The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-10-02

after all. nothing to him He belonged
on Canal street. East Side, and Canal
street, East Side, seemed peaceful.
The river had fallen abruptly silent:
The last OF Jimmy's dashboardS was
. in place. Back In the sleeping town
the clock in Pierce's tower struck two.
Jimmy and his men. having thus
raised the level Of the dam a good three
feet, emerged dripping from. the west
side canal, and cheerfully took their
way northward to where, In the chilly
dawn, their comrades were sleeping.
AS they passed the rifles they paused, ::
A heavy grumbling issued from tire
logs jammed there, a grumbltng brut-
ish and sullen, as though the reluctant
animals were beginning to stir. The
water had already banked up from the
raised dam
OF course the affair, from a river
drivers standpoint, at once became exi
ceedingly simple. The slumberipg
twenty were aroused to astounded
drowsiness. BY three, just as the dawn
was beginning to streak the east, the
regular clink, clank. click Of the peevtes
proclaimed that due advantage Of the
high water was being seized. From then.
until six was a matter OF three hours
more.
A great deal can be accomplished in
three hours with flood water. The last
little jam pulled" just about the Tina
the first citizen Of the West Side dis
covered that his cellar was full Of
water. When that startled freeman
opened up the front door to see what
was up he uttered tremendous ejacu-
lation; and so, shortly, came to the
construction Of a raft. -
Well, the newspapers got out extras
with scare heads about "Outrages' and
''High-Handed LawIessness''; and fac
tory owners by the canals raised up
their voices in bitterness over. flooded
fireroons; and property owners OF per
ishable cellar goods hOWled Of damage
suits; and the ordinary citizen took to.
bailing out the hollow places Of his
domain. Toward 8 o'clock-after the
first excitement had died and the fash.
boards had been Indignantly. yan4ed
from their Illegal places-a squad OF
police went out to hunt up the male;
factor The latter they discovered on
a boom pole directing the slu1cing-
From this position he declined to- stir.
One fat policeman ventured topping
yard or so on the floating timber, threw
his shaky hands aIoft and with a;
mighty effort regained the shore, where
he sat down painting.
To the appeals Of the squad to como
and be arrested Jimmy paid not the
slightest attention. He pulled pertodi-
calIy on his "meerschaum," and. Ill
rected the sIuicing. Through the .twea--
ty-four foot gate about a million an.
hour passed. Thus 1t came about that
a little after noon Jimmy stepped
peaceabIy ashore and delivered himself
up. =
you won't have no more troubls
below" he observed to MeGann, his.
lieutenant, watching refectively the.
last log as 1t shot through the gate:
Just tie right into her and keep her
L IL - l. -
lit it and approached the expectant
squad
At the station-house he was inter
viewed by reporters. That Is, they
asked questions. To only one OF them
did they elicit a reply.
Didn't you know you were breaking
the law?" inquired the Eagle man,
Didn't you know you'd be arrested?.'
"Sure!" replied Jimmy with obvious
contempt. -.
The next morning the courtroom. was
crowded. Jimmy pleaded guilty. and
was sentenced to a fine Of $500 or
ninety days in Jail. To the surprise Of
everybody he flshed out a tremendous
roll and paid the fine. The spectators
considered 1t remarkable that a. river
boss should carry such an amount.
They had not been present at the IN
terview on the boom poles between
Jimmy and his principal the day before.
HC 1dLLCI SNOOQ AACelA St4C NCCS - 40
little man came out.
Jimmy" said Mr.. DAILY distinctly so
that everybody could hear, II am ex-
tremely sorry to see you in trouble, but :
perhaps 1t may prove lesson TO you
Next time you must understand that
YOU are not supposed to exceed your
instructions" ..''.
Thus did the astuts Daily publicly dis
claim liability.
Eyes, sir" said Jimmy meskly. do
you think you will get the logs In time,
Mr.. Daly?' -:
They looked at each other steadily.
Then for the first and only time the
black and white mask Of Jfmny's In
scrutability melted away. In his left
eye appeared faint glimmer. Then
the left eyelid slowly descended.