Burt L. Standish

“ Nathan Wiggin did not jump. He was not greatly alarmed at first. The thing had barely started; it was not running away. He had broken and trained vicious horses that other men could do nothing with, some of them veritable man-killers, and surely he could stop an inanimate contrivance like a motor car, especially when it was not under power. Possibly he was restrained also by a conviction that he could not abandon the car with dignity, and by the knowledge that to abandon it at all under such circumstances would possibly make him an object of ridicule. ”

“ Never since its foundation had the sleepy town of Greenbush beheld such a spectacle. Never in its history had there been such tremendous excitement within its boundaries. The end of all things terrestrial could scarcely have created a greater hullabaloo in that torpid community.
The young man on the bicycle was not able to overtake the runaway motor car before it reached the bridge, but he was not far behind it. When the automobile smashed through the railing and leaped into the river, he jumped from the bicycle and followed it without the slightest hesitation. ”

“ Something like a faint smile began to play around the corners of the governor’s mouth. “How many times have you ridden in an automobile, Judge Wiggin?” he asked.
“Jest about as many times as you’ve rid on the tail of a comet, governor. A good, fast-steppin’ hoss suits me.”
“Exactly. And you’ve driven some fast steppers in your time. No doubt you’ve driven them through the streets of this town at a much greater speed than eight miles an hour, thus endangering the lives of pedestrians and others upon the highways.” ”

“ Around another curve careened the car, and struck the straight, gentle incline running down into the village. Out from behind the sumacs dashed the constables, Jeremiah Small planting himself in the very center of the highway, one hand upflung authoritatively while the other flipped back his coat and revealed the badge pinned to his left suspender. Silas Buzzell backed him up, but with a shade more discretion about blocking the path of the speeding motor car. ”

“ He grabbed the bicycle, uttering a ringing shout for everybody to get out of the way.
Through the scattered crowd he dashed, leaping to the saddle and catching the pedals with his nimble feet. Bending over the handlebars, he started in pursuit of the automobile, which, by this time, was halfway down the hill, with the wailing siren in full blast.
Continuing to jabber and shout, the crowd followed, stringing out in a straggling line. Boys and younger men were in the lead. Middle-aged, bewhiskered, bald-headed men came next. The rear guard was made up of the aged and decrepit ”

“ Bessie Wiggin grasped a stake of the fence, and tried desperately to tear it loose, intending to return to the assistance of the stranger with this weapon. She was the coward, after all! She had run away and left him to be killed!
Then she saw him “put over” a bit of strategy on the bull. The animal had paused for a moment, and turned slowly upon him, pawing the ground. Instead of placing the tree between himself and danger, the man planted his back against it, his eyes never leaving the beast for an instant. ”

“ A word to the wise is a seed sown upon good ground that springeth up and beareth the fruit of economy. Richard Roe, guilty or not guilty?”
Biting his lip with annoyance, the younger of the two prisoners started to protest: “It was necessary—er—your honor, that we should catch the westward-bound train at Albion. If you were aware who we are, who your petty officers, hiding like highwaymen in ambush, had ventured to hold up——”
Again Judge Wiggin’s knuckles smote the desk. ”

“ The shouts of the startled crowd in front of Turner’s grocery had brought those within the store rushing out to learn the cause of alarm. The governor came with them, followed a second later by the young man who had been tossed by Libby’s bull. They beheld the motor car well under way, and the judge struggling frantically and ineffectually to restrain it.
“Great guns!” groaned the governor, turning pale. “Wiggin’s started the demonstration on his own hook. He’ll smash a four-thousand-dollar car and his neck at the same time!” ”

“ He considered that she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and he wondered how, even with the sunbonnet hiding her face, he had made the blunder of mistaking her for a middle-aged woman. He felt his heart thumping queerly. ”

“ A wise fool is about as safe to have round as a stick of dynamite bakin’ in the oven of a red-hot stove. If he don’t damage nobody else, he’s pretty likely to blow up and bust himself.”
The governor and his secretary, followed by a few others, came hurrying to the spot. Seeing them approach, the judge got upon his feet, dripping tiny rivulets.
“Governor,” he observed, “there’s no great loss without some small gain. You’ll save the price of a wash for that there automobile. Whatever damage or expense may accrue I ca’late I’ll have to sustain. ”

“ Perched astride the limb, with his feet drawn up, the refugee shook his fist at the raging animal, which, inflamed by success, made another great jump into the air and fell back on the ground, his age-enfeebled legs collapsing beneath him. ”

“ Still you may not realize that an expert driver of a motor car has far more perfect control over his machine than the driver of a spirited horse can possibly have over the animal. Likewise, an auto moving at the same relative speed as a horse attached to a carriage may be stopped more quickly than the horse. ”

“ Even the self-restraint of the elder man was tested to the limit.
And presently, when the fine of twenty-five dollars and costs—twenty-eight dollars and thirty cents, all told—had been inflicted and paid over, the owner of the motor car released the safety valve.
“Judge Wiggin,” he said, “I’m compelled to tell you that it has never been my misfortune to witness a greater farce or a more ridiculous travesty of justice. You made it absolutely evident that, from the very beginning, your mind was made up and that you would impose a fine, regardless of extenuating circumstances. ”

“ The faster you drive, the higher you’ll bounce when you hit the bumps. Come on, Silas! Deputy Newberry’ll have that gay pair collared in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
If the defiant autoists fancied they were to escape the clutches of the speed regulators in that easy manner, they soon realized their error. Farther on toward the village, running the full width of the road, were a series of artfully arranged ridges and hollows calculated to give a severe shaking up to the passengers of any motor car proceeding at a speed exceeding four or five miles an hour. ”

“ Let’s investigate.” When they reached Wiggin’s front door, George, a bandage tied round his head, was just coming out, followed by the judge, who seemed to be highly disturbed and indignant.
“I’m all right now, governor,” called the young man reassuringly. “A disagreeable bull helped me over a fence, and I sort of collapsed after walking into town.”
“Governor,” said Nathan Wiggin grimly, “as near as I can find out, your shuffer climbed a tree to git away from a toothless, half-blind old shepherd dog, and run like the devil when Libby’s bull took after him. ”

“ Your gentlemen will have to hurry.”
“They may make it if I can get an automobile in town.”
Again she laughed. “Automobiles aren’t popular in Greenbush. Peter Beedy is the only citizen who owns one. He’s been arrested and fined four times for exceeding the speed limit of eight miles an hour. The last time that happened he was so mad he swore he’d never start the machine again, and he had it towed to his barn and stored away.” ”

“ Therefore the machine, properly handled, is a smaller menace to human safety than a horse-drawn carriage.”
“Governor,” said Nathan P. Wiggin, “politeness forbids me to tell you jest what I think of that statement. Besides, I’ve got my coat on.”
“If you’re too prejudiced,” said the governor, “get into this car with me, and you shall have a demonstration.” Just how this invitation would have been received at that moment cannot be said. Through the crowd came a panting, freckled, red-headed young man, flinging people aside with his long arms. ”

“ He ain’t in his right mind.”
“Perhaps you’d better let Hitchens drive, George,” said the governor, addressing the injured young man. “I declare, you’re pale! Sure you’re not badly hurt?”
“Somehow walking makes me dizzy,” was the answer. “Still, I’m feeling better. I think I’ll step into this store and get a drink of water.”
Having become suddenly anxious, the chief executive followed him into the store. Hitchens, fretful and none too well pleased with the governor for wasting so much time on Wiggin, left the latter sitting in the car and mounted the store steps. ”

“ And discretion being the better part of valor, let me suggest that you bottle up further seething criticism until we both get outside, where, as man to man, we can tell each other jest what we think, without mincin’ words. ”

“ But if Jedge Wiggin can’t win, I’ll bet you a twenty-cent plug of War Hoss he turns his strength ag’inst Ephraim Glover, of Palmyra, and throws the nomination to Crockett. This deestrict is the keystone, and if the party loses it, they’ll most likely lose the whole county. I understand the governor himself is ruther fretted over the situation, with the primaries comin’ on next week.”
“I don’t keer much about politics nohow,” declared Buzzell, wiping his eyes again. “One party’s bad as t’other, and there ain’t neither of ’em done nothing for me. ”

“ A dollar-sixty a day ain’t no livin’ pay for a hard-workin’ man, and that’s all we git outside commissions on the fines the jedge imposes, and the deputy sheruff gits the biggest whack at them. We have to be pacified with what comes outer the little end o’ the horn. Yis-tidday my share was thutty-two cents, and so fur to-day we ain’t nabbed only one motor-cycle feller who come through by accident, havin’ got off the road to Damascus. ”

“ I’m goin’ to tell you my private idee: I think Nathan Wiggin’s turned Greenbush into a graveyard by finin’ ev’rybody ketched goin’ faster’n eight miles in the town limits. He’s give the place a black eye and set people to dodgin’ it. ”

“ Shaming the Speed Limit
By Burt L. Standish CHAPTER I
A GIRL, A DOG, AND A MAN.
When Miss Elizabeth Wiggin settled herself comfortably in the shade of the spreading oak in Libby’s pasture, she looked forward eagerly to a pleasant and quiet hour with her book, “Wooed, Won, and Wedded.” As may be surmised from the title of the book, Miss Wiggin was romantic. She was likewise just eighteen years of age, and the daughter of Judge Nathan P. Wiggin, of Greenbush, the village that could be seen nestling in the valley something like a mile distant from that hillside oak. ”