Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-09-23
The
Wreckers
By
FRANCIS
LYNDE
Copyright By Chas. scribner's Sons
CHAPTER xVII-Continued.

train to run?
"Oh, / don't know; anywhere the
notion prods me-say TO the west end
and back, with as many stops as l
see fit to make, and perhaps a run
over the branches"
1 saw the boss make few figures
on a pad under his hand.
ut would cost anybody else, rough
ly, something like five hundred dol
lars. On account of your little joke
it's going to cost you cold thou
sand"
Mr.. Van Britt took out his check
book and q fountain pen and solemn
iy made out the check.
"Here you are" he said, Tipping the
check over to the boss desk. "Now
shell out that receipt so that I'll have
IT to show if anybody wants to know
how much you've gouged me. Since
you're making the accommodation cost
me a dollar minute, how long have
{ got to waltz"
Mr.. Norcross said something that
founded like "d-n," scrubbed men,
orandum of the thousand-dollar pay
ment on a sheet of the scratch-pad
and handed it over, saying "The or
der for the car includes my cook and
porter, and something to eat; We'll
throw these in with the transporta-
ton. and if the car is ditched and
you sue for damages We'll file a cross
bill for hotel accommodations. Now
go away and work off your little at
tack of lunacy. I'm busy" /.
The C. S. & w. strike-as our wires
told us-went into effect promptly on
the stroke of noon, and train from
the west. arriving late in the after
noon, brought Ripley.
'The conditions all along the line
are almost revolutionary" was Rip
ley's summing-up Of the situation.
Generally speaking, the public is not
holding us responsible as yet, though
of course there are croakers who are
saying that it is entirely railroad
move. and predicting that we won't
do anything to interfere with the new
graft"
"CantreIl says the public sentiment
is altogether on the side of the Z. >.
& w. strikers" the boss put in.
at is; angrily so. There is hot
talk Of a boycott to be extended TO
everything sold or handled by the
Hatch syndicate. l hope there won't
be any effort made to introduce strike
breakers. In the present state OF al
fairs that would mean arson and riot
ing and bloody murder.
'T wired you because / wanted TO
consult you once more about those
ground leases, Ripley. Do you still
think you can made them holdY
"If Hatch breaks the conditions,
we'll give him the fight OF his life,'
was the confident rejoinder.
But that will mean long contest
in the courts. The Supreme court IS
full year behind its docket, and the
delay will inevitably multiply your
few 'croakerS' by many thousands.
But that isn't the worst of 1t. Hatcn
has q better hold on us than the laws
DELAY" And to this third member OF
his staff Mr.. Norcross told the story
of the political trap into which Col
Iingwood and the New York stock
tobbers had betrayed the railroad man.
agement.
Ripley comment was q little IKE
Hornack's; less profane, perhaps. but
also less hopeful.
"Good Lord!" he calculated. $50
that Is what Hatch has had up MS
sleeve? don't know how you feel
about It, but 1 should say that 1t is
all over but the shouting. If the Dun
ton crowd had been deliberately try
ing to wreck the prope.,ty, they couldn't
have gone about 1t in any surer way"
"That is the way 1t looked to me,
Ripley, at first; but I've had chance
20 sleep on it-as you haven't. The
gun that can't be spiked in some way
has never yet been built. l have the
names of the eleven men who were
nribed. Hatch was daring enough to
give them to me. Holding the affi-
5ayits which they were foolish enough
n give him, Hatch can make them
swear to anything he pleases. But II
could get those ainuaNitS u so u
these men separately and make each
ono tell me how much he had been
Naid by Bullock for his VOTE
"Well, what then?"
~Then should make every mothers
son of them come across with the fuii
arount of the bribe, on pain Oh an
exposure which the dirtiesf pohtlcian
IN this state couldn't afford to face.
That would settle it. Hatch couidn
york the same game second time"
We were closing our desks to go 10
dinner when Fred May came In to say
char a delegation of the payroll men
was outside and wanting TO have a
word with the big Boss" Mr.. Nor
cross stopped with his desk curtain
half drawn down.
-What is IL. Fred?" he asked.
81 don't know" said the Pitts
hurgher. II should call II grievance
ssmmittee. IL II wasn't so big. And