Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1917-08-02

stage from Brewster-had added its
influence; and since the hotel brought
people with weil-lined pocketbooks,
there was field for the enthusiastic
real-estate promoters whose Offices
filed all the odd corners In the Ho-
phra House block.
In one OF those offices, on the morn.
ing following Smiths first dinner at
Hillcrest, a rather caustic colloquy
was in progress between the man
whose name appeared In gilt lettering
on the front windows and one of his
unofficial assistants. Crawford Stan.
ton, he of the window name, was a
man Of many personalities. To sum.
mer visitors with money to invest, he
was the genial promoter, and If there
were suggestions of iron hardness in
the sharp jaw and inN the smoothly
shaven face and flinty eyes, there was
also a pleasant reminder of Eastern
business methods and alertness in the
promoters manner. But Lanterby,
fitting uneasily in the CONFIDENTIAL
chair at the desk-end, knew another
and more bling side of Mr.. Stanton,
as hired man will.
"Good heaven do you sit there and
tell me that the three of them let that
hobo of Williams push them off the
map? And do you say all this hap
pened the day before yesterday: how
does it come that you are just now re-
porting it,"
| The hard-faced henchman in the
fitting chair made such explanations
as he could.
"Boogerfield and his two partners we
been hidin' out somewhere; 1 allow
they was plumb ashamed to come in
and tell how they'd let one man run
'em Off"
"What do you know about this fell
did he come from"
Lanterby told all that was known
of Smith, and had no difficulty in COM
pressing it into a single sentence. Stan
ton leaned back in his chair and the
lids of the flinty eyes narrowed
thoughtfully.
There's lot more to it than that"
he said incisively at the end of the
reflective pause. Then he added a
curt order: snake it your job to find
out"
Lanterby moved uneasily in his in
secure seat, but before he could speak,
his employer went on again, changing
the topic abruptly. but still keeping
within the faultfndlng boundaries.
"What sort of q screw has gone
loose in your deal with the railroad
men? Williams got two cars of ce-
ment and one of steel the day before
yesterday three hours after the stuff
came in from the East"
Again Lanterby tried to explain.
"Dougherty, the yardmaster, took
the bank roll I slipped him, all right
enough, and promised to help out. But
he's scared of Maxwell"
Maxwell is a thick-headed ass ~
exploded the faultfinder ''His entire
railroad outfit, from President Brew
ster down, is lined up on the other side
of the fight. But go on with your
dlckering. Jerk Dougherty into line
Now go out and find Shaw. want
him, and 1 want him right now"
The hard-faced man who looked as
If he might be broken-down gambler
unjointed his leg-hold upon the tilted
chair and went out; and few minutes
later another of StantOn's payroll men
drifted in. He was 4 young fellow
with sleepy eyes and cigarette stains
on his fingers, and he would have
passed for q railroad clerk out of q
Job, which was what he really was.
"Well?" snapped Stanton when the
incomer had taken the chair lately va
Gated by Lanterby.
81 Swallowed the colonel, as you TOLD
me to-" said the young man. "He want
up to Red Butte to see if he couldn't
rope in some of the old-timers on hi:
ditch project. He was trying to sci
some treasury stock. His One-horsC
company is about out of money
: Mickle, a clerk in Kinzie's bank, tells
me that the ditch company's balance Il
drawn down to few thousand dollars
with no more coming in"
'Did the colonel succeed in making
, raise In Red Butter
"Nary," said the spy nOnchalantly
, ''Drake, the banker up there, was hi
one best bet; but got man know
to give Drake pointer, and he curle'
{ up like a hedgehog when you poke /
I with a sharp stick"
"That's better. The colonel cam
, back yesterday, didn't he?"
1 Yesterday afternoon. His wife an,
. daughter met him, and told him some
e; thing or other that made him drive Vi
= to the DAM"