The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-11-09
FIRST EPISODE
C~ircurnstantial Evidence.

xIOuUlG Oh LIE WCStcTu OlVlSlOu
was indicated the moment Frost, the
general superintendent. reached his Of
dee in Mountain Springs that morning.
II he did not press all his desk buzz
zers at once. he sank one after anOth-
er In very curt succession, giving his
orders rapidly while Wilson, his sec
rotary. and his subordinates hurried
In and u The moment he could get
routine matters out Of the way he
summoned the chief special officer Of
the division, Morton Webb.
With his assistant, Wallace Burke,
Webb In his own Office was already
getting his desk cleared for action.
The repeated looting Of cars on the
division and the repeated thefts Of
way freight had forced the claim de-
pattmcnt to work overtime, and Webb
was called this morning to Trost's
Office only to find Davidson. the gen
eral manager, reporting by wire the
loss-thrOugh the negligence Of Ar
mold, local agent at Garden City-of
two steers from q shipment OF the
Garden City Cattle company.
1.-THE fourth complaint from Garden
City," commented Webb grimly, lin
side q month";" And Webb, talking
fast and earnestly to his superior.
made no secret Of his suspicion that
Steve Arnold, the Garden City agent,
was responsible for oil the trouble ut
that point. Frost. casting the evil
dence up. decided 1t was high time to
investigate Arnold and fix, once for
all, the responsibility.
At Garden City. Arnold himself was
at that moment entertaining queer
guests. Outside his own home, near
the station. stood q group of Panamint
Indians. They came periodically from
the Funeral mountains to trade jerked
beef and baskets for white mans food.
Just why the Panamints should be
crazy about canned tomatoes no eth
nologist has yet discovered, but Ar
mold knew their weakness well and
traded probably on 1t. On this occa-
aiOn, his supply Of tomatoes had run
short, but 1oosenlng, without scruple,
the brake OF q merchandise a stand
ing partly unl0aded on the house
track, Arnold worked the car, with q
pinchbar, down close to his bungalow.
TO carry 0ver half q dozen cases of
canned goods. billed to local mer-
chants, was the work Of q moment;
and Arnold WINS soon driving q good
trDde with the Indians.
The merest accident interrupted
him. The fast freight train now due
was whistling In the East. Arnold
had unfortunately pinched his mer-
chandise car too close to the main
line switch. The engineer Of the
freight saw the danger too late and
- the train came on the heavy Mo-
gul tore = big hole In the side Of the
merchandise car. Most unluckily,
FrOstss private car was attached to
the hind end Of the freight train with
Webb and Wilson he hurried forward.
Arnold. the braSen agent, was abusing
tn engineer when Frost, coming up,
asked Why the wrecked . had been
left to foul the main line.
ssThe brakes wouldn't hold It." de-
Clare0 Arnold. And the west wind
49, 49, $780, A~-~ 49, A.>caw
49, ~ wss.n !. .,.,...
~. :. 49,. =. =:
- No. 49, 49, & 49,
-. q y. e.soneI'
-. -, 49, .n..t,cnsd
.s~ r.~.... ~ 49, 80 80 81
....S 80 80 cn.rcs
,..r ...~ A-c,S.. r,,..,c~ ~
49,. -s-s.--n~s %o,1 ~ .torv
$500 ~sc,..sr 49, tcs,v - WI.
.sss,,s - rcsh,r. ns,t ! corstahle
-. ~ 80 A-rc,N .rS 81 -.
49, -. 49,. ..scs = 80. tie IA
+sss
1888. y. 49,.
sy ~ :" ns-a. !.
80. 49, 80, - 49, 49,. ~ go
49, ~. - 80 .n.ou .D' 49,.
49,. 49, -. 'al = Il.
1~a 80 1872. . ..,,... ~. 40
L.,.n -. tI.s... e Ie-.o.".e
s..l.s 1ssn. a.pp.as 80 srs.a
Ina N0N QM40 oUO 0SCkCNNB AAA1-