davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12
IL.
A Spiked Switch.

Fords hopeful prophecy that the snow
battles were over for the season proved
true. A few weeks later warm wind
blew up from the west. the mountain
foot trails became first packed ice paths
and then slippery ridges to trap the I'M
wary: the great drifts began to settle
and melt. and the spring music of the
swollen mountain torrents was abroad
in the land.
At the blowing of the warm wind Ford
aimed the opening gun in his campaign
against fate-the fate which seemed TO
be bent upon adding his name to the list
of failures on the Plug Mountain branch.
The gun aiming was a summons to
Frisbie at the moment craftsman in
the engineering office OF the Great North
ern at St Paul. and pining, like the Plug
Mountain superintendent. for something
bigger
II have been waiting until / could offer
YOU something with bread and meat at
tachment in the way of day pay. wrote
Ford. land the chance has come Ken
nedy. my track supervisor, has quit. and
the place is yours if you will take ii. II
you are willing to tie up to the most
harebrained scheme you ever heard of.
with about one chance in thousand of
coming out on top and of growing up
with A brand-new country of unlimited
possibilities. just gather up your dunnase
and come.
This letter was written on Friday.
Frisbie got it out of the carriers delivery
on the Sunday morning, and Sunday night
saw him racing westward. with the high
mountain of Colorado as his goal. Not
that the destination made any difference.
for Frisbie would have gone quite as will
ingly- to the ends of the earth at the
crooking of Fords finger
1t was the brightest of May days when
the new supervisor of track debarked
from the Notwithstanding train at
Saints Rest etched his legs gratefully
on terra firma. had his first deep lungful
of the ozonic air of the high peaks and
found his welcome awaiting him. Ford
would have no talk of business until he
had taken Frisbie across TO the little
shack hotel" and had filled him I'D on
a dinner fresh from the tin; nor. indeed
afterward. until they were smoking COM
fortably in the boxed-off den in the sta
ton building which served as the super
intendents office.
I've been counting on you. Dick. as
you know ever since this thing threat
ened to take shape in my head" Ford be-
gan. First, let me ask you. do you hap
pen to know where you could lay hands
on three or four good constructing en-
gineers-men you could turn loose abso
lutely and trust implicitly? I'm putting
this UP to you because the Plug Mountain
exile has taken me bit out Of touch
.'Why-yes.' said Frisbe. taking time
to call the mental roll. There are Maj.
Benson and his son Jack-you know 'em
Then there is Roy Brissac, ned be a
pretty good man in the field. and
Chauncey Leckhard of my Clashes got
job In Winnipeg, but he'll come II
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

their heads. and upon which the manage
ment turned the coolest of shoulders 1t
barely paid its own operating expenses in
summer. and the costly snow blockadeS
in winter went to the wrong side of the
profit and loss account.
This was why Ford had been scheming
and planning for year and more TO find
way of escape: not for himself but for
the discredted Plug Mountain line. 1t
was proving a knOtty problem. not to say
an inSOluble one. Ford had attacked Ii
with his eyes open. as he did most things.
and he was not without suspicion that
President Colbrith of the Pacific South H.
western had known to the full the hope
lesSneSS of the mountain line when he
dictated the letter which had cost one of
the great Granger roads its assistant, en-
Sineer in charge of construction. trans
ferring an energetic young man with am
billions from the bald plains of the Da-
kotas to the snow-capped shoulders of the
Rockies.
Originally the narrow gauge had been
projected and partly built by syndicate
OF Denver capitalists. who were under the
hallucination. then prevalent. that any
railroad penetrating the mountains in any
direction. and having Denver for its start
ing point. must necessarily become at
once dividend-paying carrier for the
mines. actual or to be discovered.
Failing to tap their bonanza freight
producer on the route up Blue canyon
the projectors-small fish in the great
money pool-had talked vaguely of future
extensions to Salt Lake, to San Fran
cisco. to Puget Sound or to some other
of the far beyonds. and had even gone
the length of surveying line over Plug
Pass and down the valley of the Pannih in
on the Pacific slope of the range. But
they had prudently stopped building. and
the pause continued until the day of the
great silver strike at Saints Rest.
The new carbonate beds CHANGED to lie
within easy rifle shot of the summit OF
Plug Pass: In other words. they were pre-
csely on the line of the extension survey
of the narrow gauge. The discovery was
a piece of sheer luck for the amateur
railroad builders. For a time. as all the
world knows. Saints Rest headed the
mining news column in all the dailies. and
the rush for the new camp fairly
swamped the meager carrying facilities
of the incomplete line and the stages
connecting it's track-end with the high
mountain mecca of the treasure seekers
Then indeed. the Denver syndicate saw
its long deferred opportunity and grasped
it, Long purses might be lacking. hut not
sllrewd heads The unfinished Plug Noun
tain was Immediately bonded for more
than it ever promised to be worth and
in the hottest heat of the forwarding
strife It was extended at the rate of a
mile n day until the welcome screech OF
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12


Did the American suspect a trick to
add an extra day? If so, he understood
the tariff i'll. The ascent of Mont Blanc
costs 500 per guide and SO per porter
when done in three days. If more be oc-
cupied. each guide gets but So and each
porter 81 per day extra and the CUSTOM
airy qualification" of $40 to $50 per man
does not increase.
Blake insisted on continuing I'D. the
more so. as a French caravan with six
guides and three porters had just started
on from the Grands- Mulets. The two car
avans. indeed, met in the clouds together
But. though the American had followed
the French up. he would not follow them
down, when at last they turned back for
fear of increasing bad weather. And
the guides, stung by his dry sarcasm
went on with him.
At O'Clock on the Grand Plateau, a
tempest burst. fastening. they arrived
in blackness just below the Col du Dome
There the guides had one only object
the Hump refuge, but arriving al the
pass they found the wind so violent that
it rolled the three men off their feet
back thirty yards Again and again they
tried-tO be flung back-until it became
plain their one remaining chance was to
retrace their steps.
A blizzard was on them. They descend
ed fifty yards. lost all idea of direction
and stood worried. In front they seemed
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

who had refused to buy their selyices!
| went on to Scheidegg and the Won
derful electric railway elevator, tunneled.
a steep inclined shaft, three quarters of
an hour in cold and blackness, all but to
the Jungfrau altitude. That's 1.-THE way
to climb a peak! For S3 you are COM
fortably elevated 13 900 feet. to lunch in
an electric-heated cave blasted in the
Eigers granite. with views through
plate glass on slightly lesser peaks below
and the snow chaos of the heights no
man had trod five years ago. Now ladies
promenade them
Back to Grindenwald, we asked news OF
the fallen ones. The Germans had been
found in mutiated pulp; but the Amer-
can had pitched into crevasse and was
covered by tons of snow.
His baggage? \ worn Gladstone bag.
with toilet articles, pajamas, shirts.
socks, underwear marked "A. w" And
his registration? \ Swiss-German waiter
brought the police slip. always perfume
torily filed up by Americans, hotelmen
not insisting with them as with Euro
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

furry beneath. But there was no inch of
forward motion and Ford gave it up.
We're against it,, he admitted. Back
her down and We'll put the shovelers at
it again while you're nursing her up and
getting more steam. We're going to make
it to Saints Rest today II the two-siX has
TO 20 in on three legs.
Gallagher pulled the reversing lever
into the back gear and sent the falling
steam whist ling into the chilled cylinders
with cautious little jerks at the throttle.
The box pillow came out of the clutch of
its snow wise with Shrillings as of a soul
in torment. and the buckinS outfit
screechcd coldly down over the snowy
rails 10 the "let-up." where the shovelers
box car had been uncOupled.
Ford swung off 10 turn out the shovel
ing squad. and presently the laborerS,
muffed to the eyes. were filing past the
2o6 10 break path for the pillow. Gal
!agher was on the running board with
Ills flare torch. thawing out an injector
He marked the cheerful swing of the men
and gave credit where il due.
lis full-grown man. that. he COM
mented. meaning Ford. "Manny'S the
wan would he huggin' the warm boiler
head these times and shtickin' his head
out of the windy to boiler Gwan. boys:
pitch it out lively now and be dommed to
yez" But Misther Foord amt built the
Ike o that He'll be as deep in that
treezin' purgatory UP yander in tn drift
as the foremSt wan of thin.
The lrishman's praise was not I'M
merited- Whatever his failngs. and he
groaned under his fair human share of
them, Stuart Ford had the gift of leader
ship. Before he had been 4 month on the
branch as its old man and autocrat he
had won the goodwill and loyalty of the
rank and file. from the office men in the
headquarters to the pick and shovel con-
tingent on the sections. Even the block
ade-breaking laborers-temporary helpers
az they were-stood by him manfully in
the, sus: aimed battle with the snow. Ford
spared them when he could and they
knew il.
Warm IL up. boys he called. cheerily.
climbing to the top of the frozen drift TO
direct the attack. It's been long fight.
but we're in sight OF home now. Come up
here with your shovels, Olsen. and break
ii down from the top. It's the crust that
plugs Mikes wedge"
He looked the lighting leader, standing
at the top of the wind-swept drift and
crying on his shoveers. 1t was the part
he had chosen for himself in the game Of
life. and he quarreled only when the stake
small. in this present m1n-killing
struggle with the snow drifts. The Plug
Mountain branch was the spot in the
Pacific Southwestern system: the bad in
vesimcnt at which the directors shook
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

All ACCIDENT
OK Nounr bLAne
WHO Are Mr.. Blake and
w Alvin Walton? They
Must Rest in the Shows Until
the Glacier Movement Let's
Them Out in Forty Years
- Shocking Cinematograpil
Scenes to Warn the Self
confident Other Americans
Locked in the G1acier-Soon
Due to Come Out.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12
HE5E lnoW1 GIVE UP THEIR ,DEb
u, 40YEART

peans. 1t was lead-pencil scrawl: cal
vim "Alban" and America as domi-
cile, You'll find ten thousand such.
Proof: The Blake tragedy, on which
we happened by a sad coincidence, at
Chamounix, on August II! Two lone, I'M
known American men pitch into the en-
quilting SHOWS less than two weeks apart.
Blake registered New York.
Walton was described as big, athletic,
smooth faced. blond. twenty-five years
old; Blake sallow. tall, a wirey middle
aged man with small goatee and no NOUS
tache: but nobody remembers either well.
Blake had picked up two Zermatt guides.
dismissed the day of his arrival at Cha
mounix by an American party who gave
them fine recommendations, mentioning
Zeim's speaking English; but Zeim is now
dead and buried also,
The tale is that of Bienstok. the surviv-
ing guide. They got to the Grands- Mulets
tavern, up Mont Blanc, without adven-
ture: but on quitting the cabin, Zeim
warned Mr. Blake that the weather was
spelling; it might be imprudent to at
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

there A chill creeps on as the
foremost guide receives the signal tug.
What do they let down now? simple
rope. weighed with pick. The tale
Is told. He needs no aid. down there
And. as they pull. up slides n long black
mass 1t lies there. gruesome as they
pull the living guide up. With the skis
for runners. they transform it to a
sledge. And as they move down. it is
steadied from behind with a short
rope-lest 1t slip,
I asked Wertheim. the famous Lon
doner who has been doing all the
needle peaks of Chamounix. how the
cinematograph scene impressed him.
oh" he answered, danger is the main
attraction. as the natives we'll know.
Jkst as they refrain from publishing
all tunnel and railway mountain acct
dents. so they spread at large all
Alpine-climbng tragedies. They add to
the general Alpine interest and they
stimulate ambition
Really. Faulkner's awful fall three
days ago seemed to stimulate the move
ment to the Red Needles of Argcn-
there's outside Chamounix, Yesterday
two parties triumphantly accompanied
the feat that cost the Irish American
his life: and the guides say they have
more booked.
Thirty-six years old, we'll off. with
young wife and little girl. in the hey
day of a return to the old country,
Faulkner was doing the continent be-
fore returning to his interests in Den
yer. Now he lies in the English grave
yard of Chamounix, beside James G.
Bean of Maryland. who persisted on
Mont Blanc in 1870.
Il know from guides that he went up
Mont Blanc like an experienced
climber" Wertheim says. He told the
Ralmat brothers he had done some
he have fallen? The Red Needles are
good solid rock. without loose stones.
The one trick is to make sure where
you're going to put your foot each
step"
Yet down he went. carrying the unfor-
tunate guide with him. Both smashed
their skulls on the rocks below.
In the same column the Revue de
Mont-Blanc" published the death and
frightful mutilation of Miss Frida
Barachowski, blown by the wind off
a ledge of the Schiesserhorn, and .the
entombing of three Frenchmen in the
Meije glacier in Dauphiny.
At Zermatt, during the present
season. eighteen fatal accidents are
registered. The Mont-Rose chain has
the greatest number of tempting peaks.
From the Wetterhorn-Eiger
chain Interlaken registers nine. Cour-
mayeur, on the Italian side of Mont
Blanc boasts six. ST Gervais. in
France. has four. And Mont Blanc and
surroundings seven. And so on-what
promises to be a record season.
Yet there never were SO many
ladies-principally English and Ameri-
can-attempting Mont Blanc. The
ChamouniX records already show thirty
such for the United States alone getting
as far as the GrandS MuletS-and
eighteen actually reaching the summit!
Now, although they tell you any one
can mount Mont Blanc with a week s
training" it is known that wind. snow
storms or rain that hardens snow to
ice can turn the most successful cara
van into an Alpine tragedy. Witness
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12
A Master of Men.

NGINE No. -OG narrow gauge,
was pushing or rather failing to
n push. the old ia shioned box plow
through the Crusted drifts on the
uDtilted shoulder of Plug Noun
tain. at altitude Of ten thousand feet.
with the mercury at twelve below zero.
There was wind - the winter day
above timber line without its wind is as
rare as a thawing Christmas-and it cut
like knives through any garmenting
lighter han fur or leather. The cab of
the POO was old and weather shaken. and
Ford pulled the collar OF his buffalo coat
about his ears when the srunting of the
exhaust and the shrillinc of the wheels
on the snow-shod rails stopped abruptly.
"Car-r-r.' snarled Gallagher the red
headed Irish engineer, shutting eff the
steam in impCtent rage The power Is
not in this dommed Guild camp-kittle
SEWN machine. Ills heavens pity they
wouldn't he givin' us wan m1n-sized,
fghtin' lokimotive on this ind of the line.
Misther FoOrd.'
Ford superintendent and general auto
crat of the Plug Mountain branch of the
Pacific southwestern. climbed down from
his Cramped seat the iir@man'S box
and stood scowlinS at the retracting in
on his feet beside the little Irishman you
saw that he was d young man. we'll built
square shouldered AID athletic under the
muffiing of the shapeless fur greatcoat
also. that in spite of the scowl his clean
shaven face was strong and manly and
good TO look upon.
Power" he retorted. That's only one
of the hundred things they don't give US,
Mike. Look at that steam gauge-freeZ-
ing right where she stands,
'Tis So. assented Gallagher. Shed
be dead and shift in tin minutes be the
clock If we'd lave her be In this drift"
Ford motioned the engineer aside and
took the throttle himself. Il was The
third day out from Cherubust1 the sta
ton at the foot of the mountain. and In
the eight-and-fo forty hours the engine pillow
and crew of twenty shovelers had, by
labor OF the cruelest. opened eleven OF
the thirteen blockaded miles isolatine
Saints Rest. ne mining camp end OF
track in the high basin at the head OF
tho pass.
The throttle opened with jerk under
the supeTintendent's hand. There was a
snow -Choked drumming az the exhaust
and the driving wheels spun wildly in ths
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12
Special Correspondence Of The Star.
CHAMOUNIX, August


rKF THO is Alvin or Albar Walton.
Nv of America, and who is Mr..
AAk Blake of New York?
wv They lie under tons of AL
pine snow, two weeks past,
on the Wetterhorn and up Mont Blanc
There each must lie in mystery, thirty.
forty years. until the glacier movement
lets them out.
] arrived at Grindenwald the day that
Walton fell. To the hotel came tele-
phone from Scheidegg telling how idle
tourists at their hotel telescope had
watched three climbers-when, suddenly.
the tourist at the eye-piece cried out that
the rope had snapped and the three men
had pitched down the abyss.
Its the Berlin men who refused
guides" said the boarders at the Bear;
'and the American went with them"
What American? They knew not.
Three Englishmen and six guides. with
thL1nS2rters, had started out; and then
this ~r party, who had rallied at the
expense of guides. "a Wetterhorn as
cent costs $40 The Germans seemed
seasoned climbers and the new-arrived
and ice creepers to profit by their expert
ence.
At in the afternoon, as all the tour
lists of the village took tea to the music
of the big hotel, the first guide caravan
passed up-six grave-faced men with
ropes, picks, knapsacks and those omi-
nous pole-like skis whose use you are
to learn. Then four more passed up
only guides. Then six more, guides and
porters Then three. Then fye-to the
music of the tourists tea.
All those guides had Cancelled their en-
GagementS to risk death by avalanche,
tempest, slippery fall or falling rock, to
rescue or bring back dead the three men
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

pulling your train through steel snow
sheds on Plug mountain-or you IL be
working for another boss. Break her
loose and let's get to camp as soon as we
can. Those poor devils back In the DON
car are about dead for sleep and a square
meal
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

no is Alvin. or Albar Walton,
of America. and who is Mr..
Blake of New York?
They lie under tons Of AL
nine SNOW. two weeks naSt,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-12

u NGINE No los. narrow gauge,
was pushing. or rather failing IN
] push. the old-fashioned box plow
\ through the Crusted drifts on the
The San Francisco call., 1908-12-31
-. 49, 80 Z Sssxzz- =.
Gassendorf alleged


charging the count with embezzlement.
1t was this warrant, telegraphed here
last night, on which the attempt to ar
rest the man was based.
My brother told me that this count
had purchased a machine from him in
Portland and that he had given a bad
check in payment said Weaver.
when the check was returned the
count appeared to be very much sur
prised and asked that the Portland
people wait a day or so until he heard
from Germany In the meantime he
borrowed several sums of money from
my brother and several others in Port
land and then left that part of the
country. We did not lose the ma
chimes, but my brother and others are
out several hundred dollars
At the First National bank it was
stated that Gassendorf received no
money, the telegram of warning hav-
ing been received in-time to prevent it.
The San Francisco call., 1908-12-31
BIGCY'S WIFE AND
DAUGHTER LEFT 81
Late Chief OF Police Cut Off
Spouse and Child in Will
Made Eight Years Ago
Estate TotaIing $4,000 Is Divid=
ed Among Children by
First Marriage

By a will prepared eight years ago
and filed for probate yesterday the late
Chief of Police William J. Biggy leaves
his wife, Lucy Biggy, and her daughter.
Isabel, 81 each. Biggy was estranged
from his wife many years. and had
had trouble with her since his appoint
ment as chief of police. Mrs. Lucy
Biggy was his second wife. The whole
of Biggy's estate, which is worth
about $4,000, is divided equally by the
will among the four children born
of Mary E. Biggy, his first wife-Wil-
liam Joseph Biggy 21, John Anthony
Biggy 10, Regina May Biggy is and
Raymond Biggy 16.
The will, which was prepared
August 29, 1900, at which time Biggy
was Al years old, names Rev. John +.
McGinty as guardian of the persons
and estates of such of his children
as shall be minors at the time of the
death Of the testator. The will was
witnessed by James w. Finn and Cor
nelius McColgan. 1t names Attorney
j. J. Dwyer as executor.
With the will Attorney c. w. Cobb
filed on behalf OF Dwyer petition for
probate. The petition says the estate
consists of $4,000 cash in bank, $50
worth of jewelry and an interest in
the Metropolitan laundry company
The value of the interest in the laun-
dry business Is stated. to be unknown
but is not believed to exceed $4,000.
The San Francisco call., 1908-12-31
WIFE'S MOTHER AIDS
HUSBAND TO DIVORCE
Parent Supports Son in Law in
Court Proceedings

A. ID. Stevens. who was granted a
divorce by Judge Cabaniss yesterday
from Dora E. Stevens. was, oddly
enough, supported in court by the
mother of his runaway wife. Stevens
testified that his wife had deserted
him, and Mrs. Allen Stolz, his mother
in law, took the witness stand and
corroborated the testimony. Mrs. Stolz
has agreed to care for the two young
children of the Stevenses.
Other divorces granted yesterday
We're; By Judge Cabaniss-C1audine F..
Henderson from George w. Henderson,
desertion; Catherine Tuvo from Lo-
renzo Tuvo, desertion. BY Judge Mo
gan-George Vaudeville from Nellie
Vaudeville, dissolved on the ground
band as to her previous character;
Daisy |. Keith from John E. Keith,
cruelty.
John J. Mitchell, formerly well
known lumberman and contractor, is
a badly used husband, according to his
Bessie +. Mitchell, filed yesterday.
Mitchell charges that among other
things his wife threw bottle of car
bolic acid at him, threatened to murder
in her nightdreSS, struck him with a
banjo and a parasol, hurled a jardiniere
at him while his eyes were bandaged,
struck him in the neck and cut his
is now earning SIS week as printer.
The suit for divorce instituted by
Bertha E. Dahler against Adam M.
Dahler. assistant treasurer of the
United Railroads, was denied yester-
day by Judge Graham, who had had it
under submission for some weeks
Suits for divorce We're filed yesterday
by Charles Adams against Gertrude A.
Adams, desertion; Annie Brown against
Louis Brown, cruelty; Gladys Davis
against Frank III. Davis, cruelty.