The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-07-13

the freshman wore the hiSheSt NS
loid collar he could find I'm Angels,
rounding out the clowncry with pair
Of huge wickerware cuffs, which had
once seen service rs the coverings OF
n pair of maraschino bottles.
Lidgcrwood ignored the jests good
naturally. rather thankful for the
playful interlude which gave him a
breathing space and time TO study the
field before the real battle should be-
gin.
That battle would have to be
fought was evident enough. AS yet
the decentralization had been scarcely
checked, ana sooner or later the neces-
sary radical reforms would have TO
begin. Gridley. whose attitude toward
the new superintendent continued to
be that Of a dlsinterested adviser. as
sured Lidgerwood that he was losing
ground by not opening the campaign
Of severity at once.
The fact that the master mechanic
was continually urging the warfare
made Lidgerwood delay 1t. Just why
Gridleys counsel should have produced
such a contrary effect Lidgerwood
could not have explained. The advice
was sound, and the man who gave II
was friendly and apparently ingenu-
ous But prejudices, like proposes
sions, are sometimes as strong as they
are inexplicable, and. while Lidger-
wood freely accused himself of injus-
tice toward the master mechanic, a
certain feeling of distrust and repul-
sion, dating back to his first impress
sions 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
ried out his superlor's instructions
with the exactness of an automaton.
his attitude was distinctly atagonistic
AS the chief subaltern on Lidgerwood's
small staff he was efficient and well
nigh invaluable. AS a man Iidger-
wood felt he might easily be regarded
as an enemy whose designs could
never be fathomed or prefigured. but
under the grabbed and gloomy crust Of
the man the superintendent fancied he
could discover 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 Hallock was mar
ried; that after the first few months in
Angels his wife. strikingly beautiful
young woman. had disappeared and
that since her departure Hallock 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
rs having the immutability OF the laws
of the Modes and Persians. were still
interpreted as loosely as If they were
but the casual suggestions of n by.
stander. Rules were formulated only
to be coolly ignored when they CHANGED
TO conflict with some train crews
desire to make up time or to kill It,
Directed TO account for fuel and oil
consumed. the enginemen good natured-
ly forged reports and the storekeepers
blandly o. KID them. Instructed to
keep an accurate record Of all material
used, the trackmen loosely scattered
more spikes than they drove, made
firewood Of the stock crossties and
were not above underpinning the Sec
ton houses with new dimension tim.
bers.
In countless other ways the waste
was prodigious 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 at
Red Butte vanished somewhere be-
tween the Angels shipping yards and
their billing destination.
In such q chaotic state of affairs
track and train troubles were the rule
rather than the exception. and 1t was
Red Butte Western boast that the
fire was never drawn under the wreck
ing train engine. For the first few
weeks Lidgcrwood let McCloskey an
swer the "hurry calls" to the various
scenes OF disaster. but when three Sec
lions of an eastbound cattle special.
ignoring the ten minute interval rule.
were piled up In the pinon hills he
went out and took personal command
Of the track clearers.
This happened when the joke was at
lloodtide. and the men of the wreck
ing crew took ten gallon keg of
whisky along wherewith to celebrate
the first appearance Of the new super
intendent In character as practical
wrecking boss. The outcome was rath-
er astonishing. For one thing, Lidger-
woods first executive act was to knock
In the head of the ten gallon celebra.
ton with striking hammer. before II
was even spigoted. and for another he
quickly proved that he was Gridley's
equal, IL not his master. in the gentle
art of track clearing. Through the
long day and the still longer night of
toll and stress the new boss was able
to endure hardship with the best man
on the ground.
This was excellent, as far as it went
| But later, with the offendino cott,a