Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-02-22


ster went out to the minr with him
alone. leaving the party in the Nadia
here"
lidgerwood l,t It 40 at that for the
moment The thing was done. and il
could not he undoue, McCloSkcy went
on With his report. his hat tilted to the
bridge of his nose
Taking II for granted that You mean
10 light this thing to II cold finish, I've
done everything | could think OF
Thanks to Williams and Bradford and
a few others like them, we can count
on Il good third OF the trainmcn, and
I've got about the same proportion OF
the operators in line for us Taking
advantage Of the twenty -four hour no
tice the strikers gave us, I've scat.
tered these men Of ours east and west
on the day trains to the points where
the trouble will hit us at IL o'clock
tonight"
Good" said Liugerwood briefly
How will you handle it?"
ut will handle itself, barring too
many broken heads At midnight In
every important office where striker
i tnrows down his pen and grounds his
/ wire one Of our men will walk In and
keep the bali rolling. and on every
train In transit at that time manned
/ by men were not sure OF there will
( be q relief crew OF some sort dead,
heading over the road and ready to
fall in line and keep 1t coming when
! the other fellows fall out"
Again the superintendent nodded mis-
| approval The trainmaster was show.
ing himself AT his loyal best
That brings us down TO Angels and
the present Mac, How do we stand
! here?"
That's what I'd give all my old
shoes to know" said McCloskey, his
homey face emphasizing his perplex.
| ity They say the shopmen are
against US. and II that's SO we're out.
numbered here six to one. can't find
out anything for certain. Gridley Is
still away, and Dawson hasn't got
back, and nobody else knows anything
about the shop force"
You say Dawson isn't in2 He did
not have more than Ave or six hours
work on that wreck What IL the mat.
teri"
He had bit OF bad luck He got
the main line cleared early this morn,
ing, but in shifting his train and the
'crlpples' on the abandoned spur a
culvert broke and let the big crane
OFF He has been nil day getting Il on
| a,Yni. lNt,t h,tI H. la, hoe ,.l.
Goodloe says"
And how about Bensonr quericd
Lidgerwood
Hes on 203 caught him on the
other side OF Crosswater and took the
liberty of signing your name to n
wire calling him In"
THAT was right With this private
car party on our hands we may need
every man we can depend upon. |
wish Gridley were here. He could han
die the shop outfit. I'm rather surpris
ed that he should be away He must
have known that the volcano was
about ready to spout"
"Gridleys law to himself" said the
trainmaster Sometimes | think he's
all right, and nj other times | catch
myself wondering II he wouldn't tread
on me like was cockronch II I hap
pened to be in his way"
Having had exactly the same feel
Ing and quite without reason Lidger
wood generously defended the absent
master mechanic.
This is prejudice. Mac. and you
mustn't give II room. Gridley's all
right We mustn't forget that his de-
partment thus far is the only one that
hasn't given us trouble and doesn't
seem likely to give us trouble. wish
coald say as much for the force
here In the Crows Nest"
with single exception, you can
today" said McCloskey quickly. 1--WE
cleaned house There Ia only one man
under this roof at this minute who
won't fight for you at the drop Of the
hat"
And that one tsp
The trainmaster terked his head to-
ward the outer Office. ITS the man
out there or who was out there when
l came through-the one you and
haven't been agreeing on"
"Halock1 Is he here?"
"Sure! He's been here since early
this morning"
But how Lidgerwood's thoughts
went swiftly backward over the events
OF the preceding night. Judson's story
had left Hallock somewhere In the
vicinity of the Wire Silver mine and
the wreck at some time about mid
night or a little past, and there had
been no train In from that time on
until the regular passenger, reaching
Angels at noon. 1t was McCloskey
who relieved the strain OF bewilder
ment
"How did he get hereT you were
going to soy. You brought him from
some where down the road on your
special He rode on the engine with
williams"
Lidgerwood pushed his chair back
and got up. II was high time for n