Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-03

QI9 matter up Finally they caused a
strike at the Pueblo Steel Works
where his rails made, that before the completion
of the contract the works shut down. Tooth and
nail Jeff fought them at every point, and Pete Null
rennen's Judge at Kinney whose election had taken
place before the other crowd had made definite plans,
had been important asset in the fight for supremacy
The other crowd had appealed from his decisions, of
but the law far had been Wray side, and
there little chance that the decisions would be
ruled in the higher court But, Jeff we'll knew, the
Amalgamated crowd had no intention ct standing on
ceremony. and what they couldn't do in one way they
attempted to accomplish in another.
Five carloads OF ties on the Denver Saguache Kali
road were ditched in arroyo between Mesa City and
Saguache Wrays engineers reported that the trestles
had been tempered with. Jeff satisfied himself that
this true; then doubled his train crews, supplied
the men with rifles and revolvers and put deputy
Sheriff in the cab Of each locomotive After that
explosion of dynamite destroyed a number of his fiat
cars, and fire in the shops narrowly averted
caught at the switches had been shot, and
in the hospital at Kinney with the prospect Of jail
sentence before him. Judge Weigel big gun in
Kinney, and he liked to make big noise. He would
keep the law in Saguache County he said if he had to
call on the Governor to help him!
More difficult to combat were the d1SSenSOnS jeff
found among his employees; but he managed
somehow to keep the work moving, and the building
of the road went steadily Seven months had passed
since ground had been broken and the road in spite of
obstacles had been nearly carried to completion.
Already Wray had had taste of isolation. For two
months there had been but passenger train day
between Kinney and Saguache. TO all intens and pur-
poses Kinney the western terminus of the
road and Saguache was beginning feel the pinch of
the grindstones. Notwithstanding the findings of the
railroad commission Judge Weigels decision, and Jefs
representations through his friends at Washington
the Denver & Western refused to put more trains.
They commended that Saguache not the real tern
of the road that the line had been extended from
Kinney years before to tap coal field which had
proved successful; that Saguacle growing
community; and that the old stage line still in opera
ton between the two towns would be adequate for
every purpose.
These lies of course, vicious lies; for everyone
knew that since the development of the Mesa City
properties Saguache had trebed in size. and that the
freight business alone ten years would have provided
for the entire bonded Indebtedness of the road. What
might happen in time Jeff did not know care 1t
matter that must be fought out at length and might
take years to settle. The Chicago & Utah Railroad
Company for the present had command of the situation.
To handle the business Jeff had put a dozen four
mule teams between Kinney and Saguache, which
ed his freight and necessary supplies along the old
trail over Boca Pass which shorter by ten miles
than the railroad, heartbreaking haul and dangerous
to and BEAST but it the only thing left for
him to do.
At last the connecting links were forged and only
matter of twenty miles of track remained to be laid
when the Pueblo Steel Works shut down.
This was severe blow, one on which Jeff had not
counted The penalties for nondelivery which the
steel company liable heavy; but Jeff did not
cent financial prospects, the penalties only drop
in the bucket. He wanted his road His entire future
depended upon its completion,-the smelter, the De-
velopment Company and all his chain of mining coal
and lumber properties. Without that road, he
at the mercy of his enemies.
Twenty miles of rails! They seemed very little in the
face of what he had already accomplished He had not
counted this and had laid no alternative plans. The
Denver California people powerless to help him.
subtle influence at work among the steel COM
panes, and far Jeff could see, it would take him
from three to five months to get his rails from the East
In the meanwhile what might his enemies not accom-