Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1921-07-01

Nothing" l told him, while Seen
trail" was getting me Mr.. Ripley's num-
Der. "Fred May said 1t was going on
just the same; everything quiet and
nothing doing, except that the wreck
ing train had gone out to pick up the
scraps at Timber Mountain ~ Kir-
gan Is bosslng it, and the strikers
manned 1t for him."
Nothing more was said until after
had sent the two phone messages, and
then the boss broke out In new spot.
"Has anything been heard from Mr..
Van Britt?" he asked.
"Not that know Of"
Again he gave me that queer little
scowl across the table.
"Jimmie, have you found out yet
why Mr.. Van Britt insisted on quit
ting the service?"
guess l grinned a little, though
/ tried not to.
'Mr. Van Britt is one Of the best
friends you've got" said. "He thought
you needed this strike, and he wanted
to go out among the payroll men and
sort of help 1t along. He couldn't do
a thing like that while he was an Of
ficer Of the company and drawing his
pay like the rest of u.s."
81 might have known-he as good as
told me-" was the reply, made kind
of half-absently; and then, short and
quick: flows the stock market? Have
you seen paper?"
l had seen both papers, at break
fast-time, but Of course they had moth
| ing startling in them except last
minute account Of the wreck at Tim
Der mountain "Y," grabbed off just
before they went to press. They
| couldn't have anything later from New
| York than the day before. But Fred
May had tipped me off when he came
| up to tell me about the Major Ken
drick special. The newspaper Offices
were putting out bulletins by that
! time.
l told Mr.. NorcrOss about the bull
letins and was brash enough to add:
"We're headed for the receivership all
right, / guess our stock has tumbled
dog-fight going on over it at the rail-
road post in the Exchange. Wall
Streets afire and burning up, so they
say"
The chief hadn't eaten enough to
keep cat alive, but at that he pushed
his chair back and reached for his
hat.
"Come on Jimmie" he snapped.
"We've got to get busy. And there
isn't going to be any recevership."
We reached the railroad headquar-
ters-which were as dead and quiet as
graveyard-a little before Mr.. Rip
ley and Billoughby got down. But
Mr.. Editor Cantrell was there, waiting
to shoot an anxious question, at the
boss.
swell, Norcross, are you ready to
talk now?"
"Not just yet; tomorrow, maybe"
was the good-natured rejoinder.
"All right; then perhaps you will
tell me this: Do you, yourself, believe
that four or five thousand railroad
men have gone on strike out of sheer
sympathy for O few hundred G. S.
& w. employees, most of whom are
merely common laborers? Can you
look me in the eye and tell me that
you haven't fomented this eruption on
the quiet to get the better of the Red
Tower crowd in some way?" de-
handed the editor.
81 can, indeed" was the smiling an
swer.
Cantrell looked as IL he didn't more
than half believe it.
"Being a newspaper man, I'm nat
urally suspicious he put in. "There
are big doings down underneath all
this that 1 can smell, but can't dig
up. Everything about this strike Is too
/ blamed good-natured. I've talked with
half dozen of the leaders, and with
any number of the rank and file. They
all grin and give me the wink, as If
1t were the best joke that was ever
pulled off,"
Again Mr.. Norcross smiled hand
somely. "If you push me to it, Can't
rell, 1 may say that this is exactly
their attitude toward mel"
"Well," said the editor, getting up
to go; 'ft's doing one thing to you,
good and proper Your railroad stock
is tumbling downstairs so fast that 1t
can't keep up with itself"
81 hope 1t will tumble still MORE"
said the boss, pleasantly, with another
sort of enigmatic smile; and with that
Mr.. Cantrell had to be content.
AS the editor went OFT, Fred May
brought in the bunch Of forenoon tele-
grams and laid them on the desk. They
were quickly glanced at and tossed
over to me as fast as they were read
Most of them were plaintive little yips
from a strlke-stricken lot of people
along the Short Line who seemed to
think that the world had come to an
end, but there were three bearing the
New York date line and signed Dun
ton" The earliest had been sent short
ly after the opening of the Stock ex-
change, and IL ran thus:
Morning papers announce strike
! and cOmpletp tie-uD on p s. l.. WHY