The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-02
MLRLSE

to fill yours! Yes--take my last ten- ants fir, n me--and leave inc and my young wife to starve-and wish ye luck"
 T shan't do your houses any hurt"
 said Cruuden. More likely do 'em good by bringing new people into the
 place.
 Then Mir. Selby ceased to snarl.
 There, young Crunden," he said pres-
 ently. T bear ye no malice. You or another--it's all one."
 After this. MT. Selby would often
 come pottering about the estate,
 watching the road makers and the
 brick layers busily at work; or, clam bering over the post-and-rail fences,
 he would make a circuit of the mead
 ows. and as he stood on the higher ground at very little distance. any
 one might have mistaken him for a
 dismal shabby scarecrow left, as not
 worth removing, by the late owner. He
 talked now to Crunden in friendly
 spirit. t
 Young Crunden, what ye going to do with that shanty up there--the Ten his Clubhouse? Iris but a shed. though
 they ca'alled it the house. I'm think ing I might make ye a bid for it. if yc'd let me break it up on credit. .. Not yours to sell? An we'll |.
 I've been having a crack with your
 clerk. He tell me we're doing gra'- andly-your cottages mostly let before we're plate highland more applications for your building plots than ye can
 find time to answer. Is that fa-act?'
 I'm doing all right, thank you, MT.
 Selbyr'
 "Ah-I know. I know. Your clerk
 tells the tale you tell him. Quite right
 But it's mighty big ta'ask we've taken
 up."
 Not bit too big" said crunden res-
 olutely.
 No townsman, except old Selby,' ac-
 costed him with friendly greeting. Bad
 greeting the town gave him whenever
 he showed himself Mud was thrown
 at him by gutter boys. who threw and ded; stones sometimes came after the
 mud; men shook their fists at him as soon as his sturdy back was turned to them; and always insulting shouts fol- lowed him. "'Edge'og Crunden. Edge 'og. Garn, y'old 'edgeog."
 Never, since Medford was incorporat-
 ed as borough, had any citizen been so unpopular. And the hostile feeling seemed week by week to wax rather than to wane. With November and Guy Hawkes. day, came what ever after was locally known as the Riot. There were guys in replica that year. There
 could be but one subject for guying, and they made of him three or four copies. One of these guys, borne through the streets at the workmen' s dinner hour, gathered all mischievous
 dlers and hooting boys until the guy headed a long procession. Then, as a bright idea, it occurred to the guy at = tendants to carry it with the procession up the new road round and about the estate. and burn the effgy of Hedgehog Crunden on his own land at full noon. Other copies could wait for night to be with fire work accompaniment, but this most
 successful copy must be sacrificed with
 sunlight in this happy manner. While the procession turned into Hill Rise you could hear the shouting as far off as the railway station.
 But at the top of the first section or
 the new road. MT. Crunden's clerk barred the way, addressed the mob, or- dered them to the right about--and | then, passing from words to blows. l fought with the leaders. beat one lead | or so sorely that the procession turned | and riotously went back the way 1t had come. That was the first part Of the famous riot The second part was al . ter dusk had fallen: when Kings Cot tage was placed under police protection. and yet. nevertheless, and in spite or two smart arrests by the Medford con- stabulary. had several windows broken with stones.
 Next day there appeared before the magistrates two of the rioters-and
 also MT. Crunden's clerk, with a black
 patch on his forehead, with bandaged hand and arm in sling, summoned Tor assault of Frederick Hoyle, brewer carman, and looking for all the world like a common drunk and disorderly. All Medford seemed trying to squeeze | in to get a peep at him. the court was | so crowded that one could hardly breathe Sir John Vincent. Bart, left | the bench while this case was dealt | with. Never had Medford seen the like of it, When the defendants conduct was pardoned because of the provoca- | ton received, there were few faint cheers amidst the loud misses. They htssed the poor clerk. because they hated his employer.
 They hated him as an open and ayowed enemy of their once peaceful
 town. He was full of resolution. and
 butte without fear. He fatly refused
 to pay for police protection no shaking of fists, or shouts or threats turned him
 an inch from his path; he was hedge- hog that kept bristles ready for any dog who should dare to tackle him.
 But, in sober truth, feeling had now run so high that 1t was scarce safe for him to walk abroad unless his clerk
 walked with him.
 CrunQ6n 8 CloTk was MT JdCh NlHCOut
 and no one else. The son of Sir John had gone over to the enemy. It was a
 strange transfer of allegiance. a won i derfuI voluntary fall from the top of 1 the social ladder to its lowest rung; l one day, the leader of fashion. lord and
 prince among splendid loafers and the
 next an humble worker, paid servant | of a common working-man. He lived | in a workman's cottage, as lodger of 1 Mrs. Gates, close to Crunden's yard.
 You could see him 4n the yard any
 morning, with an invoice in his hand,
 experimenting and checking the de- livery of materials; or again at evening | in the small office just inside the arch way, busy with time sheets while brick | layers. carpenters, etc., came in and out through the open door. And all | day long you might see him hurrying | here and there: to Kings Cottage, to l the railway to watch trucks unloaded | down to the brickfelds by the river | back again to the estate to count the 1 piled bricks or measure up the lengths | of drain pipes-in a word. working at one thing or another. It was said that he went on all errands for Crunden | cleaned the knives and boots at King $ l Cottage; and, in return for these de- | grading services was allowed perhaps 1 fan shilltngs a week, and the run of his
 teeth in the kitchen with Mrs. Price. | But here as usual, gossip was mex | act Mr. Jack was called upon to per | form no menial domestic offices; he ! was receiving a weekly wage of thirty | five shfllings; he took his meals-din- ner and tea-with the family, and was
 moreover sometimes formally invited tc