w so
erratic that he was nicknamed "Crazy-horse." Right in the midst of the
strike Crazy-horse wired that he had secured a big silk shipment for New
York. We were paralyzed. We had no engineers, no firemen, and no motive
power to speak of. The strikers were pounding our men, wrecking our
trains, and giving us the worst of it generally; that is, when we
couldn't give it to them. Why the fellow displayed his activity at that
particular juncture still remains a mystery. Perhaps he had a grudge
against the road; if so, he took an artful revenge. Everybody on the
system with ordinary railroad sense knew that our struggle was to keep
clear of freight business until we got rid of our strike. Anything
valuable or perishable was especially unwelcome. But the stuff was
docked, and loaded, and consigned in our care before we knew it. After
that, a refusal to carry it would be like hoisting the white flag; and
that is something which never yet flew over the West End.

"Turn it over to the Columbian," said the General Superintendent; but
the General Superintendent was not looked up to on our division. He
hadn't enough sand. Our head was a fighter, and he gave tone to every
man under him. "No," he thundered, bringing down his fist. "Not in a
thousand years. We'll move it ourselves. Wire Montgomery (the General
Manager) that we will take care of it. And wire him to fire
Crazy-horse--and to do it right off." And before the silk was turned
over to us Crazy-horse was looking for another job. It is the only case
on record where a freight hustler was discharged for getting business.

There were twelve carloads; it was insured for $85,000 a car; you can
figure how far the title is wrong, but you never can estimate the worry
the stuff gave us. It looked as big as twelve million dollars' worth. In
fact, one scrub car-link, with the glory of the West End at heart, had a
fight over the amount with a skeptical hostler. He maintained that the
actual money value was a hundred and twenty millions; but I give you the
figures just as they went over the wire, and they are right.

What bothered us most was that the strikers had the tip almost as soon
as we had it. Having friends on every road in the country, they knew as
much about our business as we ourselves. The minute it was announced
that we should move the silk, they were after us. It was a defiance; a
last one. If we could move freight--for we were already moving
passengers after a fashion--th