The Wreckers

Synopsis.—Graham Norcrosa. railroad manaa r. and hi. wrr.iary Jimmie la. nra marooned a( band Greek «M,n* wim a younc lady. Bhrlla Ma rae her amall coualn. Unaoon. they wllnr.. n pc Milar train holdup. In whl ti rarrlod olt- Norcroaa r. -ocnliea the car alnlen as John Chad-

CAPE MAY COUNTY TIMES. SEA I3LE CITY. N. J.

By FRANCIS LYNDE

. nnaiicial macnaie. whom

* dd * rel,cue Chadwick. The latter offer. Not t„., t|„ mana«e™hlp of the >neer dhort 1.100. which la In tho hamla of eaalern speculators, headed by preckenrl.t*;e Ponton, president of Ihe line Non-ro.a. : arnlna that Sheila Is stoppln* at Portal City, accept. Dodd, overhears conversation i Rufua l^»jch and Gustave Henckel. Portal city rtnunelers. In whl h

Ir. Xorcroea held up n finRor for be, nnd when I Jnmiied up ho rave a sheet of paper; n Pioneer Short president's letter-head with r lines written on it wl’h a pen and •t of crazy-looking siKtiature under Take that to the Mountaineer Jolt ! nnd have five hundred of them tinted,' was the boss' order. "Then t copy nnd take It to Mr. Cantk the editor, and ask him to run It ptomorrnw’s paper ns an Item of . If he feels like It. When you e through, come dawn to Mr. Chndck’s ear.” Since ihe thing was go'ng publlshd, and I wa» going to make « copy of If. I didn't scruple to read it as I hurried out to begin a hunt for the Mountaineer office. It was the printer's copy for an official circular, dated at Portal City and addressed to nil officers and employees of the Pioneer Short Line. It read. "Effective at once. Mr. Graham Norcross is appointed general manager of the Pioneer Short Line system, with headquarters at Portal City, and his orders will be respecteri accordingly. "Breckenrldge Dunton. “President." We hud got our Jolt, all right; and leaving the ladder nnd the Friday start out of the question. I grinned nnd told flUtKlf that the one other tiling that Wanted for most was the fact that Mrs. Sheila Macrae was a widow. 1 chased like the dickens on the printing Job, because, apart from wanting to absorb all the dope I could «s I went along on the new job. I %new 1 would be needed every minute right at Mr. Norcross' elbow, now that the actual work was beginning. Luncheon was served In the Alexa, and they kept the business talk going like a house aflre while they were mating, the hurry lielng that Mr. Chadwick wanted to start hack for Chicago the minute he could find out If ■our connecting line east would run blm special. “Now for a few unofficial things, <3rahatn. and we'll rail It n go.” he ‘You are to have an absolutely hand In the management and the itlng. What you soy goes as It I, anil Dunton has promised me that lere shall be no appeal, not even to

dm.”

‘I Imagine he didn’t say that willingly." the boss put in. which was the Intimation 1 had had that he t present at the directors' meeting In the hotel. 'No. indeed: nothing was done willingly. 1 had to swing the big slick and swing it hard. Rm I had them ’here they couldn't wiggle. You are pace, nnd you are to have some money for betterments. I offered to floai a n- w loan on shortwith the Chicago hanks. ’ ’ nnd the board anthorized it.” ■E^The boss pushed that part of i» 1 «*lde abruptly, as h- always does . When he has got hold of Ihe gist of a i tting. . | gBpi “Now. a!>. open gossip ail over the West that Ihe P. S. L. Is officered by a lot of dummies and piaiv hunten. nnd relatives. I*B have to clean house. ' “tie :o It; that is a put of your ‘tire ,,find.' Have you ihe materia) (p draw from T' —I/*! know a few good them." said the bo*

The

It good r-orporalion counsel. 1' u**d In have a good lawyer,

John

1 ? - ** hare the man for you. If ! take him on my say so: low named Ripley who has done some I. JBOTkii.g good work fot t o rn Chic* .m. f Rl wire him, if you like. Now n won!

ils local graft we night. I don't know

r the Ins and out* of li, bnt people mil) tell you that a sort of ho BUperation. clied Red Tower

' The boas nodded. T

e right hen* In Portal City: Hatch, the president of Red Tower. nn<l Henekel, Its vice-president. They say either of them would commit murder for a (en-doilar blli, ami they stand In with Pete Clanahnn. the city boss, nnd his gang of political thugs. That's all Graham; nil hut one thing. Write me after you've climbed Into the saddle nnd have found out Just what you’re In for. If you say you inn make it go. I’ll hack you. If It fakes half of next year's wheat crop." "lien the special had become n black smudge of cool smoke In the distance, Mr. Norcross turned on me with the grim little smile that goes with his fighting mood. "You are private secretary to Ihe new general manager of the Pioneer **hon Line, Jimmie, and your salary begins to-day." he said, briskly. "Now let's go up lo ihe hotel and get our fighting clothes on.” CHAPTER IV “Head* Off, Gentlemen!" Gosh all Friday—say! hut ihe next few days did see a tear-up to bent the I'.md on the old Short Line: With the priming of his appointment circular. Mr. Norcross took ihe offices in the headquarters building lately vacated by Mr. Shaffer, nnd It wns something awful to see the way the heads went Into the basket. One by one he called the Duntonites In; the traffic manager, the general superintendent. the rondmaster. the mastermechanic—clear im down to the roundhouse foreman and the division heads. Some few of them wore allowed to take the oath of allegiance and stay, hut the place-fillers and pay-roll parasites. (he cousins and the nephews and the brothers-ln-lnw, ever) - last man of them had to walk under the ax. Three days later, when the whole town was talking about :hc new "Jack the Ripper." ns they called him. Klrgan. who had been our head machinery man «u the Midland construction, tumbled in in answer to a wire. Mr. Norcross ■‘lammed him Into place ten minutes after he hit tne town. “Your office is across the tracks. Kirgan," be told him. ‘Tve begun the house-cleaning over then- by tiring your predecessor and throe or four of his pet foremen. Get In the hole and the bottom. Ill give you six months in which to make good ns a ; model superintendent of motive power. |

Get busy."

That's me," said Klrgan. who knew the boss up ore side and down the ] other. "You give me the engines, and |

| pQDrhtMl ijpiin

and your chair is empty nnd walling for you. Your appointment circular has already been mailed out." Mr. Hornack was the Iasi of the new office stuff to fall in. though tie didn't have nearly as far to conic as some of the others. He was redheaded and wore glasses. They u«ed lo say of him on the Overland Central that he could make business grow where none ever grew before, and flint's what a traffic man lives for. Naturally, the big turn-over brought all sorts of disturbances at the ; off. Some of the reliev.d cousins ami nephews stayed in town and Jumped in to stir up trouble for the new agement. The Herald, which was ... other morning paper, took up for the down-and-outs, aid there wasn't anything too mean for It to say about the boss anil his new appointees. Then the employees got busy ami the grlevam'e committees began to pour In. Mr. Norcross never denied himself to anybody. The office-door stood wide open and the kickers were welcomed, as you might say, with open arms. "You men are going to get the squares! deal you have ever hud. nnd a Still squarer one u little farther along. If you Will only slay on the Job and keep your clothe* on,” was the way the boss went at the trainmen’s committee. “We are out to make the I’. S. L. the best line for service, and the best company to work for, this side of the Missouri river. I want your loyalty: the loyalty of every man in the service. I’ll go further and say lhat the new management will stand If you and the other pay-roll men stand by It In good faith, or it will fall if y ou don't." “You'll meet the grievance eominltiees and talk things over with them when there’s a kick coming?" said old Tom McClure, the passenger condiirior who was acting ns spokesman. "Sure I will—every time. More than than. I'll take a leaf out of Colonel Goethnl's book nnd keep open house here In this office ev. ry Sunday morning. Any man In the service who thinks he has a grievance may come here and state It. nnd If he has a case, he'll get Justice." Naturally, a few little talks like this, face to face with the men themselves. soon began to pul new life Into the rank and tile, Mr. Norcross' old ]**t name of "Hell-nnd-repent" had foliowe<l him down from Oregon, as It was bound to. but now It began to be used in the sense that most railroad men use the phrase, "The Old Man,” In speaking of a big boss that

they like.

There was so much crowded Into these first few weeks that I've forgotten half of R. The work we did. pulling and hauling things into shape, "as n fright, nn.l my end of the Job got so big that the boss had to give me help. Following out his own policy, he lei me pi, k my man. and after I'd had a little talk with Mr. Van Britt, i picked Fred May. a young fellow who had been under Van Burgh. He was all right: a little too tonguey. perhaps, but a worker from away back, and that was what we were

looking for.

■»ut of this frantic hustle to get things started and moving right, anybody could have pulled a couple of conclusions that stuck up higher than ”' . v - 'f the rest. The boss and Mr t::n Britt were steadily winning the rank and file over to something like loyalty on the one hand, and on the oih. r. wherever we went, we found the people who were paying the freight a solid unit against ns. hating us like blazes and entirely unwilling to believe that any good thing c., u ld come out of the Nazareth of the Pioneer

Short Line.

As soon a« we returned from our first Inspection nip. the boss pulled off Its cunt—figuratively speaking- and roll. 1 up his sleeves. R «,isn't his way to talk much about what he was going to do: he'd Jump in and do it I first, and ilien talk about it afterward—if anybody insisted .m knowing There were long private conference* with Mr. Ripley, ihe bright >>.ung lawyer Mr. Chadwick hatl sent us from Chicago, and with a young fellow named Juneman. an ex-newseaper man who was on the pay-rolls as "Advertising Manager." hut whose real business seemed to he lo keep the Short Line public fullj 1 and accurately mformed of everything that most rail road companies try to keep to ibemnnovation that oime along I

‘ :U, -Vb»dy In onr , ipectcl the true \ s Job until the v

“Jimmie, make a note to tell Mr. Van Britt to have the work stopped at once .in the Saw Horse branch, nnd all the equipment brought In." And then t„ Bllloughby: “Go on." ’The main graft, of course, is In the grain elevators, the fruit pnekeries, and lumber yards and the stock yards and handling corrals In these public, or quasi-public, utilities the railroad ha* given them—In fee simple, it seems—ail Hie yard room, swindles, track facilities, and tile like. Wherever local competition has tri.-d to break In. the railroad company luis given H ihe cold shoulder and It has been either forced out “Exactly." said the boss. “Now tell me how f.ir you have gone In the

other field."

"Wo are pretty well shaped up nnd are about ready to begin business. Juneman has done splendid work, and so has Ripley. We have succeeded, in a measure, though the opposition has been keeping up a steady bombardment. Hatch and his people haven’t l>een Idle. They own or control a dozen or more prominent newspapers In the state, and, ns you know, they are maka..- an open fight on you and your management through these papers. The net result so far has been merely lo keep the people stirred up and doubtful. They say that the railroad hu.« never played fair—and I guess It tuisu't. Ip the past." "Not within a thousand miles.” was the boss' curt comment. “But go on with your story." “We pulled the new deal off yesterday, simultaneously In eleven of Ihe principal owns along the line. rMeetings of the bankers and local capitalists were held, nnd we hail a man at each one of them to explain our plan nnd to pledge the hacking of the railroad. Netvvlihstnndlng all the doubt and dust that’s been kicked up by the Hatch people. It went like wlld-ftre.” “With money?" queried the boss. “Yes: with real money. Citizens' Storage & Warehouse was launched, ns yon might say, on the spot, and enough capital was subscribed to make It a going concern. Of course, there were some doubters, nnd some few greedy nues. The greedy ones protested against the fixed dividend scheme: 'liey didn't see why the new company shouldn't be allowed to cut a mt-ion now and then If It should be fortunate enough to grow one." Mr. Norcross smiled. ’That Is precisely what the Hatch people have been doing, all along, and It is the chief grievance of these same people wim now want n chance to outbid their neighbors. The lease condition was fully explained to them, wasn't it?" “Oh, yes; Ripley saw to that, and copies of the lease were In the exhibits. The new company Is to have railroad ground to build on. and ample track facilities in i»*rpetuliy. condltloned strictly upon the limited dividend. if the dividend Is increased, the liases terminate automatically." Toe boss drew a long breath. "You've done well, and better than well. Bllloughby." he said. "Now we are ready to fire the blast. How was the proposal to take over the Red er properties at a fair valuation

receiv ih!?"

here was some opposition. Lo*- | :rg, and three of the other larger i-. want to build their own plants. Bnt they agreed to abide by a mnjory vote of the stock on that point, id my wire reports this morning say in! a lump-sum offer wiii be made ir :!ie Red Tower plants today. ' Mr Norcross sat hack in his chair

of Mrs. Sheila nnd Maisle Ann makes r-se remember that I've been leaving them out pretty severely for a good long while. They weren't left out in reality—not by a Jugful. In spite of all the rush and hustle, the bos* bad found time to get acquainted with Major Basil Kendrick and had been made at home in the transplanted Kentucky mansion in the northern suhurh» lint to get back on the firing line. I wnsn't around when Mr. Norcross hud Ids "declaration of war" talk with Hatch. Mr. Norcross, being pretty sure he wasn't going to have that evening off, had rent me out to “Kenwood" with a note and a box of roses, and when I got hark to the office about eight o'clock. Hatch was Just going away. I met him on Ihe stair. Tile bon was sit ling back in his Idg swing chair, smoking, when 1 broke In. He looked a* If he'd been mixing || up good and plenty with Mr. Rufus Hatch—and enjoying it. "We've got ’em going. Jimmie." be chuckled; and he said It without asking me how I had found Mrs. Sheila, or how she was looking, or anything. ! told him I had met Mr. Hatch on Ihe stair going down. "He didn't say anything to you. did he?" he asked. “Not a word." "i had to pull that Sand Creek business on him, and I'm rather sorry,'' he went on. “He anil his p<Hiple are going to fight ihe new company to n finish, and he merely came up here lo tell me so—and to add that I might

' ihe c

edict

I be up here liefore night with in bis eye. I'm rather glad It ..me down to the actual give and I don't play the waiting game successfully. Bllloughby. Keen ch. and keep me In touch. Ar.d lipiey to keep on pushing on the The sooner we get ul It. the

r Billi

ad gone. Mr. Noi

le at me -m a little matte been allowed to sle-p eve

• had •

ed i

and abo tt the talk between ate two that I had overheard Ikiwing morning, are going to have sharp trouble

tefor

. Jim

Tower. Also I have heard that I into a chair nnd -.itting «;t , KP railroad siaitos m with It to pinch | wide apart. \n I •I,, !; ,ci„.i

ns well resign first as last, because, in the end. he'd get my goat. When I laughed at him he got abusive. He's an ugly beggar, Jimmie." "That's what everybody says of

him."

“It's true. He ami his crowd have plenty of money—stolen money', a good deal of It—mil they stand in with every political boss and gangster In the stair. There Is only one way to handle such a man. and that Is without gloves. I told him we had the goods him In the matter of Mr. Chadwick’s kidnaping adventure. At first he said I couldn’t prove It. Then he broke out cursing and let your imme slip. I hadn’t mentioned you at all. and so he gave himself away. He knows who you are. and he remembered that you had overheard his talk with Henekel In Ihe hotel lobby." I heard what he was saying, but I didn’t really sense It because my head was rum Jam full of n thing that was so pitiful that It had kept me swallowing hard all the way hack from Major Kendrick’s. It was this way. When I had Jiggled the bell out nt the house It was Maisle Ann who let me In and took the box of flowers and the boss’ note. We sat In the dimly lighted hall and talked for a few minutes. One thing she told me was that Mrs. sheila had company and the name of It was Mr. Van Britt. That wasn't strictly news been use I had known that Mr. Van Brill was dividing lime pretty evenly with the boss :n the Major Kendrick house visits. That wasn't anything to !.e seared up about. But my chunky Rule girl didn’t stop nt that. "I think we <-an let Mr. Van Britt take care of himself." she said. "He has known Cousin Sheila for a long tine*, and I guess they are only Just good friends. But there is something you ought to know, Jimmie—for Mr. Norcross’ sake. He has been rending lots of flowers and things, and Cousin Sheila has been taking them because— well. 1 guess it's Just because she doesn't know how not to take them." “Go on,” I said, hut my mouth hail suddenly grown dry. "Such things—flowers, you knmvdon't mean anything In New York. | where we've been living. Men send j them to their women friends Just they pass their el car-ease-. n rou among their men friends. But I afraid It's different with Mr N.

he had fallen ;n love, first with the back of her neck and then with her pretty face and then with all of her; and that the one big reason why he had let Mr. Chadwick persuade him to stay lo I’ortnl City was the fact that he had wanted to be near Per and to show her how lie could make a perfectly good spoon out i.f the spoiled horn of the Pioneer Short Line. Wlii'n I began to get my grip back a little I was right warm under the collar. "She oughtn't to lie going around telling people she Is a widow!" I blurted out. “She doesn't.” was the calm reply. “They've separated, you know—years ago—and Cousin Sheila has taken her mother's maiden name. Mnerne. If we were going to live here always It would he different. But we are only visiting Cousin Basil, or I suppose we are. though we've been here now for nearly n year." There wasn't much more to lie said, nnd pretty so> n I had staggered off with my loud and gone bock to the office. And this was why I couldn't get very deep Inin the Hut.-!, I>u*:iie‘s with Mr. Norcross when he told me what he had been obliged to do about the Sand Creek hold-up. If he had been like other men It wouldn't have been so hard. But I had a feeling that he had gone Into this love business Just as lie did Into everything—neck or nothing—burning his bridges behind him. am) having no notion of ever turning back. The boss had never been beaten. What was it going to do to him when he learned the truth about Mrs. Sheila? • )n top of this came the still harder knock when I saw that It was up to me to tell him. I remembered all the stories l'i| ever heard about how the most cold-blooded surgeon that ever lived wouldn't trust himself to stick a knife into a member of his own family. and I knew now Just how the surgeon felt about It. While I was sGU sweating under the big liiajl Maisle Ann had dumped upon me. the night dispatcher's boy came in with a message. It was from Mr. Chadwick, and I read It with my eyes bulging out. This is what it said: 'To G. Norcross. G. M., “Portal City. “P. S. 1.. Common dropiied to thlriyfour today, and banks lending on short time notes for betterment fund are getting nervous. Wire from New York says bondholders are stirring and talking receivership. General opinion In financial circles leans to Idea lhat new policy is foregone failure. Are you still sure you can make it win? “Chadwick." Right on the heels of this, and bofere I could get my breath. In camo the boy again with another telegram. It was a hot wire from President Dunton. one of a series lhat he had been shooting in ever since Mr. Norcross had taken hold and begun firing tho cousins and nephews. “To G. Norcross. G. M., “Portal City. RUSH. “See stock quotations for today. Your policy is a failure. Am advised you are now fighting Red Tower. Slop It Immediately and assure Mr. Hatch that we are friendly, as we have always been. If something cannot be done to lift securities to belter figure, your resignation will lie In order. "Dunton." They say that misfortunet never come singly. Her were two new griefs hurling themselves in over the wires nil In the same quarter-hour, besides the one I hud up my sleeve. But there was no use dallying. R was up to me to find the bos* a* quickly a* I could and have the tliree-cornered surgical operation over with. I knew the telegrams wouldn't kill him—or I thought they wouldn't. I thought they’d probably make him take a fresh strangle hold on things and lie fired—if he had to be fired—fighting it out grimly ou his own line. But I wnsn’t so sure nlmut the Mrs. Sheila business. That was a horse of another color. I hail Just reached for my hat nnd was getting ready ro snap the electrics off when 1 heard footsteps in the outer "ffice. When I look••d up. a stocky, hard-faced man in a derby hal and a short overcoat was standing In the doorway and scowling across at me. It was Mr. Rufus Hatch, and I had n notion that the hot end of his b!ack cigar glared u t me like h baiefu! red

J ui: co.vtini'i:!

Shock for the Explorer

The sable coat of IT*l skins for

which £10.000 was paid

Ight I

.supp

ed, t

nost

i dlffr-

' I •

expensive tar

years ago the .zartna was presented with an ermine mantle valued at £12.land recently discovered a native girl wearing a dress of silver fox skins worth, nt present prices, nearly £.».- 000 —London Tit Bits. Arctic Sheep Raising.

Did His Best