Gilpin observer., 1917-06-14

men that we suspect have sold out to
the Amalgamated, pay 'em OF. and
order 'em out Of camp.
"A good idea, Hansen" commended
Morrissey.
Hansen lost no time in putting his
plan into execution.
It quickly became evident, however
that the men had no intention Of tax.
ing their discharge meekly. The
trouble was precipitated by Hansen
who came marching down on the mess
house, in front of which the malcon
tents were congregated, at the head
of twoscore Of his lumbermen armed
with axhelves and peavies.
"Clear out Of here, now," he ordered
roughly. "f you amt out Of camp
in five minutes, I'll run you out.
The reply was well-aimed stone,
which struck Hansen on the head, lay
ing his scalp open to the bone. He
staggered beneath the impact of the
blow; then, wiping the blood from his
eyes, he charged the crowd like an
angry bull, his supporters close behind
him. 1t was desperate battle while
1t lasted.
The struggle was abruptly inter-
rupted by the cry of Fire" Fire"
as dense cloud of smoke rolled up
ward from the rear of the messhouse.
Hansen, calling off his men, endeav-
ored desperately to save the building,
but moment later there came another
<nfr
that the camp was doomed.
"It's Holmes and his gang that we've
got to thank for this !" growled Nor.
rissey, when the news of the burning
of his camp reached him. "They've
been laying for chance to make
trouble for us. But they've covered
their tracks and we can't prove they
did it-blast their souls! The men
will have to sleep in tents until we cap
rebuild-and the nights are cold, too.
Find out how much lumber we will
need and telegraph to the mills at Port
Jefferson. Tell 'em we must have II
by day after tomorrow sure"
Three days after the destruction OF
the independents camp business called
Behrens to the Amalgamated's railway
construction camp, four miles above
Jacksonville. AS he was lounging in
the doorway of the shanty which
served as an Office, an engine, hauling
single car, was painting laboriously
up the steep grade. It came to a stop,
and Tom Dawson swung out of the
cab and strobe across to the office to
report.
"What you got there, Tom 2" Behrens
asked curiously, noting the scarlet dan
ger signs tackled to the side of the
car.
Dynamite" Tom answered shortly,
for he did not like Behrens, and took
no pains to conceal it. ''They've got
a lot of blasting to do before they can
finish the line from here to Glacier
Point"
'Has Morrissey begun to rebuild his
camp YETI" asked Behrens, by way OF
making conversation.
II reckon he'll begin this afternoon"
the engineer answered. II hauled ten
carloads of lumber for him from Port
standing on the line at Jacksonville
while 1 brought up this car of dyna.
mite. AS soon as / can grab some
thing to eat I'm gcing back and haul
them up to Morrissey's camp"
Scarcely had Dawson disappeared in
the direction of the mess tent before
Behrens was beside the car of dyna.
mil hxy foh
still further harass and delay the in.
dependents had suddenly occurred to
him. No one saw Behrens furtively ap-
proach the car; no one saw him loosen
the brakes and uncouple it from the
engine. But the young telegraph op.
orator, sitting in his little cabin
few hundred yards down the track,
happened to see the runaway car 90
rumbling past at constantly increas.
began to click out "DL! Dill DIP
which was the call for Jacksonville.
Helen Dawson was at her desk In
the Jacksonville station, absorbed In
book, when she was aroused by the
imperative chatter of the instrument.
A tap of the key indicated to the send
err that she was listening. AS she lis
tened her cheeks were suddenly
| drained of their color. And small won
der, for this is the message that came
| to her in dots and dashes:
"cIear the track for runaway car
loaded with dynamite"
She ran to the door and stared up
the track. Standing on the main track