Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-08
ICE MAN FROZEN OUT BY
GRAFTERS PERSISTENCE

| 'h-huh-how inuch l asked the prcS!-
dent OF the municipal council. quick 'You
| OF course know that / can't spare these
| dubs for a minute IL I'm to go on manufac-
| turing Ice. Tell you what I'll do. III slip
| proving job
! Il named the s. apiece figure to nag him
II he intended to make It IS a throw.
Wanted a Higher Figure.
We'll. that hgure-s2 per dub-was small.
he considered-very small The twenty-five
| brave boys would be required to work two
weeks on the road improvements and s.
| gold apiece-such an amount to obtain their
! immunity seemed far too small So he
started TO go. with many deep bows I
| called him back by naming my top figure
! 81 apiece. and he took II. I assed him tho
st6. and he logged away on his white mule
looking as sad as II somebody had roped
| MIN ana taken something away from him.
| only about week after that | had a
| call from lieutenant general. who had a
| list 10 starboard from the heavy loops OF
! golden junk that he wore on the right side
or his tunlc. He was the quick worker. I
| was an adaptive son of the country was I
| not? Very well. then. He had called upon
me to converse upon the subject OF the ma
| tional defense. The autumn maneuycrs Of
! the army were about 10 begin. He desired
| to have me present at part of the mlncu-
vers. l would be amazed at the efficiency
| saw, he told me. Then. after taking his
| leave. and really starting he came back
| as | knew he would
oh. there was n little matter he had for
gotten. My twenty-five employees, all brave
and loyal sons OF the repuhlic-they would
be required to be put through their first
general operations at the mancuvers-there
was to be corps composed of temporary
| recruits. Their services. however. would
not be required for greater period than
three weeks. but
Before he got word further than that /
asked the lieutenant general the how
much question. and before he could answer
m th1f 4 h..al
to be about right. But he couldn't that
price for a minute. and in his soreness he
came very near giving himself away-oh.
What, So each. he expostulated when
| another officer. man vastly inferior In
rank to him, a lieutenant generai.of course
he referred to the major who'd snagged
| 50 head at the first try-and the lieu
tenant general quit there.
of course l had to jump the figure to
S. head for fear that he d want to bunch
the ante. He took my terms and went
| away with his $1l0 gold, right chippersh.
| so he was.
Still They Came.
Il was sought out ten days later by the
commissioner of the public health OF the
town. He seemed to be very downcast
about the state OF the public health He
| told me that there had been an outbreak Of
smallpox in the near neghborhood OF my
| ice plant-though l hadn't heard anything
about 1t. He was very sorry, but he would
be compelled to vaccinate my employees.
told him that I'D be all right-to go right
ahead and vaccinate EN- much as he
wanted to.
Well he was mighty pleased. he assured
me, to observe that took his information
so pleasantly. OF course | was aware OF
| the fact, he supposed. that in the hot
| countries 1t took a vaccinated person from
| two weeks to month, all the time lying
still. to recover from vaccination? l
| did, at that, remember that vaccination
down in the tropics takes something fierce
generally. AS he started to go to the COM
missioner Of the public health, still pleased.
| he assured me, that L SO pleasant
| about 1t all, he informed me that the state
| charge for vaccinatlng persons living in the
| neighborhood of smallpox epidemic was
| - apiece and that employers were re-
quired by the government to pay this
! charge when the vaccination compul-
| sorry. as it wosld be in this case.
Up to me again, of course. right there
| l told the commissioner of public health
| that I'd stake him to s. a head IL he'd
! just forget to vaccinate my twenty-five
| so-brave boys. and the figure was salts
that he possessed somewhat unreliable
memory. and that he could undertake to
| forget In the matter of which L spoke. SO
l gave him S66 and he went away humrning
| quaint and plaintive piratical air.
Now. you don't want to fall to dream
| Ing that l was a mark for giving up this
| way. I'd been up and down the west coast
of Greaserland for good many years, and
! l knew that If | didn't cough up each time
| the swoop was made, no matter how
| politely. my icemakers would be leaving
| me in the lurch with the point OF a bayonet
| at the back of each of them. | once super
| intended mine in Peru where 300 men had
| been marched off that way to do army
| service because the superintendent who
| preceded me had refused to dig. | dug
| while l ran the mine, and dug often. but
| when the strikes got too strong and
kicked they ran me out of Peru on tho
charge that l was helping to frame up a
| revolution. So l came pretty close to know
| ing where l was at when L fell for those
| touches.
| the visit of the commissioner of the pub
| lie health, the chief OF police, or the
| commissioner Of public safety. as they
I called him, dropped In upon me to tell me
| that the police force was so decimated
| owing to the large number down with the
SmallpOX-and there wasn't case of small
| pox in the town-that volunteers would be
| required to patrol the streets to assure tho
| public safety, and that my twenty-five So
| brave boys would be called upon for their
| share of that service, l could dimly per-
to windup in that town. The touches
were coming too close together and |
knew there'd be no end to them.
The Chiefs Demand.
The top cop wanted $40 a head or 500
to strike my Greasers name from the list
of available volunteer policemen, and /
told him. to go to the devil and take my
twenty-five so-brave boys with him | frei
the whole lot and shut down on ice manu-
featuring to await developments | knew
thered be no use getting other men to
take their places. for only Greasers we've
available, and one Greaser is as good for
grating purposes another
About a week after I'd shut down a
British barkentine burned in the harbor
of Buena Ventura. and the crew OF nine
teen Observation-Disclosures, lime ULCERS
(Which means Britishers), downeast Yanks.
dinges. all sorts-were thrown on the beach.
l hired EN- all at good wages to work in
my ice plant. They were glad of the
chance and so was |. for, as they were,
of course, not citizens of the country. they
couldn't be impressed into the army or
navy or sewer-cleaning department or any
thing else for the dun there was in il for
the grafters. But they'd only been working
for me for two days, all the same when
the commissioner of public health dropped
In upon me, very smooth and suave. and
informed me that he'd heard that there WAS
bubonic plague among my sailor workmen.
He regretted 1t keenly, but he'd be COM
PEELED to take measures to protect the public
health from so frightful a visitation as the
bubonic plague if
How much?' | asked him at this point.
He assessed his fprgetfulneSS Tina