Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-04-19
CHAPTER XVIII
The Murder adman

hhe" "hht we We're up against
when We headed down to tho roilrn,d
layout. the chief ana l. leaving ,bc
s""d old major thoughtfully putting
ms cigar in the club smoking room
Nlth strike due to be pulled OFF IN
lltt'e more than three hours thoro
were about million things that wouId
nave to be icrked around into shano
ana propped ny 50 that they could
stnnd by themselves while thc shore
Line was taking vacation And
there was only Il little handful of us
In tn" headquarters to 10 the Jerking
and propping.
1t was precisely IN a crisis like this
That the boss could shine. From the
minute we hit the tremendous ioh ne
was all there, carrying the whole man
or the Short Line in his head think.
ing straight from the shoulder. ana
never missing "A lick; ana don't be-
lieve anybody would ever have sus
pected that he was benten man
pushed to the ropes in the final round
with the erafters, his reputation as
successful ralr"ad manager rs good
ms gone aud his warm little love
dream Knocked sky-wiudns forever
and a day.
Luckily, we found Fred MAY stiIl AT
his desk, ana he was promptly clAmpcd
10 the telephone and told to get busy
spreading the hurry call. In half nm
h"ur every relief operator we had In
Portal City was in the wire-room. ana
the back-brcaking job Of preparing a
thousand miles Of railroad for sud.
den tie'up WAS in fun swing. Mr..
PERKINS, as division superintendent, |
was in touch with the local labor |
leaders. Persuading and insisting by |
turns, Mr. NorcrosS fought out the !
necessary compromises with the |
unions. All ordinary traffic would he
suspended at midnight, but passenger
trains on route We're 10 be run through
TO our connecting line terminals oast
ana west, live stock trains were IN hp
laid out only where there were feed
ing corraIs, and perish0blc freight was
10 be taken to its destination wher-
ever that might be.
The strikers agreed ia allow the
maIl trains to run without intcrr,lp,
ton, with our promise that they would
not carry passengers IioStinS and
MS committee buCked little 1T this,
but got down when they were shown
that they could not afford to risk Il ,
clash with the Government. This OK,
ceptton admitted. another followed. as
Inhtter of course. If the mail trains
were to be run, some of the telegraph |
operators would have to remain on /
duty, nj least tn the extent of han /
ding train orders. |
with these generalticS out of the
way we got down 10 details. Fire. |
alarm wires were sent 10 the various |
c'tleS ana towns on the lines asking
Tor Immediate information regarding I
food and fuel supplies. and the strike
'eaders were notified that, for sheer
sake, they would have to :
permit the handling af provision Z
rains IN cases where they were alb
'oiutely needed. Z
BY eleven O'Clock the tancle WINS r
Getting Itself pretty we'll Strengthened
nut. Some of the trains had already
'een abandoned, and the others were
moving along to the agrcedupon dcS. /!
nations. kirgan had taken hold in Il
he Portal City yard. and by putting u
: Ia, 1 Ia, |
milling and car sorting into shape,
nj the Portal City employees. acting
pon their own initiative, were picket
ng the yard and company buildings To
rotect them from looters or fire-set-
ers. Mr.. Van Britts special. 50 the
'lres tod us was at LeStcrburg and
was likely to stay there: and Mr. oh
an Britt, himself, couldn't be reached, br
IL was at half-past eleven that we gu
OF the first real yelp from somebody ca
no wss getting pinched. 1t came in
ne shape of a wire from the Strath th
ma night OPERATES. 4 party of men wa
nine owners the operator called ms
lem-had Just heard of the impcnd. ter
e railroad tie-np. They had been CT
Gaming to come in on the regular no
ght train, but that had been aban- tlr
med. SO now they were offering ira
| Kinds of money for a special to
ing them 10 Portal City. II was off
presented that there were millions wo
stake. Couldn't we do something's str
Mr.. NorcroSs had kept HoSkns and IIo
few of the othV local strike lead va
where he could get hold of them too
d he put the request up Ia them as a.
matter that was now out of his any
nds. Would they allow him Ia run he
one-car special from the gold camp the
Portal City after midnight? II was wv
them 10 say. Gin
Ii"Sklhs and his accompliccS went "
e talk Ii over with some of the siy