Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-12
Copyright, 1913, by Harper 4 Brothers.

fairly took our breaths. 1t appeared
IN the Cortez Courier and all over the
states, we hear-a letter of defiance to
herman He1diemann. 1t declared that
the trust was up to its old tricks here
in Alaska-had gobbIed the copper;
had the coal tied up under secret agree
ments and was trying to- get posses
sion OF all the coast range passes and
deHies-the old story. But the man
can write. That article caused a stir"
Il saw it"
Naturally the Cortez people ate 1t
up. They're sore at the trust for leav-
Ing their town and at us for building
Omar. Then Gordon called a mass
meeting, and some of us went up to
watch the fireworks. I've never seen
anything quite like that meeting
Every man. woman and child In the
city was there, and they Kissed us
when we came in. Gordon knew what
he was about, and he was in fine voice
He told them Cortez was the logical
point of entry 70 the interior of Alaska
and ought TO have all the traffic. He
fred their animosity toward the trust
and accused us OF baseIy selling out to
it. Then he preached a project to
build, by local subscription, a narrow
gauge electric line from CorteZ, utiliz-
ing the waterfalls for power. The
idea caught on and went like wildfire.
The people cheered themselves hoarse
and pledged him over 100000 that
night Since then they have subscrib-
ed as much more, and the town Is
crazy. Work has actually begun, and
they hope to reach the first summit by
Christmas"
Slater broke in: Hes a spelIbinder.
all right. He made me hate the Hell
dlemanns and detest myself for FIVE
minutes. | wasn't even sure | liked
you, Murray"
It's wild scheme, of course" con-
; tinued the doctor. "but he's putting it
over. The town council has granted
him ninety-nine year lease covering
every street. The roadbed is started.
and things are booming Lots have
been staked al over the fats. property
values are somersaulting. everybody is
out of his head. and Gordon is a god.
All be does is organize new companies
He has bought a sawmilI. wharf. a
machine shop. acres of real estate He
has started bank and a new hotel.
He has consolidated the barber shops.
and he talks about roofing in the
streets with glass and making the
town a series Of arcades.'
Slater half smiIcd-evidence OF a con
vulsive mirth within
They've picked ont a site for uni
versity" he said bitterly "Cortez is
going to be seat Of learning and cut
ture. They're planning a park and
place for an Alaskan worlds fair and
a museum and a library. I've always
wondered who starts public libraries
it's nuts. But didn't s'pose more
than one or two people got foolish that
way"
O'Nen soon found that the accounts
he had received Of Gordons last at
tempt TO rccoup his fortunes were in
no way exaggerated. COrtcz. long the
piaythjn@ Of the railroad builders, had
Teen ripe for his touch. It rose in its
wounded civic pride and greeted his
appeal with frantic delight
Gordon perfectly understood that
something more than vague acCuSa
lions were necessary to bring the pub
lie II his support in sufficient numbers
20 sweep him on to victory, and with
his in mind he laid crafty plans to
seize the Heidlemann grade. The trust
had ceased active work on its old
right of way and moved to Nyak. to be
sure. but il had not abandoned its
original route and. in fact, had main
tanned a small crew at the first defile
outside of Cortez, known as Beaver
Canyon. Gordon reasoned shrewdly
that struggle between the agents of
the trust and the patriotic citizens Of
the town would afford him precisely
the advertising he needed and give
point to his charge Of unfair play
against the Heidlemanns.
1t was not difficult to inCite his vic
tins to this act OF robbery. On the
contrary, once he had made the sug
gestion, he had hard work to restrain
them until he had completed his prep
aratiOns. These preparations were
simple. They consisted in writing and
mailing to every newspaper of conse-
quence highly colored account of the
railroad struggle. These mimeograph-
ed stories were posted from Seattle in
time for them TO reach their destina-
tons on the date set for the seizure
Of tho grade