Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1921-07-22

mand, and minute later the inner
Office was about three-fOurths filed
up with a shuffling crowd Of P. S. L.
men.
The chief looked the crowd over.
There was bunch Of train and engine
men. a squad from the shops. and
bigger one from the yards. Also, the
wire service had turned out a gang
Of linemen and half a dozen operators.
swell, men, let's have 1t" said Mr..
NOrcrOss, not too sharply. my din
ner's getting cold"
"Well not be keepln' you above the
hollow half of a minute, Mister Nor
cross" said the big, bearded freight
conductor who acted as spokesman.
"About this c. S. & W. strike that
went on today: we Amt got no kick
comm with you, mr. with the COM
pany, Mister Norcross but it looks
like it's up to us to do somethin', and
we didn't want to do 1t without hittin'
square out from the shoulder. There
amt nobody knows yet what's goin'
to be done, but whatever 1t is, we
want you to know that it amt done
ag'inst you mr. the railroad company"
The boss had handled wage earners
too long not to be able to suspect
what was in the wind.
"You men don't want to let your
sympathies carry you too far"
he cautioned. "When you take up
another fellows quarrel you want to
be pretty sure that you're not going
to hit your friends in the scrap"
Hosklns grinned understandingly,
and l guess the boss was a little puz-
zled by the mods and winks that went
around among the silent members OF
the delegation; at least know ! was.
"That's all right" HosEins said. BE
in the big boss, you've got to tax
that way But what / was amin to
say is that therell be a train-load +
two of strike breakers a-careerin' along
here in a day r so, and we amt fig
urin' on lettin' EN- get past Portal
City, If that far"
THAT'S up to you," said Mr.. Nor
cross brusquely. IF you start any
thing in the way of riot"
Excuse me. There amt goin' to
be no riotin', and no company prop
erty mashed up. Mr.. Van Britt, he"
1t was right here that an odd thing
happened. Con Corrigan, big two
listed freight engineer standing direct
ly behind Hoskins, reached an arm
around the speakers neck and choked
him so suddenly that Hoskins' sentence
ended in a gasplng chuckle. When the
garrotlng arm was withdrawn the con-
ductOr looked around sort of fOOlishly
and said: I'm thinking that's about all
we wanted to say, amt it, boys" and
the deputation filed out as solemnly
as 1t had come In.
guess Mr.. Norcross wasn't left
wholly in the dark when the tramp
ing footballs of the committee died
away in the corridor. That uninten-
tional mention of Mr. Van BIRTHS name
looked as If it might open up some
more possibilities, though what they
were | couldn't imagine, and / don't
believe the general manager could,
either.
After that, things rocked along pref
ty easy until after dinner. Instead Of
going right back to the Office from
the club, Mr.. Norcross drifted into
the smoking-room and filled a pipe.
In the course of a few minutes, Major
Kendrlck dropped In and pulled up a
chair. don't know what they talked
about, but after little while, when
the boss got up to go, I heard him
say something that gave the key to
the most of what had gone before, |
guess.
"Have you seen or heard anything
of Collingwood since yesterdays?
The good old major shook his head.
"They're tellin' me that he's oveh in
his rooms at the Billiard, drinkin' him
self to death. If he wasn't altogether
past redemption, sub, he would have
had the decency to get out Of town
befo' he turned loose all hollis that
way; he would, for a fact, Graham"
At that, Mr.. Norcross explained in
just a few words why Collingwood
hadn't gone-why he couldn't go.
Whereupon the old Kentuckian looked
graver than ever.
"That than spells trouble, Graham.
Hatch is simply invitin' the unde'-
takeh. HOWE isn't what you'd call a
dangerous man, but he is totally ir-
responsible, even when he's sObeh."
"We ought to get him away from
here" was the boss decision. HE
is an added menace while he stays"
didn't hear what the meier said
to that, because little Rags, Fir. Per-
kins' office boy. had just come in with
a note which he was asking me to
give to Mr.. Norcross. / did It; and
after the note had been glanced at, the
chief said, kind of bitterly, to the
major:
"You can never fall so far that you
can't fall a little farther; have you
ever remarked that, major" And then
he went on to explain: Perkins, our
Desert Division superintendent, says
that the locals of the various rail-
road labor unions have just notified
him of the unanimous passage Of a