o rest for the weary.

The situation that existed at this time is too well known to require any
explanation here. The state and city authorities were powerless; the
militia inefficient and many a citizen bowed his head and thanked God on
that warm July morning for the arrival of the regulars. Only twenty-one
hundred of them all told, mind you, against so many thousands of the
rioters, and yet, they were disciplined men and led by officers who
simply enforced orders as they received them. No matter where or what
the sympathies of the men of a company might be, when the captain said
"Fire," look out, because the bullets would generally fly breast high.
The situation resembled the Paris Commune, and but for the timely
arrival of the small body of bluecoats, another cow might have kicked
over another lamp, and the frightful conflagration of 1871 have been
more than duplicated. But the "cow" was slaughtered and the "lamp"
extinguished.

The morning after Brainerd arrived he was detailed on special service
and ordered to report to me, and together we worked until the trouble
was over. Just what this service was need not be recorded, but one thing
sure, railroads and the telegraph figured in it quite largely. In fact
the general superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company placed
the entire resources of the company at my disposal. A wire was run
direct to Washington, lines run to all the camps, and Jack and I each
carried a little pocket instrument on our person.

Although the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers did not go out in a
body, there was quite a number of them who would not pull trains for
fear of personal violence from the strikers. One old chap, Bob Redway,
by name, had known Major McKenney of our battalion, in days gone by,
when he was pulling a train on the N. P., and the major was stationed at
Missoula. Bob wandered into camp one afternoon to see his old friend and
just at that time a company was ordered to the southern part of the city
to stop a crowd that was looting and burning P. H. Railway property. As
usual the engineer backed out at the last moment. The major turned to
Redway, and said, "See here, Bob, you're not in sympathy with these
cutthroats, suppose you pull this train out."

"All right, major, I'll pull you through if the old girl will only hold
up. She's a stranger to me, but I reckon she'll last."

Brainerd and I were to go along and do some special work around the
stock-yards, and