A CONSPIRACY
Tucked away in an obscure corner of the same issue of the papers which
announced the resignation of Lyndon Hobart as manager of the
Consolidated properties, and the appointment of James K. Mott as his
temporary successor, were little one-stick paragraphs regarding
explosions, which had occurred the night before in tunnels of the
Taurus and the New York. The general public paid little attention to
these, but those on the inside knew that Ridgway had scored again. His
spies had carried the news to him of the projected capture of these two
properties by the enemy. Instead of attempting to defend them by force,
he had set off charges of giant powder which had brought down the
tunnel roofs and effectually blocked the entrances from the
Consolidated mines adjoining.
With the indefatigable patience which characterized him, Harley set
about having the passages cleared of the rock and timber with which
they were filled. Before he had succeeded in doing this his enemy
struck another telling blow. From Judge Purcell he secured an
injunction against the Consolidated from working its mines, the Diamond
King, the Mary K, and the Marcus Daly, on the absurd contention that
the principal ore-vein of the Marcus Daly apexed on the tin, triangle
wedged in between these three great mines, and called by Ridgway the
Trust Buster. Though there was not room enough upon this fragment to
sink a shaft, it was large enough to found this claim of a vein
widening as it descended until it crossed into the territory of each of
these properties. Though Harley could ignore court injunctions which
erected only under-ground territory, he was forced to respect this one,
since it could not be violated except in the eyes of the whole country.
The three mines closed down, and several thousand workmen were thrown
out of employment. These were immediately reemployed by Ridgway and set
to work both in his own and the Consolidated’s territory.
Within a week a dozen new suits were instituted against the
Consolidated by its enemy. He harassed it by contempt proceedings, by
applications for receiverships, and by other ingenious devices, which
greatly tormented the New York operator. For the first time in his life
the courts, which Harley had used to much advantage in his battles to
maintain and extend the trusts he controlled, could not be used even to
get scant justice.
Meanwhile both leaders were turning their attention to the political
situation. The legislators were beginning to gather for the coming
session, and already the city was full of rumors about corruption. For
both the Consolidated and its enemy were making every effort to secure
enough votes to win the election of a friendly United States senator.
The man chosen would have the distribution of the federal patronage of
the State. This meant the control of the most influential local
politicians of the party in power at Washington as well as their
followers, an almost vital factor for success in a State where
political corruption had so interwoven itself into the business life of
the community.
The hotel lobbies were filled with politicians gathered from every
county in the State. Big bronzed cattlemen brushed shoulders with
budding lawyers from country towns and ward bosses from the larger
cities. The bars were working overtime, and the steady movement of
figures in the corridors lasted all day and most of the night. Here and
there were collected groups, laughing and talking about the old
frontier days, or commenting in lowered tones on some phase of the
feverish excitement that was already beginning to be apparent.
Elevators shot up and down, subtracting and adding to the kaleidoscope
of human life in the rotundas. Bellboys hurried to and fro with
messages and cocktails. The ring of the telephone-bell cut occasionally
into the deep hum of many voices. All was confusion, keen interest,
expectancy.
For it was known that Simon Harley had sent for $300,000 in cold cash
to secure the election of his candidate, Roger D. Warner, a lawyer who
had all his life been close to corporate interests. It was known, too,
that Waring Ridgway had gathered together every element in the State
that opposed the domination of the Consolidated, to fight their man to
a finish. Bets for large sums were offered and taken as to the result,
heavy odds being given in favor of the big copper trust’s candidate.
For throughout the State at large the Consolidated influence was very
great indeed. It owned forest lands and railroads and mines. It
controlled local transportation largely. Nearly one-half the working
men in the State were in its employ. Into every town and village the
ramifications of its political organization extended. The feeling
against it was very bitter, but this was usually expressed in whispers.
For it was in a position to ruin almost any business man upon whom it
fastened a grudge, and to make wealthy any upon whom it chose to cast
its favors.
Nevertheless, there were some not so sure that the Consolidated would
succeed in electing its man. Since Ridgway had announced himself as a
candidate there had been signs of defection on the part of some of
those expected to vote for Warner. He had skillfully wielded together
in opposition to the trust all the elements of the State that were
hostile to it; and already the word was being passed that he had not
come to the campaign without a barrel of his own.
The balloting for United States senator was not to begin until the
eighth day of the session, but the opening week was full of a tense and
suppressed excitement. It was known that agents of both sides were
moving to and fro among the representatives and State senators,
offering fabulous prices for their votes and the votes of any others
they might be able to control. Men who had come to the capital
confident in their strength and integrity now looked at their neighbors
furtively and guiltily. Day by day the legislators were being debauched
to serve the interest of the factions which were fighting for control
of the State. Night after night secret meetings were being held in
out-of-the-way places to seduce those who clung desperately to their
honesty or held out for a bigger price. Bribery was in the air,
rampant, unashamed. Thousand-dollar bills were as common as ten-dollar
notes in ordinary times.
Sam Yesler, commenting on the situation to his friend Jack Roper, a
fellow member of the legislature who had been a cattleman from the time
he had given up driving a stage thirty years before, shook his head
dejectedly over his blue points.
“I tell you, Jack, a man has to be bed-rocked in honesty or he’s gone.
Think of it. A country lawyer comes here who has never seen five
thousand dollars in a lump sum, and they shove fifteen thousand at him
for his vote. He is poor, ambitious, struggling along from hand to
mouth. I reckon we ain’t in a position to judge that poor devil of a
harassed fellow. Mebbe he’s always been on the square, came here to do
what was right, we’ll say, but he sees corruption all round him. How
can he help getting a warped notion of things? He sees his friends and
his neighbors falling by the wayside. By God, it’s got to the point in
this legislature that an honest man’s an object of obloquy.”
“That’s right,” agreed Roper. “Easy enough for us to be square. We got
good ranches back of us and can spend the winter playing poker at the
Mesa Club if we feel like it. But if we stood where Billy George and
Garner and Roberts and Munz do, I ain’t so damn sure my virtue would
stand the strain. Can you reach that salt, Sam?”
“Billy George has got a sick wife, and he’s been wanting to send her
back to her folks in the East, but he couldn’t afford it. The doctors
figured she ought to stay a year, and Billy would have to hire a woman
to take care of his kids. I said to him: ‘Hell, Billy, what’s a friend
for?’ And I shoves a check at him. He wouldn’t look at it; said he
didn’t know whether he could ever pay it, and he had not come down to
charity yet.”
“Billy’s a white man. That’s what makes me sick. Right on top of all
his bad luck he comes here and sees that everybody is getting a big
roll. He thinks of that white-faced wife of his dragging herself round
among the kids and dying by inches for lack of what money can buy her.
I tell you I don’t blame him. It’s the fellows putting the temptation
up to him that ought to be strung up.”
“I see that hound Pelton’s mighty active in it. He’s got it in for
Ridgway since Waring threw him down, and he’s plugging night and day
for Warner. Stays pretty well tanked up. Hopper tells me he’s been
making threats to kill Waring on sight.”
“I heard that and told Waring. He laughed and said he hoped he would
live till Pelton killed him. I like Waring. He’s got the guts, as his
miners say. But he’s away off on this fight. He’s using money right and
left just as Harley is.”
Yesler nodded. “The whole town’s corrupted. It takes bribery for
granted. Men meet on the street and ask what the price of votes is this
morning. Everybody feels prosperous.”
“I heard that a chambermaid at the Quartzite Hotel found seven thousand
dollars in big bills pinned to the bottom of a mattress in Garner’s
room yesterday. He didn’t dare bank it, of course.”
“Poor devil! He’s another man that would like to be honest, but with
the whole place impregnated with bribery he couldn’t stand the
pressure. But after this is all over he’ll go home to his wife and his
neighbors with the canker of this thing at his heart until he dies. I
tell you, Jack, I’m for stopping it if we can.”
“How?”
“There’s one way. I’ve been approached indirectly by Pelton, to deliver
our vote to the Consolidated. Suppose we arrange to do it, get
evidence, and make a public exposure.”
They were alone in a private dining-room of a restaurant, but Yesler’s
voice had fallen almost to a whisper. With his steady gray eyes he
looked across at the man who had ridden the range with him fifteen
years ago when he had not had a sou to bless himself with.
Roper tugged at his long drooping mustache and gazed at his friend.
“It’s a large order, Sam, a devilish large order. Do you reckon we
could deliver?”
“I think so. There are six of us that will stand pat at any cost. If we
play our cards right and keep mum the surprise of it is bound to shake
votes loose when we spring the bomb. The whole point is whether we can
take advantage of that surprise to elect a decent man. I don’t say it
can be done, but there’s a chance of it.”
The old stage-driver laughed softly. “We’ll be damned good and plenty
by both sides.”
“Of course. It won’t be a pleasant thing to do, but then it isn’t
exactly pleasant to sit quiet and let these factions use the State as a
pawn in their game of grab.”
“I’m with you, Sam. Go to it, my boy, and I’ll back you to the limit.”
“We had better not talk it over here. Come to my room after dinner and
bring Landor and James with you. I’ll have Reedy and Keller there. I’ll
mention casually that it’s a big game of poker, and I’ll have cards and
drinks sent up. You want to remember we can’t be too careful. If it
leaks out we lose.”
“I’m a clam, Sam. Do you want I should speak of it to Landor and
James?”
“Better wait till we get together.”
“What about Ward? He’s always been with us.”
“He talks too much. We can take him in at the last minute if we like.”
“That would be better. I ain’t so sure about Reedy, either. He’s
straight as a string, of course; not a crooked hair in his head. But
when he gets to drinking he’s likely to let things out.”
“You’re right. We’ll leave him out, too, until the last minute. There’s
another thing I’ve thought of. Ridgway can’t win. At least I don’t see
how he can control more than twenty five votes. Suppose at the very
last moment we make a deal with him and with the Democrats to pool our
votes on some square man. With Waring it’s anything to beat the
Consolidated. He’ll jump at the chance if he’s sure he is out of the
running himself. Those of the Democrats that Harley can’t buy will be
glad to beat his man. I don’t say it can be done, Jack. All I say is
that it is worth a trial.”
“You bet.”
They met that night in Yesler’s rooms round a card-table. The hands
were dealt for form’s sake, since there were spies everywhere, and it
was necessary to ring for cigars and refreshments occasionally to avoid
suspicion. They were all cattlemen, large or small, big outdoors
sunburned men, who rode the range in the spring and fall with their
punchers and asked no odds of any man.
Until long past midnight they talked the details over, and when they
separated in the small hours it was with a well-defined plan to save
the State from its impending disgrace if the thing could be done.