Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-03-07

'"N ~ ..,'N tlMhNu the Slllr
" .ae q; $ >v~t tn tap 1T Iid&cr-
w is t., III. urou2hi The first au.
thr"t, news from the camp Of the
ene.ay.
When M,I}o>kry had come ut a push
OF the call button lidgerwood snapped
the night latch on the corridor door.
Let us have il, ,ud>on," h. said
when the trairmaSter had duNyGed his
CHAIR into the circle of liGht described
by the green conc shade Of the desk
lamp We have tecu Wondering
what had become Of YOU"
Summarized. .udSonS story WAS the
report ot an Intelligent scout. Since
he WAS claSScd with the DISCHARGED
men he had been able to find out some
or the enCmy'S moves in the game nf
coercion, The strikers had transferred
Their headquarters from the Celestial
to Cat Rjgg>' place, where the commit
tees, icalouSly Safcguardrd. were now
sitting in permauence" in the back
room.
From the harroom talk JudSou had
ing IS YET OF McCloSkey'S plan 10 keep
the trains moving aud the wires alive,
heuyr unless the free lowing whisky
should prrcipitatc matters there would
probably be no open outbreak before
midui2ht AS an Offset to this. how
ever the engineer had overheard
enough to convince him that the Conan
wire had been tapped; that piN, the
day " orator. had been either hrihed or
inundated and was now undrr guard
ut the strikers headquarters and that
some important message had been in
tercpted which was in IudSon'S
phrase. raising sand" in the camp Of
the diSalected This recurrence of
the mysterious message, OF which no
trace could be found in TN, headuuar-
terS record, opened q fresh field of
discussion aud ii was McCloskcy who
put his finger upon the only plausible
conclusion.
ut is Hallock again he rasped
He is the only man who could have
used the private code. Dix probably
picked ont the cipher. He's got
weakness for such things. Uallock's
carrying double. He has fixed up
some trouble making message or faxed
one and signed your name to it and
then schrmed to let II leak out
through Dix"
TITS making the trouble. all right"
was JudSon'S comment. when left
Riggs a few minutes ago Tryon was
calling for volunteers to come down
here and steal an engine From what
he said | took II they were Amin to
so over into the desert to tear up the
track and stop somebody or some
thing coming this way from Copah,
all on account OF that make believe
message that you didn't send"
Thus far Judson's report had dealt
with facts, But there We're other
things deducihle. He insisted that the
strength Of the instruction did not
lie in the dissatisfied employees of the
Red Butte Western or even In the eN-
employees; it was rather in the law
less element OF the town. which lived
and fattened upon the earnings OF the
IHlJTOUu DtIl, MOItpNtI' IL WIS WI
tain that some one high In authority
in the railroad service was furnishing
the brains. There was chief to
whom all the malcontents deferred
and who figured In the barroom talk
rs the boss" or the "big boss"
"And that same big boss is sitting
up yonder in Cat Biggs back room
right now givin' his orders and tellin'
'em what to do" was Judson's crown
ing guess. and, since Hallock had not
been visible since the early afternoon.
for the three men sitting under the
superintendent's desk lamp Judson's
Inference stood as a fact assured. 1t
was Hallock who had fomented the
trouble: it was Hallock who was now
directing It,
The trainmaster returned to his post
In the wire office and Judson was sent
back to Riggs to renew his search for
the hidden ringleadrr. Judson's re-
port was grave enough, but 1t brought
good hope that the crucial moment
might be postponed until many OF the
men would be too far gone In liquor to
take any active part, Lidgerwood took
the precautions made advisable by
Tryon's threat to steal an engine, send
ing word to Benson to double his
guards on the locomotives In the yard
and to Dawson to block the turntablc
so that none might be taken from the
rOundhouse.
Afterward he went out to look over
the field In person. Everything was
quiet, almost suspiciously so. Gridley
was found alone in his Office nj the
shops smoking a cigar. with his chair
tilted to comfortable angle and his
feet on the desk. His guards. he said,
were posted in and around the shops,
and he hoped they were not asleep.
Thus far there had been little enough
to keep them awake.
I.idgerwood, passing out through the
door opening upon the electric lighted
yard, surprised n man in the act Of
turning the knob 10 enter IT was the
mercst incident. and he would not
81 estt,,r