Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-11-29
CHAPTER XVIII.
DOWN, BRUNO!

For six days after the night of rev.
Citations Kent Owed deep, personally
and by paid proxy. in sea of secrecy
which, for the five pregnant minutes in
the doorway of the governors Office,
might easily have proved fathomless.
= On the seventh day the conhagration
broke out. The editor of the Belmount
Ref1ner was the first to smell the smoke
and to raise the cry of "Fire!" but
by midnight the wires were humming
with the news and the entire state
was ablaze.
The story as it appeared under the
scare headlines the next morning was
crfsply told. An oil company had
been formed with Senator Duvall at
its head. After its Incorporation it
was ascerta1ned that it not only held
options on all the most valuable wells
In the Belmount region, but that it's
charter gave it immunity from the
laws requiring all corporations to have
their organizations, officers, and op-
Grating headquarters in the state. BY
the time the new company. was three
days old it had quietly taken up its
options and was the single big fish
n the pool by virtue of its having
swallowed all the little ones.
Then came the finishing stroke
which had set, the wires to humming.
IN tho sixth day it was noised about
hat Senator Duvall had transferred
lis controlling interest to Rumford-
otherwise to the Universal Oil COM
7ny; that he had served only as a
akurehead in the transaction, using
n1s standing, social and political, to
SECURE the charter which had been de-
nied Rumford and his associates.
1t had been managed very skill
FULLY; the Gaping Of the wells by the
Optversal's agent, the practical seal
Ing up of the entire district, being the
first public intimation Of the result of
Duvall's treachery and the complete
triumph of a foreign monopoly.
The storm that swept the state when
the facts came out were cyclonic, and
it was reported, as it needed to be,
that Senator Duvall had disappeared
Never in the history of the state had
public feeling risen SO high; and there
we're not lacking those who said that
II Duvall showed himself his life would
not be safe in the streets Of the cap
| ital. : 4 5> Il:
It was after the Argus had gone
to press on the night of explosions
that Editor Hildreth sought and found
David Kent in his rooms at the Clar-
endon, and poured out the Walls Of
his wrath. . IFS. =. /. = {. + !. ~: ~
Say, I'd like to- know IL you cuc-call
this giving me a fair show!" he de-
manded, flinging into Kent's sitting
room and dropping into q chair. did
l, or did 4 not understand that I was
to have the age on this oil business
when there was anything at to print 2
Kent gave the night editor cigar
and was otherwise exasperatingly per.
turbab1e. B = +. s = sz. ss5e
Keep your clothes on, and don't
accuse man Of disloyalty until you
have all the documents In the case >
he said. Il didn't know. until I saw
your bulletin a few hours ago, that
the thing had been pulled of. II
fact, I've been too busy with other
things to pay much attention to the
Belmount end Of it. 4 : & II Z u:
The ded-devil you have!". sputtered
Hildreth, chewing savagely on TIL
| gift cigar. ."'I'd like to know what
business you had to mix up in othe,
things to the detriment Of my news
column. You were the one man who
knew all about it; or 1t least you dtt
q week or two ago. ...= *
Yes; {. but other and more important
i things have interviewed. have beer
desperately busy, as say. al a
well, you've lost your chance "a
get your grip on the capitol gang
anyway; that Is one comfort
growled the editor, getting what con.
ISOLATION no could out sof Kent's appar
emit failure. . rhey played It too fuf
fins for yot, ''s@ . 5) ss.. 5
Did they = said Kent.
ut looks pretty much that way
doesn't It? Duvall IL the scapegoat
and the only one. About day aftel
Tomorrow Bucks organ, the Tribune
will come out With m inspired edi'
toria1 whitewashing the entire capito'
outf.... II will show how Rumford.i
apple ton for the chart ter w. re.
ia.s.l ,nd. hox q truly rood "a bs -