Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8IX
- THE ATHENS DAILY BANNER, ATHENS, OA.
FRIDAY MORNING,-JULY* 82, 1921.
9H
CRITTER L-Oraiiam > Norcros*. r*U*
rood manager, ana nli secretary, Jlmmla
Dodda. art marooned at Sand Creek rid*
tag with a young lady. Sheila
and her small cousin, unseen, they
r __ullar train holdup," £2
car Is carried off.
~CH H.-TTortross redhgnttes -THl
as John Chadwick’s, financial
whom he was to meet at Portal
City. He and Dodds rescue Chadwick.
The fetter offers Nor cross the manager
ship of the Pioneer Short Line,, which Is
tn the* hftnds of eastern speculators,
hhadeg by Breckenrldge Dunton, presi
dent of the line. Norcross, learning that
Sheila Macrae is stopping at Ported City*
ctfAptfiR fit-Botts dv^rtTekrt cOT-
which, they admit complicity In Chadwick
kidnaping, their object being to keep
Chadwick from attending a meeting of
directors to reorganise the Pioneer Short
lice, which would Jeopardise their Intar-
...... .orporatiom fs or cross forms the
dtisens' storage and WarthouM com
pany. He begins to manifest a deep In
terest In Sheila Macrae. Dodds learns
that fhelfe is married, but living apart
from her husband. Norcross doss not
CHJ&TER V. — Hatch, aware that
Doddjrh&a knowledge of his end. Handl
ers participation In the Chadwick kid
naping, offers him inducements to leave
Norcross. Dodds refuses. Leaving the
office, he Is knocked senseless.. Recov
ering consciousness, he learns that Nor-
cross Has disappeared and Is bedtveft to
have resigned and gont east.
CHAPTER VI.-D<
cross’ disappearance
of- H*tah and Henckel,
ing strength sets out to
• solve the my#-
«
CHABTBn VII. -with _JBrg*n, JUS
ro.d'11 master mechanic, Dodd. get* ft
Ho. oa Norcro,,’ disappearance, ThftT
follow .a clue ftlr.n {Site shroiith tr
mtsaln* locomotive.
CHAHTER VIIl.-TIii rsscu* party'Bud*
•ad rslsases Norcross from captivity to
which he had bscn lured. Norcro,* rs-
lum.a control of the l’luneer Ehort Lino,
rofualnc to give placo to man whom
Dunton ha* sent to tak* chare*.
i IX.—Dodd* follow* an *ml*-
R«d Tow.r poople, spying on
, to a coal yard, where ho over-
. plot to put Norcro** out of
tin,**, and at the risk of hi* Ufa frus
trate* It.
CHAPTER X.—At the nemo or esnena ...
§g£ oTT'Jl 12'BMf K ; Whte. Bobby Kr!*o .hot
«*na on tb* Ilf* of hi* fri.nd and hoaa oa wo all made a quick
He prepare, to defend him.
CHAPTER XL-The eudden return of
■holla'o unci, driven tho Intruder away.
rerrmf***"—— —
' nephew of
itlve
Then
grinned like a good-natured little
Chinese god.
‘'Whd gave yon this idea of taking
the pay-roll Into your confidence, Gra
ham?” ha aaked softly.
For the flrat time In all the week*
and month* I'd been knowing him. the
brag dodged; dodged Juat Hie any of
ns might
“I've been talking to Major Ren.
drlck,” he said. “He I* a wise old
man, Upton, and he hear* a good many
things that don't get printed In the
newspaper*.'
I could aee that this exense didn’t
fool Mi. Tan Britt for a single lb
atant, and there was a look In his
eye that I couldn't quite understand.
Neither could 1 make ffiuch out of what
he said.
“We'll go into that a little deeper
some day, Graham—after this" epilep
tic attack has been fought off. This
Idea—which' you confess Isn't your
own—Is a pretty shrewd one, and I
shouldn't wonder If It would Work,
If we can get It In motion before the
hoodoo breaks ns wide open. And. aa
you say, the accusation Is Justifiable,
even If wo can't prove op against tho
Haleb outfit That turned-over rail In
Petrollte Canyon, for oxample, might
1*4* Men helped along
It was Kelso, Mr. Van Britt’s sten
ographer, smashed in with the Inter
ruption. He was . In his shirt-sleeves,
ad if he’d Just got np from his type
writer, and he rushed In with his
mohth open and his eyes like saucers.
“They—they want you in the dis
patcher’s office!" he panted. Jerking
the wonts out at Mr. Van Britt "Dor-
gin has let Number Five get by for a
heedeader whit the 'Flyer,' end he's
gone craby!" 1 j C. .
&&
CHAP
XII
tha Pioneer Short Lino.
icka oil tho lino, Impoootbto to ox-
, causa alarm to tho management.
TER XII.—Dunrtn. night dlo-
wenor. route* paoooncor and freight
train* to moot on a single track. Dlo-
aoter la narrowly averted. Durgln com
mit* suicide. leaving evidence that he
waa bribed to bring about collision.
CHATTER XIII.—Evidence accumulate*
Norcro**' enemies are plotting hi*
but against all advJc*.h*
oa a trip on a special train over
*, pilot engine, traveling ahead*
CHJ
drain;
on a i . .
• A pilot engine, trave
displaced roll which
the special down a i
cross hear* for the l ___
Macrae l* married. He^faae* to I
agalnT President Duntonbad been o#
the Job somewhere, I gue»4 but now
h* waa back, and the tblngf. he wired
to the boat were enough to make-your
hair stand on end. I looked every day
to ape Mr. Norcross pitch the whole
abootlng-match into the fire end quit,
- mdj .
He'd never taken anything like Mr.
Dunton'a abuse from anybody before,
r and be couldn’t seem to get hardened
to It. But he was loyal to Mr. Chad
wick; and, of coune, he knew that
Mr. Dunton'a hot wires were meant
to nag him Into resigning. Then there
. was Mrs. Sheila. I sort of suspected
C yras holding him up to the rack,
ry day and every minute of the
day.
It was one evening after he had
been out to the major's for Just a
little while, and had come back to tbs
office, that he sent for Mr. Van Britt,
who was also working late. There was
blood on the moon, and I saw It In the
way the boss' Jaw waa working.
“Upton,” he began, aa short as pie-
erntt, “have yon thought of any way to
break this wreck hoodoo yetT’i
Ur. Van Britt sat dowp and crossed
bis solid little legs.
“If I had, I shouldn't bo losing deep
at the rate of five or six bonrs a
sight," he rasped.
“There's one thing that wa haven't
tried,” the boss shot back. “We'v*
leeo advertising It as bad Inek, keep
ing our own suspicions to onrfkelvi
and letting the men believe what t!
ideated. We’ll change all ttffit
want yon to call your trainmen In aa
as you can get at them. Tell
-from me. If you want to—that
that* Isn't any bad Inck about it;
that the enemies of this management
at* making an organized raid on the
property Itself for the purpose of pot
ting us out of the fight Tell them
the whole story. If you want to: bow
we're trying our beat to make a spoon
-out of a spoiled boat, and how there
1* an army of grafters and wreckers
In this state which la doing Its wont
to knock us out of the box.
“If yon give the farce something
tangible to lay bold ot It will w*rk
the needed miracle.' It Is oply the.,
mysterious that terrifies Railroad em
ployes, at a whole, are perfectly In
telligent human beings; (Open to con-
vlction. The management which doesn't
profit by that fact ls-Jame. If yon <to
this and appeal to the loyalty of thfe'
men, yon will make a private detec
tive out of every man in the train
qrrriee, and every one of them keen
tp be the lint to catch the wreckers.
Tow ran add a Mt of a reward too
thafc If ion like, sad m pay It
The Helpless Wires
hi* news at
quick break for
the dispatcher’s office, the boas In the
.lead. Durgln, the night dispatcher,
fkgfclMgDr|kno on fjm qgp ijesk, and
the only other operators on duty were
the car-record man and the young fel
low who acted as a relief on the com
mercial wire. When we got there,
we found that Tarbelt bad happened
to be In the office when Dnrgln blew
up. He was sitting In at the train
key, trying to get Crow Gulch, ^he
one Intermediate wire station between
the two trains that had failed to get
their “meet" order*, and this wa* tho
flrat I knew t)iat he really -was the
expert telegraph- operator that lilt
' pay-roll description said ha wsi.
Dnrgln looked like a tortured ghost
H* was a thin, dark man with a sort
of‘scattering beard and limp black
hair; one of the clearest-headed dis
patchers In the bunch, and the very
laat man, you’d say, to gat rattled in
a tangle-up. Yet here he was hunched
In a chair at the car-record table In
the comer, a staring-eyed, pallid
faced wreck, with the sweat standing
In big drops on his forehead and his
hands shaking as It ho had the palsy.
Morris, the relief man, gave us the
particulars, such as they were, speak
ing In a hushed voice as If he was
afraid of breaking In on Tarbell'a
steady rattling of the key In the Crow
Gnlch station calL
“Number Fopr”—Four wag the ee*t-
bond “Flysrf'—“it fire bimh off km
time,” be explained. “Aa near aa I
can get It, Durgln waa going to make
her ‘meet’‘with. Number Five at the
blind aiding at Sand Creek tank. She
ought to have had her orders some
what* west'of Bauxite Junction, nkd
Five ought to ha to got hers at, Bants.
Durgln says he stably forgot tint
the 'Flyer* was running late: that the
was still out and had a ‘meet’ to make
somewhere with Five.'
Brief as Morris’ explanation wan
knew the road and the schedules. Tb*
regular meeting-point for the two pas
senger trains was at a point well east
of Portal City, Instead of west, and
so, of course, would not concern the
Desert Division crew of either tralni
since all crews were changed at Porfil
City,. From Bants to Bauxite Junc
tion, *Mhe fhlrty-Md Mile*, there was
only one telegraph atatlon, namely,
that at the Crow Gnlclt lumber raptp,
seven mlles beyond the.Tlfober Modi
tain "‘Y“ and the gravel pit where the
stolen 10U had been abandoned.
Unluckily, Crow Gulch waa only a
day statloo, the day wires being hu-
filed 'by* a young man wh< wa* < kill
'In the pay of the railroad and’ half
In that-of the saw-mill company. This
yppm mkn slept of, tb* mill, camp,
which waa n mile back in the gnlch.
whs Ofaly Ota*'lOfctg 14 * thou
sand that be would be down at the
tnJUond station at ttt o'clock at
nlghf, and' II was On Ihat thousandth
wafts
“There Is a Tong-dlstanee telephone
to.the Crow Gnlch aaw-mlll; have, yon
tried that?" ha barked at Tarbeil.
The big young fellow whd looked
Ilk* a cow-boy—and had really been
one. they sold—glancedup And nodded:
"The r*l|’s Jp,“ he responded: “‘Cen
tral’ «ay» "be can’t raise anybody.”
For tlie next three or four minute*
life tension wa* something fierce. The
boss and Mr. Van Britt hdng over the
trrtin desk, and Tarhell kept up Hi*
Insistent clatter at’the fceji. I bad an
eye on Durgln. He waa still hunched
up. In the record-man’s chair, and to
all appeafanceF* had gone stone-blind
“I Couldn't Ost mid of th* Ida* That
Ha Was Listening."
crazy. Tet I couldn't get rid of tha
Idea that lie waa listening—listening
as If all of his sealed-up senses had
turned in to Intensify the one of bear
ing.
Just about the time when the sn*-
peoaa had grown so keen that It
aa U- If couldn't b* borne a
second longer, Morris, who waa sit
ting In if the oflic* phone, called ont
sharply: “Long-distance says she has
Crow Gnlch lumber eampl 1 '
Mr. Van Britt Jumped to take tha
phode, and. wa dot one side of the
talk—opr side—Id abot-Uka sentences:
“that yon, Bertram? All right; this
la Van Britt, at Portal City. Take on*,
of the mules and ride for your life
down tb* gulph to the atatlon I Get
that? Stop Number Five and make
her taka aiding qnlck. Report oyer
your own wire what yon do. Hurry I"
By the time Mr. Van Britt got back
to the train desk, the boss had.hla
pencil ont and was figuring on Ber
tram's time margin. It was now ten-
twelve, and Five’s rime at Crow Gnlch
waa ten-eighteen. The Crow Gulch
operator had Jnst alx minutes in wldeb
to get his mule and cover the rough
mile down the gnlch.
There wa* nothing to dq bnt wait,
and tlie waiting waa savage. Tarbeil
had a nerve of Iron, but I could see
bis band shake aa It lay on the glaaa-
topped table. The boas was cool
enough outwardly, bnt I knew that la
his brain there waa a heart-breaking
picture of those two fast passenger
trains rushlhg together In the night
among the lillla with no hint of warn
ing to help then! save themselves, Mr.
Van Britt couldn't keep stilt Be had
Ms hands Jammed In the side pockets
of hi* coat and way pacing back and
foftb In the little apace' between the
train desk and the counter railing.
At the different tables In tbe room
the sounders were clicking away as
If nothing were happening or due to
happen, and above the spattering din
and clatter you could.h*gy the escape
ment of the big standard-time, clock
on the wall, hsmtperipg.out the ses,
onda that might mean life or death
to two or. three hundred innocent peo
ple.
In horrible suspense the six minute*
pulled themselves out to on eternity
for that little bunch of ns In the dis
patcher’s office who could do nothing
bnt wait. On tbe stroke of ten-elfb-
finv the time whed Five was due at
Crow Gulch on her schedule, Tarbeil
tuned hie relay to catch the first fatnt<, *nd Mr. Van Britt dropped Into •
tappings from the distant day-station, chair ns If he had been hit by a can-
Another sounder was silent. Tbeiii
was hope
voiced It
In the delay, and Morris
“He's there, and. he'a too buoy to
talk. Co u*." be suggest*! to a trashed
voice; and Dlabrow, the car-record
man,added: “That's It; It'd take a
minute or two to get them In on the
ounder, began- to ratue ont *
f of dots ahd dash**; rigged
t It wts, bnt *t* conld all road It
- A-
BWTSSSSaF’SKSS
■7" sad Cro» Onl<% And Fo«r, tbe
"Ffyeh" had Jntf left Bauxite—with
no orders whatever. Which meant that
the two trains would coma together
somewhere near Sand Creek.
Mr. Van Britt waa aa good a wire
mm as snyWsffy oo am Urn, bn; it
Tbe second minute passjd, and than
a flilrd,' and’yeT~Qi*te~ w«i no ward
from Bertram. “Call him," snapped
the boss to Tarbeil, but before the ex-
cow-boy'a hand conld reach the key,
the sounder, began- to . rattle out a
string of dots and
Mora* It "
only too
"Too lirte—male threw me and I-
had to crawl and drag a game leg—
Five pissed fall-speed at ten-nfne-
tecn-*r couldn't Make ft"
I saw the boss' hands shut np as
though tbe Hager nails would cut Into
tb$ palms.
“That *ids It," be said, with a sort
of sweifliff groan In Itla voice; and
then to. Tarbeil: "You may as well
coll Klrgan and tell blm to order out
the wrecking train, ntett have Per,
kins make up a relief train while
yoa’re calling tbe doctors. Van Britt,
you go and. notify the hospital over
your ewn sffic*. ^llre. Have my
private car pur Into the relief, and
see to It tb*Pj()4gf ill file iiecessiry
supplies. And you'd better notify tbe
undertsker*,'(o*t“
Orest Joasb! but It was horrible—
for ns to be basiling around and mak ;
Ing arrangements for the funeral while
the people who were to be gathered
np and buried were still swinging
along live and well, bait of them In
the crooking* amooglbe Timber Moon-
tain foot-hills _ «m tbq other tiff
somewhere in tbe desert stretches "be
low gand Creek
Tirbetf bad Sent Dlsbrow. to the
phone to call Klrgan. and Mr. V*h
Britt was- turning away to go to Mi
own office, tHirit the chair In thfe cor
ner by the cac-recortL table fell over
backwards With, a crash and Durgln
came staggering across- the room. He
wuS staring straight ahead of him aa
If be had gone blind, and tlie sweat
was running ifown Ids fsee to lose It
self In tlih straggling beard..
When he' Spoke his voted seemed
to come froin away- off somewhere,
and lie was still staring it the blank
wall beyond tbe counter-railing.
“Did I—did I hear somebody ay
yoii’r* sending for tbe undertaker*?!’
be choked, with n. dry. rittle tn hi*
throat; and then, without waiting for
an answer: “Willie you're nt IL you'd
Belter get One' for me . . . there’s the
money to pay Mm," and he tossed a
thick roll of batik bills, wrapped around
with a rubber hnnll, over to Tarbeil
at tbe train desk.
Naturally, the little grand-stand play
with the bank roll made d• diversion,
and thnt 1* why tb* muffled crash of
n pistol shot ennie with a startling
, shock to everybody. When we turned
to look, the mischief was done. Dnr*
gin lintl crumpled down Into a mis
shapen heap on the floor and the sight
wc saw was enough to make your
blood run col!
You see, lie had put the mnzxle of
the pistol Into Ills mautli, anti—but It's
no use: I can't tell about It, and the
very thought of that thing that had
Just a minute before been a man, ly
ing there on tho floor makes me see
Mack and want to keel over, Whit
he hid said about sending for nn extra
undertaker Wis right is right. With
tile top of Ms head blown off, the
poor devil didn't need anything more
In this world except the burying.
Somebody has sold, mighty truth
fully, that even a death In the family
doesn’t'stop the common routine; that
the things that have to be done will
go grinding on, just the same, whether
all of us live-, or some of us die. Dls
brow had Jumped from the telephone
at tbe crash of Durgln's shot, and for
Just a second or so we all siood around
the dead dispatcher, nobody, making a
move. ,
Then iff. Norcross came alive with'
a Jerk, telling Dlsbrow to get back on
Ms job of calling out the wreck wagon*
and tbe relief train, anil directing
Bobby. Kelso to gq <o another 'phone
and call an undertaker to come and
get Durgln's body. \Torbell tamed
back to the train desk to keep things
front getting into a won* tangle than
they already were In, and jo wait for
the dreadful news, and the boss stood
by blah ,
Tbit second w< promised to be the
wont of all. The collision was due
to happen miles from the nearest wire
stntlon; the news, when we should
get lt< would probably be carried back
to Biuxlte Junction by the pusher en
gine Which had gone out to try to
overtake th* “Flyer." But even In
tbit cate It might be an agoulzlng
boar or more before we could hear
anytMng.
In a little while Dlsbrow had clicked
In Ms can to Klrgan, and when the
undertaker's wagon came to gather up
wh*t was left of the dead dispatcher,
the cir-record mttli was hurriedly writ
ing off his list of doctors, nnd Mr.
Van Britt had gone down to super
intend the quldng up of the relief
train. True to his theory, which,
among - other things, laid down the
broad principle that the public had *
right to he given all the facts In ■
railroad disaster, Mr, Norcross was
Just telling me to call np else Moun
taineer office, when Tarbeil. calmly
Inking time reports upon the train
sheet, flung down his pen and snatch*!
nt lilt key to “break” the chnttertoi
sounder.
Mr. Van Britt had come up-ttfilrt
again, and he and the boot were both
Standing over Tarbeil when the "G-8‘
break cleared the wire. Instantly there
csrae a quick call, “G-S" “G-S" fol
lowed by Ihe signature, "I<-J" for
Bauxite Junction. Tarbeil answered,
and then,we all heard what Bauxite
hail to say:
"Pusher overlook Number Four three
miles west of Sand Creek and ha*
brought her back here.' What orders
for herr
Somebody groined. “£>h, thank God 1'
About This Time O’ Year
ssts >B
Under Thirty
nob hall. Only the boss kept his head,
(Ailing ont sharply Jo Dlsbrow to hreak
off on the doctors' list and to hurry
and stop Klrgan from getting aw*j
*JU>. the wrecking train.
When It wn* nil over, and Tnrb*H
had been given charge of the dis
patching while n liurry call was sent
out for the night relief man. Donoliue,
to come down and take the train desk,
there was a little committee meeting
In the general manager’s office, with
the boss In the chair, and Mr. Vi '
Britt -sitting In for the. other mi
i'r» dfi 1
FOR qtji
ERWIN & GO.
Phone 3-4-5.
i ";i nt l i. tin i H ..
/
•’ v ‘ - JS ^.
^ .. V.
1 a »m *
VQ$$AUL
One six-room housg w Grady
In first class repair
E. CL FAMBROUGIfc^
S. Parker Gilbert has been mad*
i<||f-#etreUry of the treasury, rank
ing n*xl lo Secretary Mellon. A*d
he it not yet JO. It’s a neydy-greated
Job. Gilbert was graduated- from
Rutgers In 1912 and the Harvard Law
school In 1915. He served on tbe war
loan board during the war. <
CLOTHESLINE
If you will boll the n*W clothesline
before using It, yob will find It will
last much longer and It will not
stretch.
“Of course, you'rg drawn your own
conclusions, Uptoh," the boss began,
when he had aaked me tp shut the
door.
'I guess so,” was the grave re
joinder. “Pm afraid Jt Is only too
plain that Durgln was hired to do It
What became of the money?”
"I have It here,” said the boss, and
he took the blood-money bank-roll
from his pocket and removed the rob
ber hand. “Count It, Jimmie," he or
dered, passing It to me.
I nn through tbe bunch. It ms
In twenties and fifties, tad there wa*
an even thousand dollars.
“That Is the price of a man’s Ilf*."
said Mr. Van Britt, soberly, and then
Mr. Norcross said, "Who kaowt any
thing about Durgln? Was he a mar
ried man?"
Jfr. Van Britt shook his head.
“He had been married, but he sod
Wi wife didn't llv* together. He bad
no relatives here. 1 knew him In the
southwest two years ago. He'd had
domestic tronble of some kind,
didn't mix or mingle much with
other men. But lie .was a good
palcber, apd two months ago, wb*n
we hsd in opening her*, I sent tot
Sf J (Conueowkliporrow) jjg
Yesterday—
When I log u»y purse—
I was
Feeling Bad— '
And mad—- r '' .
Lost faith in eve:
Honest
Hre—
I wps sore
and out o’ luck— .1
Said Jack to me »
“Use a Banner-HeVald
Loht Ad”
Andjust to kidhty*,
Along . 7
I did—
And what d’you suppose? 1
After all that cussing—
And f
1 allet
Pronto 1
Glad? *
Well, I guess—
te of faith
ity—
r-Herald Lost
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