The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-09-06
Ayers SorsqpanAd
Temperance
Travellers Tales

4
Col. Jack Brodie, the Dickinson coal
operator, and incidentally the owner Of
something less than all of the Ignite
deposits between Scranton on the Mil
waukee coast extension and Lehigf1 on
whoever gets off there for business.
| has way OF his own of inpressing
himself on a new acquaintance. This
| is particularly true of a commercial
man who has succeeded in getting an
order out Of him for wet goods such
as machine and lubricant oil varieties.
Coal Baron Brodie is easily the most
| Indifferent person in Dickinson and
he would just as soon drive off one
Of those precipitous buttes out In that
slope country and deposit his guest in
a lake a couple of hundred feet below
for protesting the way he runs his
cloud wagon, sometimes referred to
as blunderbust, and more often as a
fit subject for the scrap pile. 1t Is
impossible to get a joy ride with Jack
Brodie. AS watchful as one will be,
in the end 1t will turn out to be a
jobbed ride. The dogs in and about
Dickinson will some day ask for the
right of suffrage as a means of pro-
testing against Brodie and his dog
catching auto. If the road from Lee
high was a mile wide they would find
difficulty in getting into the clear aft
sr signalling him out in their snappy
way on his run into Dickinson There
Is nothing reproachable about the
colonel but that gasoline eater of his
can't keep straight whether it is in
the act of getting out of the way OF
dogs or passing uncomfortably close
to a buggy containing E. Y. Berry, who
headquarters at Dickinson and repre-
sents about all there is to the oil bus
mess.
Now if Berry was to make a Saga
more or Beverly statement it would
be puzzling to know whether he was
mad or glad at the treatment Colonel
Brodie accorded him after giving the
former an order for a particular kind
of lubricant that is shipped in barrels
billed as glass and excellent for Goals,
Ignite or otherwise.
1t is not denied that Berry followed
the coal baron to Lehigh and after
getting an order for something short
of trainload of oil that taxed Ber-
RVS trunkfull of orderblanks to item
to Dickinson and Brodie followed with
his auto kicking and bucking like an
outlaw broncho. Berry by this time
was far in advance of the coal baron,
although not so completely that the
latter was unable to see Berry fond
ling bottle and whether 1t was the
color of the oil that 1t contained or
the effect of rays of the sun on the
vessel that was easily discernible
from where Brodle stood alongside of
his disabled machine, is of no conse-
quence SO far as affecting the fact
that at that very moment the machine
started giggling and so did it's opera
tor, and soon after Brodie was pass
ing Berry looking knowingly at the
latter and FRUSTRATED dog a few feet
behind as a witness. No words were
exchanged. Then Brodie slowed up
and passed Berry again-almost. The
buggy that contained Berry came to
q sudden stop, having lost a generous
portion of it's visible means of sup
port. Brodie's auto had taken off the
southeast wheel and as Berry and the
other occupant were spilled over the
particular section that they were
crossing they turned to the
coal baron and wanted to say 1--WE
didn't ask you to do that" Just about
that time the bottle that Berry had
been handling rather freely rolled off
the wagon seat and broke.
Save it," a familiar voice cried.
IT'S only machine OIL" Berry inter-
rupted.
do you know" broke in Brodie,
that would never have happened" re-
ferring, of course, to the accident to
the buggy. "if l hadn't got my foot on
the wrong lever"
Probably not" said Berry, but that
doesn't sound good to me-"
An hour later Berry and his driver
entered the city in the disabled buggy,
supported on section of a farmers
fence that Brodie had attached ill-
geniously to the vehicle, and serving
the purposes OF skid.