Sioux County pioneer., 1921-05-19
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Mr.. Van Rs3sst saw and talked with
everybody, and when he could wedge
of A9minute 4 or two Of privacy, he'd
go into the third room Of the suite
and thresh It out with Juneman, or
Billoughby. or Mr.. Ripley. From these
private raiks found out that there
was still some doubt In the minds of
all four OF them about the boss drop
as to whether 1t was voluntary
or not.
Also, found out what had been
done during the four days. We had
no company detective" at that time,
and Mr.. Hornack had borrowed man
named Grimmer from his old COM
pany. the Overland Central, wiring for
him and getting him on the ground
within twenty four hours Of the time
Of Mr. Norcross' disappearance. rs
Grimmer had gone to work at once
but everything he had turned up, SO
far, favored the voluntary runaway
theory. Mr.. Norcross,, trunks were
still in his rooms at the Bullard; but
his two grips were gone And the
night clerk at the hotel, when he was
pushed to 1t. remembered that the
boss had paid his bill up to date that
night, before going up to his rooms.
Past that, the trace was completely
lost. The conductor on the Fast Mail,
eastbound, on the night In question,
swore by all that was good and great
that Mr.. Norcross hadn't been a
passenger: on his train. Aud he would
certainly have known It II he had been
carrying his general manager.
Over In the other field there was
absolutely nothing to incriminate the
Hatch people. SO far from it, Hatch
had turned up at the railroad office,
bright and early the morning after
Mr.. NGecross had gone. He had asked
fer the boss, and fniling to lind him,
he had hunted up Mr.. Van Britt. What
he wanted, it seemed, was a chance
to reopen the proposition that had
been made to him the day before
the offer Of the new Citizens' Storage
4 Warehouse company to purchase the
various Red Tower equipments and
plants. Il \.
Mr.. Van Britt had referred him to
Mr.. Ripley, and to our lawyer Hatch
had made what purported to be an
open confession, admitting that he had
gone to Mr.. Norcross the night be-
fore. determined to fight the new com:
pany to finish. and that there had
been a. good many things said that
would better be forgotten. Now. how
ever, he was willing to talk straight
business and a compromise. He had
called his board Of directors together,
and they had voted to sell their track.
bordering plants to Citizens Storage
Z Warehouse ifta price could be ami
cably agreed upon.
g With Mr.. Norcross gone and a new
general manager coming, Mr.. Ripley
!. was afraid to make move. and Hatch
was pressing him to get busy on the
bargain and sale proposition was APP
parently as anxious now to sell and
withdraw as he had at first been to
fight everything lii sight.
BY the morning came on the scene
the man Grimmer had, as they say,
: !sort a ionrneyman datact,vs M q ~ .nd
had r,,n o,,t a c1nes ~ whan Is s. s. NJ, me
IA and taxed q M M. Van Rritt =. and
M RInley i conld ~ see ~ Ethaf 81 ~ y ,,',,v I'M,
Selieyed Iin the .tIron.o,,t 3 m theoryy, nd
even the laWSiyer and M 4 Van RrItt
had to admit that Tie J Acts IA u were m ii Win
him. The boss had .written n \ letter M
saving definitely that he was nnittin9. ].
{ he had paid his hotel BIN ami his
/ s1ripa were gone !: and two DAYS later
Prssident punton, had appointed !