Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-06-09
sand and one petty Prosecutions thai
you railroad buccanpers matro pcn ne

SAND and one petty Prosecutions that /
you railroad buccaneers make use of |
to line your own pockets!
3 U If we refuse to lie down and
let you walk over us and our patrons
what then?" the boss inquired.
That brought the explosion. <Hatch's
eyes blazed and he smacked fist into
| palm.
Then Well knife you, and We'll do
it to a velvet finish! After so long /
a time, we've got you where you can't
side-step, Norcross.'
The boss refused to be panic |
stricken; or, anyhow, he looked that |
way.
1--WE have heard that kind of talk
many times in the past" he said. "The
way to make it effective is to produce
the goods"
That's just what we're here to dor
snapped the Red Tower president vim
dictively. "You, and the Big Fellows
In New York, want a lot of the state
railroad laws repealed or amended.
If you can't get that string united.
you can't gamble any more with your
stock. Well and good. You came
here six months ago and set out to
manufacture public sentiment in favor
of the railroad. You ran up your
public-be-pleased' flag and beat the
tom-tom and blew the hewgag until
you got a lot of dolts and chuckle-
heads and easy marks to believe that
you really meant it,"
swell, go on"
With all this humbug and hula
balloo you still couldn't be quite GER
tain that you had made your point;
that your measures would carry
through the incoming legislature.
After the primaries you counted noses
among the candidates and found it
was going to be a tight squeak-a
Id tight squeak. Then you did what
you railroad people always do; you
slipped out quietly and bought a few
men-just to be on the safe side"
So it was sprung at last. Hatch
wars accusing us Of the one thing that
we hadn't done; that the boss knew
we hadn't done.
I'm afraid you'll have to try again,
Mr.. Hatch" he said, with a sour little
smile. Then he added: anybody can
make charges, you know"
Hatch jumped to his feet and he
was almost foaming at the mouth.
Right there is where we've got
your he shouted. "You were too eau
tious to put one of your own men in
the field, so you sent outside for your
briber. He was a stranger, and he
had to have help in finding the right
men to buy. Dedmon, here, was out
or a job-thanks to you and your
m~eddling-and the steering stunt Of
fered good pay. Do you want any
more?"
The boss shook his head.
1T is. matter OF complete indiffer-
ence to me. / don1 know in the least
what you are talking about, and you'll
pardon me, | hope, if I say that it
doesn't greatly interest me-
BY heavens-TIl make it interest
you! The easy-mark candidates were
found and bought and paid for-and
maybe they'll stay bought. and maybe
they won't. But that isn't the point.
For a little mere money-my money,
this time-each of these men has made
an affidavit to the fact that railroad
money was offered him. They don't
say whether or not they accepted it,
miEsl you, and that doesn't cut any
figure. They have sworn that the
money was rendered. That lets them
out and let's you in. Yon don't believe
it? I'll show you,' and Hatch whipped
II list Of names from his pocket and
slapped it upon the boss desk. go
to those men and ask them; if you
want to carry it that far. They'll tell
you"
| could see that the boss barely
glanced at the list. The glib story
of the bribery was like the bite of
a slipping crane-hitch-slow to take
hold. So far as we were concerned.
Of course, the charge fell flat: and
upon any other hypothesis it was
(blankly incredible, unbelievable, alb
surd.
THE aftidavits themselves would be
much more convincing l heard the
pNSc oQS3 AiOuSH SNCH tlGll i SllOulu
wish to have reasonable proof that
they We're genuine"
Hatch was sitting down again and
his grin showed his teeth unpleas-
antly.
DO you think for a minute that I'd
bring the papers here and trust them
in your Ilands?s he raped out insult
ingly. Not much! But we've got
them all right, as you'll find out if YOU
7ball n force u S to use Them
At this point I could see that some
thing in the persistent assurance of
the man was getting under the boss
skin and giving him a cold chill. What
if 1T We're not the colossal bluff it had
looked like in the beginning? What
if Like a blaze of lightning out
Of a clear sky a possible explanation
hit me under the fifth rib, and I guess
it hit the boss at about the same In
slant. What if President Dunton and