SNOW ON THE HEADLIGHT
BY CY WARMAN
A Story of the Great Burlington Strike
12mo. Cloth, $1.25
THE STORY OF THE RAILROAD (The Story of the West Series.)
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50
D. APPLETON & COMPANYNEW YORKW ON THE HEADLIGHT
SNOW ON THEHEADLIGHT
A Story of the GreatBurlington Strike
BY CY WARMAN
AUTHOR OF THE STORY OF THE RAILROAD, THEEXPRESS MESSENGER, TALES OF AN ENGINEER,FRONTIER STORIES, ETC.
NEW YORKD. APPLETON AND COMPANYMDCCCXCIX
Copyright, 1899, by D. Appleton & Co.
PREFACE
Here is a Decoy Duck stuffed with Oysters.
The Duck is mere Fiction:
The Oysters are Facts.
If you find the Duck wholesome, and theOysters hurt you, it is probably because youhad a hand in the making of this bit ofHistory, and in the creation of these Facts.
THE AUTHOR
SNOW ON THE HEADLIGHT
CHAPTER FIRST
Good managers are made from messengerboys, brakemen, wipers and telegraphers;just as brave admirals are producedin due time by planting a cadet in a navalschool. From two branches of the servicecome the best equipped men in the railroadworld—from the motive-power departmentand from the train service. This one camefrom the mechanical department, and hespent his official life trying to conceal thefact—striving to be just to all his employeesand to show no partiality towardsthe department from whence he sprang—butalways failing.
"These men will not strike," he contended:"The brains of the train are in the engine."
"O, I don't think," Mr. Josler, the generalsuperintendent, would say; and if you followedhis accent it would take you rightback to the heart of Germany: "Giff me agoot conductor, an' I git over the roat."
No need to ask where he came from.
As the grievance grew in the hands of the"grief" committee, and the belief becamefixed in the minds of the officials that theemployees were looking for trouble, thesituation waxed critical. "Might as wellmake a clean job of it," the men would say;and then every man who had a grievance, awound where there had been a grievance ora fear that he might have something to complainof in the future, contributed to the realoriginal grievance until the trouble grew sothat it appalled the officials and caused themto stiffen their necks. In this way the menand the management were being wedgedfarther and farther apart. Finally, the generalmanager, foreseeing what war wouldcost the company and the employees, madean effort to reach a settlement, but the veryeffort was taken as evidence of weakness,and instead of yielding something the mentook courage, and lengthened the list ofgrievances. His predecessor had said to thepresident of the company when the lastsettlement was effected: "This is our lastcompromise. The next time we shall have tofight—my back is to the wall." But, when thetime came for the struggle, he had not theheart to make the fight, and so resigned andwent west, where he died shortly afterwards,and dying, escaped the sorrow that musthave been his had he lived to see how his old,much-loved employees were made to suffer.
Now the grievance committee came with anultimatum to the management. "Yes, o