Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1911-11-30

SFldleN CounSel should have produced
such contrary effect Lidgerwood
Gould not have explained. The advice
was sound, aud the man who gave II
was friendly and apparently ingenu.
GUS. But prejudices, like proposes.
sions, are sometimes as strong as they
are incxplicable, and, while I.idger-
wood freely accused himself Of injus.
uce 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
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 superiors instructions
his attitude was distinctly atagonistic
As the chief subaltern on Lidgerwood's
small staff he was efficient and we'll
nigh invaluable. AS man Lidger.
wood felt he might easily be regarded
as an enemy whose designs could
never be fathomed or prehgured. 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,
h. n a
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
as having the immutability Of the laws
Of the Modes and Persians, were still
interpreted as loosely as II they were
but the casual suggestions Of 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
f1rewood 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 chaotic state Of affairs
track and train troubles were the rule
rather than the exception. and It was
a Red Butte Western boast that the
fire was never drawn under the wreck.
ing train engine. For the first few
weeks Lidgerwood let McCloskey an
swer the hurry calls" to the various
scenes of disaster. but when three sec.
tons 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
fioodtide, 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 n 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. II 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 offending cattle
train crews before him for trial and
punishment, Lidgerwood lost all he had
gained by being too easy.
We've got him chasIn' his feet"
said Tryon. one OF the rule breaking
engineers. making his report to the
roundhouse contingent at the close of
the "sweatbox" interview. TITS just
as rye been teIlln' you mugs all along
he hain't got sand enough to fire any
body"
One day in Lidgerwood's private Of
fee Jack Benson said to him:
What do you know about Fred
Dawson. Gridley's shop draftsmanT'
Next TO nothing personally" replied
Lidgerwood. HE seems a fine fellow
much too fine fellow to be wasting
himself out here in the desert. WhyT
"Oh, just wanted to know. Ever
met his mother and sister,