Not long after Cowperwood’s accession to control on the West Side, for instance, a contest took place between his corporation and a citizen by the name of Redmond Purdy—real-estate investor7, property-trader, and money-lender—which set Chicago by the ears. The La Salle and Washington Street tunnels were now in active service, but because of the great north and south area of the West Side, necessitating8 the cabling of Van Buren Street and Blue Island Avenue, there was need of a third tunnel somewhere south of Washington Street, preferably at Van Buren Street, because the business heart was thus more directly reached. Cowperwood was willing and anxious to build this tunnel, though he was puzzled how to secure from the city a right of way under Van Buren Street, where a bridge loaded with heavy traffic now swung. There were all sorts of complications. In the first place, the consent of the War Department at Washington had to be secured in order to tunnel under the river at all. Secondly9, the excavation10, if directly under the bridge, might prove an intolerable nuisance, necessitating the closing or removal of the bridge. Owing to the critical, not to say hostile, attitude of the newspapers which, since the La Salle and Washington tunnel grants, were following his every move with a searchlight, Cowperwood decided11 not to petition the city for privileges in this case, but instead to buy the property rights of sufficient land just north of the bridge, where the digging of the tunnel could proceed without interference.
The piece of land most suitable for this purpose, a lot 150 x 150, lying a little way from the river-bank, and occupied by a seven-story loft-building, was owned by the previously12 mentioned Redmond Purdy, a long, thin, angular, dirty person, who wore celluloid collars and cuffs13 and spoke14 with a nasal intonation15.
Cowperwood had the customary overtures16 made by seemingly disinterested17 parties endeavoring to secure the land at a fair price. But Purdy, who was as stingy as a miser18 and as incisive19 as a rat-trap, had caught wind of the proposed tunnel scheme. He was all alive for a fine profit. “No, no, no,” he declared, over and over, when approached by the representatives of Mr. Sylvester Toomey, Cowperwood’s ubiquitous land-agent. “I don’t want to sell. Go away.”
Mr. Sylvester Toomey was finally at his wit’s end, and complained to Cowperwood, who at once sent for those noble beacons20 of dark and stormy waters, General Van Sickle21 and the Hon. Kent Barrows McKibben. The General was now becoming a little dolty, and Cowperwood was thinking of pensioning him; but McKibben was in his prime—smug, handsome, deadly, smooth. After talking it over with Mr. Toomey they returned to Cowperwood’s office with a promising22 scheme. The Hon. Nahum Dickensheets, one of the judges of the State Court of Appeals, and a man long since attached, by methods which need not here be described, to Cowperwood’s star, had been persuaded to bring his extensive technical knowledge to bear on the emergency. At his suggestion the work of digging the tunnel was at once begun—first at the east or Franklin Street end; then, after eight months’ digging, at the west or Canal Street end. A shaft23 was actually sunk some thirty feet back of Mr. Purdy’s building—between it and the river—while that gentleman watched with a quizzical gleam in his eye this defiant24 procedure. He was sure that when it came to the necessity of annexing25 his property the North and West Chicago Street Railways would be obliged to pay through the nose.
“Well, I’ll be cussed,” he frequently observed to himself, for he could not see how his exaction26 of a pound of flesh was to be evaded27, and yet he felt strangely restless at times. Finally, when it became absolutely necessary for Cowperwood to secure without further delay this coveted28 strip, he sent for its occupant, who called in pleasant anticipation29 of a profitable conversation; this should be worth a small fortune to him.
“Mr. Purdy,” observed Cowperwood, glibly30, “you have a piece of land on the other side of the river that I need. Why don’t you sell it to me? Can’t we fix this up now in some amicable31 way?”
He smiled while Purdy cast shrewd, wolfish glances about the place, wondering how much he could really hope to exact. The building, with all its interior equipment, land, and all, was worth in the neighborhood of two hundred thousand dollars.
“Why should I sell? The building is a good building. It’s as useful to me as it would be to you. I’m making money out of it.”
“Quite true,” replied Cowperwood, “but I am willing to pay you a fair price for it. A public utility is involved. This tunnel will be a good thing for the West Side and any other land you may own over there. With what I will pay you you can buy more land in that neighborhood or elsewhere, and make a good thing out of it. We need to put this tunnel just where it is, or I wouldn’t trouble to argue with you.
“That’s just it,” replied Purdy, fixedly32. “You’ve gone ahead and dug your tunnel without consulting me, and now you expect me to get out of the way. Well, I don’t see that I’m called on to get out of there just to please you.”
“But I’ll pay you a fair price.”
“How much will you pay me?”
“How much do you want?”
Mr. Purdy scratched a fox-like ear. “One million dollars.”
“One million dollars!” exclaimed Cowperwood. “Don’t you think that’s a little steep, Mr. Purdy?”
Cowperwood sighed.
“I’m sorry,” he replied, meditatively34, “but this is really too much. Wouldn’t you take three hundred thousand dollars in cash now and consider this thing closed?”
“One million,” replied Purdy, looking sternly at the ceiling. “Very well, Mr. Purdy,” replied Cowperwood. “I’m very sorry. It’s plain to me that we can’t do business as I had hoped. I’m willing to pay you a reasonable sum; but what you ask is far too much—preposterous! Don’t you think you’d better reconsider? We might move the tunnel even yet.”
“One million dollars,” said Purdy.
“It can’t be done, Mr. Purdy. It isn’t worth it. Why won’t you be fair? Call it three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars cash, and my check to-night.”
“I wouldn’t take five or six hundred thousand dollars if you were to offer it to me, Mr. Cowperwood, to-night or any other time. I know my rights.”
“Very well, then,” replied Cowperwood, “that’s all I can say. If you won’t sell, you won’t sell. Perhaps you’ll change your mind later.”
Mr. Purdy went out, and Cowperwood called in his lawyers and his engineers. One Saturday afternoon, a week or two later, when the building in question had been vacated for the day, a company of three hundred laborers35, with wagons36, picks, shovels37, and dynamite38 sticks, arrived. By sundown of the next day (which, being Sunday, was a legal holiday, with no courts open or sitting to issue injunctions) this comely39 structure, the private property of Mr. Redmond Purdy, was completely razed40 and a large excavation substituted in its stead. The gentleman of the celluloid cuffs and collars, when informed about nine o’clock of this same Sunday morning that his building had been almost completely removed, was naturally greatly perturbed41. A portion of the wall was still standing3 when he arrived, hot and excited, and the police were appealed to.
But, strange to say, this was of little avail, for they were shown a writ42 of injunction issued by the court of highest jurisdiction43, presided over by the Hon. Nahum Dickensheets, which restrained all and sundry44 from interfering45. (Subsequently on demand of another court this remarkable46 document was discovered to have disappeared; the contention47 was that it had never really existed or been produced at all.)
The demolition48 and digging proceeded. Then began a scurrying49 of lawyers to the door of one friendly judge after another. There were apoplectic50 cheeks, blazing eyes, and gasps51 for breath while the enormity of the offense52 was being noised abroad. Law is law, however. Procedure is procedure, and no writ of injunction was either issuable or returnable on a legal holiday, when no courts were sitting. Nevertheless, by three o’clock in the afternoon an obliging magistrate53 was found who consented to issue an injunction staying this terrible crime. By this time, however, the building was gone, the excavation complete. It remained merely for the West Chicago Street Railway Company to secure an injunction vacating the first injunction, praying that its rights, privileges, liberties, etc., be not interfered54 with, and so creating a contest which naturally threw the matter into the State Court of Appeals, where it could safely lie. For several years there were numberless injunctions, writs55 of errors, doubts, motions to reconsider, threats to carry the matter from the state to the federal courts on a matter of constitutional privilege, and the like. The affair was finally settled out of court, for Mr. Purdy by this time was a more sensible man. In the mean time, however, the newspapers had been given full details of the transaction, and a storm of words against Cowperwood ensued.
But more disturbing than the Redmond Purdy incident was the rivalry56 of a new Chicago street-railway company. It appeared first as an idea in the brain of one James Furnivale Woolsen, a determined57 young Westerner from California, and developed by degrees into consents and petitions from fully58 two-thirds of the residents of various streets in the extreme southwest section of the city where it was proposed the new line should be located. This same James Furnivale Woolsen, being an ambitious person, was not to be so easily put down. Besides the consent and petitions, which Cowperwood could not easily get away from him, he had a new form of traction59 then being tried out in several minor60 cities—a form of electric propulsion by means of an overhead wire and a traveling pole, which was said to be very economical, and to give a service better than cables and cheaper even than horses.
Cowperwood had heard all about this new electric system some time before, and had been studying it for several years with the greatest interest, since it promised to revolutionize the whole business of street-railroading. However, having but so recently completed his excellent cable system, he did not see that it was advisable to throw it away. The trolley61 was as yet too much of a novelty; certainly it was not advisable to have it introduced into Chicago until he was ready to introduce it himself—first on his outlying feeder lines, he thought, then perhaps generally.
But before he could take suitable action against Woolsen, that engaging young upstart, who was possessed62 of a high-power imagination and a gift of gab63, had allied64 himself with such interested investors65 as Truman Leslie MacDonald, who saw here a heaven-sent opportunity of mulcting Cowperwood, and Jordan Jules, once the president of the North Chicago Gas Company, who had lost money through Cowperwood in the gas war. Two better instruments for goading66 a man whom they considered an enemy could not well be imagined—Truman Leslie with his dark, waspish, mistrustful, jealous eyes, and his slim, vital body; and Jordan Jules, short, rotund, sandy, a sickly crop of thin, oily, light hair growing down over his coat-collar, his forehead and crown glisteningly bald, his eyes a seeking, searching, revengeful blue. They in turn brought in Samuel Blackman, once president of the South Side Gas Company; Sunderland Sledd, of local railroad management and stock-investment fame; and Norrie Simms, president of the Douglas Trust Company, who, however, was little more than a fiscal67 agent. The general feeling was that Cowperwood’s defensive68 tactics—which consisted in having the city council refuse to act—could be easily met.
“Well, I think we can soon fix that,” exclaimed young MacDonald, one morning at a meeting. “We ought to be able to smoke them out. A little publicity69 will do it.”
He appealed to his father, the editor of the Inquirer, but the latter refused to act for the time being, seeing that his son was interested. MacDonald, enraged70 at the do-nothing attitude of the council, invaded that body and demanded of Alderman Dowling, still leader, why this matter of the Chicago general ordinances71 was still lying unconsidered. Mr. Dowling, a large, mushy, placid72 man with blue eyes, an iron frame, and a beefy smile, vouchsafed73 the information that, although he was chairman of the committee on streets and alleys74, he knew nothing about it. “I haven’t been payin’ much attention to things lately,” he replied.
Mr. MacDonald went to see the remaining members of this same committee. They were non-committal. They would have to look into the matter. Somebody claimed that there was a flaw in the petitions.
Evidently there was crooked75 work here somewhere. Cowperwood was to blame, no doubt. MacDonald conferred with Blackman and Jordan Jules, and it was determined that the council should be harried76 into doing its duty. This was a legitimate77 enterprise. A new and better system of traction was being kept out of the city. Schryhart, since he was offered an interest, and since there was considerable chance of his being able to dominate the new enterprise, agreed that the ordinances ought to be acted upon. In consequence there was a renewed hubbub78 in the newspapers.
It was pointed79 out through Schryhart’s Chronicle, through Hyssop’s and Merrill’s papers, and through the Inquirer that such a situation was intolerable. If the dominant80 party, at the behest of so sinister81 an influence as Cowperwood, was to tie up all outside traction legislation, there could be but one thing left—an appeal to the voters of the city to turn the rascals82 out. No party could survive such a record of political trickery and financial jugglery83. McKenty, Dowling, Cowperwood, and others were characterized as unreasonable84 obstructionists and debasing influences. But Cowperwood merely smiled. These were the caterwaulings of the enemy. Later, when young MacDonald threatened to bring legal action to compel the council to do its duty, Cowperwood and his associates were not so cheerful. A mandamus proceeding85, however futile86, would give the newspapers great opportunity for chatter87; moreover, a city election was drawing near. However, McKenty and Cowperwood were by no means helpless. They had offices, jobs, funds, a well-organized party system, the saloons, the dives, and those dark chambers88 where at late hours ballot-boxes are incontinently stuffed.
Did Cowperwood share personally in all this? Not at all. Or McKenty? No. In good tweed and fine linen89 they frequently conferred in the offices of the Chicago Trust Company, the president’s office of the North Chicago Street Railway System, and Mr. Cowperwood’s library. No dark scenes were ever enacted90 there. But just the same, when the time came, the Schryhart-Simms-MacDonald editorial combination did not win. Mr. McKenty’s party had the votes. A number of the most flagrantly debauched aldermen, it is true, were defeated; but what is an alderman here and there? The newly elected ones, even in the face of pre-election promises and vows91, could be easily suborned or convinced. So the anti-Cowperwood element was just where it was before; but the feeling against him was much stronger, and considerable sentiment generated in the public at large that there was something wrong with the Cowperwood method of street-railway control.
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1
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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2
personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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investor
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| n.投资者，投资人 | |
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necessitating
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的现在分词 ) | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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excavation
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| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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beacons
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| 灯塔( beacon的名词复数 )； 烽火； 指路明灯； 无线电台或发射台 | |
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sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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annexing
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| 并吞( annex的现在分词 )； 兼并； 强占； 并吞（国家、地区等） | |
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exaction
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| n.强求，强征；杂税 | |
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evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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glibly
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| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
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amicable
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| adj.和平的，友好的；友善的 | |
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32
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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sagely
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| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
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meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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38
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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razed
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| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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44
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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45
interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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46
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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47
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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48
demolition
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| n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹 | |
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49
scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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50
apoplectic
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| adj.中风的；愤怒的；n.中风患者 | |
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51
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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52
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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53
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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54
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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55
writs
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| n.书面命令，令状( writ的名词复数 ) | |
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56
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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57
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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58
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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traction
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| n.牵引；附着摩擦力 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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61
trolley
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| n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车 | |
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62
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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63
gab
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| v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话 | |
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64
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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goading
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| v.刺激( goad的现在分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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67
fiscal
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| adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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75
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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jugglery
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| n.杂耍，把戏 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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