The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1921-07-14

| Sen0 tnefu IN WIS the curt com
mand, and a minute later the inner
Office was about three-fourths filled
up with n shunfllDg crowd Of L. s. L.
men.
The chief looked the crowd over
There was bunch OF train and engine
men. a squad from the shops, and a
bigger one from the yards. Also, the
wire service had turned out gang
OF linemen and half dozen operators.
swell, men, let's have It," said Mr..
Norcross, not too sharply. 'My din.
ner's getting cold"
well not be keepIn' you above the
hollow half of minute. Mister Nor
cross" said the big, bearded freight
conductor who acted as spokesman.
about this G. S. & w. strike that
went on today: we amt got no kick
comm with you, mr. with the com
pany. Mister Norcross, but II looks
like it's up TO us TO do somethln'. and
we didn't want TO do II without hlttin'
square out from the shoulder There
nln't nobody knows yet what's gon'
10 be done, but whatever II is, we
want you to know that II 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 yon 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 Understandings,
and guess the boss was little puz-
zled by the mods and wlnks that went
around among the silent members of
the delegation; at least, know was.
That's all right" Hosllins said. BE
In the big boss, you've got TO talk
that way. But what | was amin' to
say Is that there'll be traIn-load r
two of strlke-breakers a-careerin' along
here In day r so, and we amt fig
urin' on lettin' 'em get past Portal
City, II that far"
"rhats up to you" said Mr. Nor
cross brusquely. "If you start any
thing In the way of n riot"
Excuse me. There amt goln' TO
be no riotln', and no company prop
erty mashed mp. Mr.. Van Britt, he"
II was right here that an odd thing
happened. Con Corrlgan. n 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 gasping chuckle. When the
garroting arm was withdrawn the con-
ductor looked around sort of foolishly
and said: I'm thinking that's about all
we wanted 10 say. amt II, boys?" and
the deputatlon filed out as solemnly
as II 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 unlnten-
tlonal mention of Mr.. Van Britt's name
looked as II II 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 pret-
ty easy until after dinner Instead of |
going right back to the office from
the club Mr.. Norcross drifted into
the smoking-room and filed pipe. |
In the course of n 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. l 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 Yesterday"
The good old major shook his head.
'Theyre tellln' me that he's oveh In
his rooms nj the Bullard, drlnkln' him
self to death. II he wasn't altogether
past redemption. suh he would have
had the decency TO get out of town
befo' he turned loose all holts that
way; he would for fact, Graham"
At that, Mr.. Norcross explained in
Just few words why Collingwood
hadn't gone-why he couldn't go.
the old KentuckIan looked
graver than ever.
THAT thah spells trouble, Graham.
Hatch is simply invltin' the unde'-
tpkeh. Howie isn't what you'd call
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 major said
to that, because little Rags. Mr.. Per-
kins' office boy, had Just come in with
a note which he was asking me to
give 10 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 little farther: have you
ever remarked that, majorT Ard then
he went on TO explain: Perkins, our
Desert T'vision superintendent, says