The engineer blew sundry short blasts with
! his whistle as legal notice to all concerned,
but when the COW, with Larry rod behind
| her. started across the rails at the most
| inopportune moment the pilot threw her
/ high in the air, gave her a complete turn
to starboard, and landed her upon Larry
/ himself with the force of missile from a
sixteenth-century catapult.
/ The company, under the circumstances
did not think it wise to send its surgeon,
and the doctor who set Larry's broken leg
managed TO leave him with both a stiff an
kle and false joint, half way between the
knee and the foot, which contributed more
to his lameness than did the lack of a
| joint at the ankle.
The lawyer that Larry went to see as
soon as he got out on crutches was not GER
tain about the legal right to recover, but
| felt sure that the railroad would compro-
mise the case for something, and, of
| course, agreed with his client that the COM
pany ought to pay for both the cow and
the lameness, although. as he well knew,
railroads never pay any claims they can
fight.
| Larry told his story better each time he
came to town and called on his attorney.
| industriously practicing in the interims diff
ferent variations of expression in order to
choose the one which would make his evil
dence weigh heaviest with the jury.
| His lawyer who was to get half the re-
ceipts, was equally hard at work planning
his attack on the claim agent of the COM
/ pany in order to insure success as far as
possible. He first wrote formal letter
informing the road that he represented
Lawrence p. McNoogan, and he thought 1t
worth while to have the county clerk copy
| this for him on typewriter. When this
| and several other letters, some of which
were in pen text because the clerk was out
| of town and the deputy was not on good
terms with the attorney, remained unan-
swered he filed suit for $4,000, and waited
| for the attorney of the road to cali upon
him. But the answer was filed by mail
the last day but one within the statutory
provision, and the lawyer deemed it best to
impress the Importance of his case upon the
company by going past two division points
and superintendent to call upon the gem
eral manager. Right here is where the
pendulum started upon its first full beat
| with accelerating force. The general man.
ager had just authorized draft Of consid-
cradle size upon the company's treasury for
| the right of way across the last piece of
land upon the new extension. and the re-
ception of the lawyer was at first very cold
and a little later very heated. Compromise
was not the password to the company's
strong box that day, and before the lawyer
reached the street the general managers
| stenographer had taken down this to go
by wire:
IN. c.. Shacklett, Warsaw: Please give
| enough personal attention to McNoogan
case TO beat ii without any chance of fail
! ing. / want that case won with peculiar
smoothness and directness, for special rea-
sons. j. z. Norton