Yellowstone monitor. [volume] (Glendive, Mont.) 1905-1928, 1911-09-07

at
the new superintendent continued -
be that Of a disinterested adviser %.
sured LidgerWood that he was Iasino
ground by not opening the camnaiqn
of severity at once.
The fact that the master naehoa..
was continually urging the warfara
made LidgerWood delay it. Just WIN
Gr1dley's counsel should have produced
such a contrary effect Lidgerwoaa
could not have explained. The advice
was sound, and the man who gave II
was friendly and apparently ingenn.
Gus. But prejudices. like PROPOSES
sions, are sometimes as strong as they
are inexplicable. and, while Iidger-
wood freely accused himself of inins.
tfce toward the master mechanic >
certain feeling Of distrust and repul-
sion, dating back to his first impress
s1ons Of the man, died hard
Oddly enough, on the other hand
there was & prepossession, quite as
unreasoning, for Hallock. There was
absolutely nothing in the chief clerk
to inspire liking or even common bust
ness confidence. On the contrary. while
Hallock attended to his duties and car
RED out his superior's instructions
with the exactness OF an automaton.
his attitude was distinctly atagonistic
As the chief subaltern on Lidgerwood's
small staff be was efficient and well
nigh invaluable As a man Lfdger-
wood felt he might easily be regarded
as an enemy whose designs could
never be fathomed or prefgured. but
under the grabbed and gloomy crust of
the man the superintendent fancied he
could discover a certain SAVAGE loyalty
But under the loyalty there was a
deeper depth-of misery or tragedy, or
| both.
| Questioned by Lidgerwood, McClos-
key declared that Halloek was mar.
lied; that after the first few months IN
Angels his wife, strikingly beautiful
young woman, had disappeared and
that since her departure Halloek had
lived alone in two rooms over the
freight station, rooms which no one,
save himself, ever entered.
On the Red Butte Western orders,
regarded by disciplined railroad men
as having the immutability If the laws
Of the Modes and Persians, were still
interpreted as loosely as if they were
but the casual suggestions of a by
stander Rules were formulated only
to be coolly ignored when they CHANGED
to conflict with some train crew S
desire to make up time or 10 kill it
Directed to account for fuel ano oil
consumed, the enginemen good natured
~ forged reports and the stdrekeepers
blandly O. KID them. Instructed to
keep an accurate record Of all material
used, the tfackmen loosely scattered
more spikes than they drove, made
f1rewood OF the stock crossties and
were not above UNDERMINING the sec
ton houses with new dimension tim
bers.
In countless other ways the waste
was prodigfous and often mysteriously
unexplainable. The company supplies
had a curious fashion Of disappearing
in transit Two carloads OF building
lumber sent to repair the station al
Red Butte vanished somewhere be
tween the Angels shipping yards an(
their billing destination.
In such a chaotic state Of affair:
track and train troubles were the ruiz
rather than the exception, and it wa
a Red Butte Western boast that tn
fire was never drawn under the wreck
ing train engine. For the first fey
weeks Lidgerwood let McClosEey an
swer the hurry calls to the varfou
scenes Of disaster, but when three sec
tions of an eastbound cattle special
ignoring the ten minute interval rule
were piled up in the pinon hills d
went out and took personal comman
Of the track clearers.
This happened when the joke was a
aoodtide, and the men of the wreck
ing crew took q ten gallon key Q
whisky along whereWith to celebrat
the first appearance of the new supel
intendent IN character as practice
wreeking boss The outcome was ratf
err astonishing. For one thing. Lidge7
woods first executive act was to knoc
IN the head Of the ten gallon celebri
ton with striking hammer, before
was even spigoted. and for another b
quickly proved that he was Gridley
equal, IL not his master, in the gent
art Of track clearing. Through tt
long day and the still longer night
toll and stress the new boss was alb
? to endure hardship with the best ma
on the ground
7 This was excellent, as far as i wen
But later, with the offending Gait
: train crews before hin for trial az
punishment, Lidge ~ooa .ost all ne 81
: gained by being t. easy.
Y We've got him chasin' his feet
said Tryon. one OF the rule breakil
engineers, making his report TO q
; roundhouse contingent at the close
Y the '.sweatbo1' interview. Its ~
as rye been tellins voL mugs all along