The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1912-02-23

II
No. S27 over the handling Of q small
heap Of baggage At Ferry Building. A
Few heads were broken, . score of ar
rests made. and the baggage was de-
iivered. No one would have guessed
that behind this petty wrangle was
the fine Irish hand Of Hogan, made
potent BY the Klondike gold of Burn
Ing Daylight. II was an Insignificant
anair at best-or SO Il seemed. But
the Transfers Union took up the
quarrel. backed by the whole Water
Front Federation Step by step. the
strike became involved. A refusal Of
cooks and walters to serve scab team
sters or Transfers employers
brought out the cooks and walters.
The butchers and meat cutters refused
to handle meat destined for unfair
restaurants. The combined Employ.
ers' Associations put up a solid 'front.'
and found facing them the 10000 or.
ganized laborers OF San Francisco.
The restaurant bakers and the bakery
wagon drivers struck. followed by the
mixers. milk drivers and chicken
pickers. The building trades asserted
Its position In unambiguous terms. and
all San Francisco was in turmoil.
But still. It was only San Francisco.
Hegan's intrigues were mastery. and
Daylights campaign steadily devel.
oped. The powerful fighting organi.
zation known as the Pacific Slope Sea-
mans Union refused to work vessels
the cargoes of which were to be
handled by scab longshoremen and
freight handlers. The union presented
Its ultimatum. and then called strike
This had been Daylight's objective all
the time. Every Incoming coastwise
vessel was boarded by the union Off
Gals and its crew sent ashore. And
with the seamen went the firemen, the
engineers and the sea cooks and
walters. Daily the number of idle
steamers increased. It was impossi-
BILE to get scab crews. for the men of
the Seamen's Union were fighters
trained In the hard school OF the sea,
and when they went out 1t meant
blood and death to scabs. This phase
Of the strike spread up and down the
entire Pacific coast, until all the ports
were filled with idle ships. and sea
transportation was at a standstill. The
days and weeks dragged out. and the
strike held. The Coastwise Steam
Navigation Company and the Hawaii
an. Nicaraguan. and Pacific-Mexican
Steamship Company were tied up COM
pletely. The expenses of combating
the strike were tremendous. and they
were earning nothing. while daily the
situation went from bad to worse, I'M
I'll peace at any price" became the
cry. And still there was no peace,
until Daylight and his allies played out
their hand. raked in the winnings, and
allowed goodly portion OF a CONT
nent to resume business.
Daylight's coming to civilization had
not improved him. True. he wore
better clothes. had learned slightly
better manners. and spoke better Eng.
fish. But he had hardened. and at the
expense Of his old.time. whole-souled
geniality. Even his human afiiliations
were descending. Playing lone hand,
contemptuous OF most of the men with
whom he played, lacking In sympathy
or understanding of them, and certain.
ly Independent of them. he found lit.
tie In common with those to be en-
countered. say at the Alta-Pacific. In
point of fact. when the battle with the
steamship companies was at its height
and his raid was infiicting incalcula-
BILE damage on all business interests.
he had been asked to resign from the
Alta-Pacific. The idea had been rath-
er to his liking. and he had found new
quarters In clubs like the Riverside,
organized and practically maintained
by the city bosses.
One weekend. feeling heavy and de-
pressed and tired Of the city and its
ways. he obeyed the impulse of q |
whim that was later to play an impor-
tant part In his life. The desire to
get out of the city for a whiff of coun-
try air and for a change of scene was
the cause. Yet. to himself. he made
the excuse Of going to Glen Ellen for
the purpose Of inspecting a brickyard
which Holdsworthy had sold him. He |
spent the night In the little country
hotel. and on Sunday morning. astride |
a saddle horse rented from the Glen |
Ellen butcher. rode out Of the village.
The brickyard was close at hand on |
the nat beside the Sonoma Creek.
Resolving to have his fun first, and |
to look over the brickyard afterward.
he rode up the hill. prospecting for q
way cross country to get to the |
knobs. He left the country road at
the first gate he came to and cantered
through a bayfield,. The sgrain was
on either side the wagon
road. and he shifted the warm aroma
Of 1t with delighted nostrils. At the
base OF the knolls he encountered a
stake-and-rider fence.
He tethered the horse and wan.
dered on foot among the knolls. Their
tops were crowned with century-oId
spruce trees. and their sides clothed
with oaks and madronos and native
holly. But to the perfect redvoods be.
longed the small but deep canyon that