Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-18
CHAPTER VIII.
THE LAWMAKERS

the new trust and corporation law be-
came effective at once, "the public
welfare requiring IT,: and though
there was an immediate sympathetic
decline in the securities involved,
there was no panic, financial or indus
trial. to mark the change from the
old to the new.
Contrary to the expectations OF the
alarmists and the lawyers. and some
what to the disappointment OF the
latter. the vested interests showed no
disposition to test the constitutional
ity OF the act In the courts. So far
indeed, from making difficulties, the
various alien corporations affected by
the new law wheeled promptly into
line In compliance with its provis-
ions, vieing with one another In prov
ing. or seeming to prove. the time
worn aphorism that capital can never
afford to be otherwise than strictly
law-abidlng.
In the reorganization Of the Western
Pacific. David Kent developed at once
and heartily into that rare and
much-soueht-for quantity. man for
an emergency. Loring. also. was a
busy man In this transition period. yet
he found time to keep an appreciative
eye on Kent. and. true to his implied
promise. pushed him vigorously for the
first place in the legal department OF
the localized company. Since the resi-
dent manager stood high In the Bos-
ton counsels of the company. .sthe push
ing was not without results; and
while David Kent was still mp to his
eyes in the work Of fogsing the affairs
of the newly named Trans-Western
into conformity with the law. his ap-
pointment came from the advisory
board.
So Il befell that while the newly ap-
pointed general counsel OF the reor-
ganlzed Western Pacific was bolting
his meals and clipping the nights at
both ends In strenuous endeavor to
clear the decks for possible battle
royal at the capital. events Of NINA
tory nature were shaping themselves
elsewhere.
To bring these events down to their
focusing point in the period Of transit
tion. It is ueedful to go back little:
TO a term of the circuit court held
In the third year OF CASTOR the pros
porous. ....
Who Mrs. Melissa Varnum was;
how she came to be travelling from
Midland City to the end Of the track
on scalper's ticket: and In what
manner she was given her choice OF
paying fare to the conductor or leay-
ing the train at Gaston-these are de-
tails with which we need not concern
ourselves. Suffice II to say that Kent.
then local attorney for the company,
mastered them: and when Mrs. Var
num-. through Hawk. her counsel. sued
for $1,000 damages. he was able to
get a continuance. knowing from long
experience that the jury would cer-
tainly find for the plaintiff II the case
were then allowed to go to trial.
And at the succeeding term Of court,
which was the one that adjourned on
the day Of Kent's transfer to the capi-
tai. two Of the company's best wit
nesses had disappeared: and the one
BIT of company business Kent had been
successful in doing that day was to
postpone for a second time the coming
trial of the Varnum case.
It was while Kent's head was deep
est In the food Of reorganization that
q letter came from one Blashfield
Hunnicott. his successor in the local
attorneyship at CASTOR. asking for in
structions in the Varnum matter.
Judge. MacFarlane's court would con-
vene in q week. Was he. Hunnicott,
to let the case come to trial? Or should
he-the witnesses still being unpro-
ducible-move for a further continu-
ance?
Kent took his head out Of the cross
seas long enough to answer. BY all
means Hunnicott was to obtain an
other continuance, II possible. And
II, before the case were called. there
should be any new developments. he
was to wire at once to the general
ofiice, and further instructions would
issue
Il was about this time, or, to be
strictly accurate, on the day preceding
the convening Of Judge MacFarlane's
court in CASTOR. that Governor Bucks
took q short vacstion-his first since
the adjournment Of the assembly.
Late that same night, Stephen Hawk
was keeping q rather discomforting
vigil with a visitor IL the best suite
of rooms the Continent Hotel in
CASTOR afforded. The guest OF honor
was brother lawyer-though he might
have refused to acknowledge the rela-
tionship with the ex-district attorney
q keea-eyed, business-like gentleman,
whose name as an organizer OF vast
capitalistic ventures had travelled far,
and whose present attitude was one OF
undisguised and angry contempt for
CASTOR and all things Gastonian.
How much longer have we to waltz"
he demanded impatiently, when the
hands of his watch pointed to the quar-
ter-hour after ten. you've made me
travel two thousand miles to see this
thing through: why didn't you make
sure Of having your man here?'
Hawk wriggled uneasily in his chair.
He was used to being bullied, not
only by the good and great, but by the
little and evil as we'll. Yet there was
a rasp to the great mans impatience
that irritated him.
1--WE been trying to tell you all even
ing that I'm only the hired man in this
business, Mr.. Falkland. can't COM
pel the attendance of the other par
ties"
well, it's damned badly managed,
as far as we've gone" was the un-
gracious comment. You say the judge
refuses to confer with me?"
Absolutely"
"And the train-the last train the
other man can come on. is that In
YETI"
Hawk consulted his watch.
"A good half-hour ago."
"You had your clerk at the station