The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-09-26

aside for Improvement into o Mtle
park that brought on the war. The
council calmly gave this tract TO q
railroad company for use as q switch
ing yard. The steal was % raw that
the mayor, who hitherto had been On
the fence, vetoed the ordinance. The
council laughed and passed the ordi-
nance over his veto. Obviously there
was only one answer to this: The rail-
road company had come across with
enough money to make the council
defy all public opinion. They had
been bribed.
1t was then that the decent and
prominent citizens Of the town got to-
gether and resolved to clean up the
town.
What is the best way to go about
it," asked one Of them.
"Get after the council" said the old
judge, grimly. prove them guilty of
bribery. Send them to prison. Break
them up. Throw the fear Of God so
hard into the city government OF this
town that it will be years before a
city official dares to think Of taking
BRIDE"
THAT is right" agreed the retired
capitalist 1--WE must scare this town
SO it will not forget"
The first process of connecting this
scare was the sending of Cluffer and
Dawson of the Burns Detective Agency
to take up a temporary residence at
the Imperial hotel-the leading hotel
in Springvale. Clutter was merry
looking little Englishman who could
make friends with anybody In the
world at ten minutes notice. Dawson
was a young, Incorporating fellow
who looked the part of a high class
salesman, or high class gambler, de-
pending on your point of view. They
merely registered at the Imperial, and
commenced to spend money judicious-
~ in the bars around the city hall. It
was not long before they began to at
tract attention.
AS in every city, the liquor empor-
iums near the city hall were the meet
ing places for certain brand of poll
ticians-the brand that Clutter and
ally they did not display any of this
anxiety After two or three days of
being good fellows around town they
began to make the acquaintance of
the politicians who were steady Gus
toners of the places where the detec-
tives were spending their time and
| money. At first the politicians were
oh ~ s1fo nj
er they began to warm up, and after a
week of careful work the detectives
| found themselves part of the little
| ring that made these bar rooms their
headquarters and whose occupations
lay in the city hall. There were two
councilmen with whom they became
especially friendly, Corcoran and
| Stein, who were the leaders Of the
city hall clique. When they had es-
tablished themselves on firm ground
with these two. Clutter and Dawson
preached their alleged reason for be-
| ing in Springvale.
We represent the American Wood
Block company" they said. and We
want to try to sell some blocks In
Springvale. We sell the best blocks
in the world"
Here they brought out some excel.
lent samples Of wooden paving blocks
| and began to expiate On their merits.
Not only that. bot We can sell
these at prices far below those charg.
ed for the ordinary blocks" continued
| Clutter. I'VE are SO anxious to put
our blocks into Springvale streets that
We will make the city price at which
IT can save all kinds Of money on its
paving bills. I'll bet you We can save
the city $4,000 year and give It bet
ter paving material than It ever had
| before"
We'll, what Of it!' said Stein.
WELL" continued Dawson, I'VE
thought If We could interest you gen
tlemen and could show you where We
could save the city all this money, We
might convince you that it would be
in the interests of the city to intro
duce wood paving here"
Eyes," said Stein, who was the
spokesman for the councilmen. 'eWhai
of it?''
why" said Dawson, you gentle
men, in order to help the city save
money, ought to introduce an ordi
nance calling for wood paving or
some streets. Then. after we ha6
! shown how much we could save th,
city, we might hope to get some big
ger contracts"
Corcoran and Stein laughed as on,
man.
Gee. but you're green!" laughe.
Stein. Els that really what you go
Us up here to tell u.s."
why, certainly said Clutter, al
innocence. Were statesmen for tn
wooden block COMPANY
"And you've got a couple of woodel
blocks yourself" roared Stein. Il
that's all you know about selling slut
to cities don't see you holding you
!, jobs much longer"
Whyr
, 4