creating a scandal.  In fact, for some years previous to this, various agents had already been employed—­Edward Strobik, president of council, Asa Conklin, the then incumbent of the mayor’s chair, Thomas Wycroft, alderman, Jacob Harmon, alderman, and others—­to organize dummy companies under various names, whose business it was to deal in those things which the city needed—­lumber, stone, steel, iron, cement—­a long list—­and of course, always at a fat profit to those ultimately behind the dummy companies, so organized.  It saved the city the trouble of looking far and wide for honest and reasonable dealers.

Since the action of at least three of these dummies will have something to do with the development of Cowperwood’s story, they may be briefly described.  Edward Strobik, the chief of them, and the one most useful to Mollenhauer, in a minor way, was a very spry person of about thirty-five at this time—­lean and somewhat forceful, with black hair, black eyes, and an inordinately large black mustache.  He was dapper, inclined to noticeable clothing—­a pair of striped trousers, a white vest, a black cutaway coat and a high silk hat.  His markedly ornamental shoes were always polished to perfection, and his immaculate appearance gave him the nickname of “The Dude” among some.  Nevertheless he was quite able on a small scale, and was well liked by many.

His two closest associates, Messrs. Thomas Wycroft and Jacob Harmon, were rather less attractive and less brilliant.  Jacob Harmon was a thick wit socially, but no fool financially.  He was big and rather doleful to look upon, with sandy brown hair and brown eyes, but fairly intelligent, and absolutely willing to approve anything which was not too broad in its crookedness and which would afford him sufficient protection to keep him out of the clutches of the law.  He was really not so cunning as dull and anxious to get along.

Thomas Wycroft, the last of this useful but minor triumvirate, was a tall, lean man, candle-waxy, hollow-eyed, gaunt of face, pathetic to look at physically, but shrewd.  He was an iron-molder by trade and had gotten into politics much as Stener had—­because he was useful; and he had managed to make some money—­via this triumvirate of which Strobik was the ringleader, and which was engaged in various peculiar businesses which will now be indicated.

The companies which these several henchmen had organized under previous administrations, and for Mollenhauer, dealt in meat, building material, lamp-posts, highway supplies, anything you will, which the city departments or its institutions needed.  A city contract once awarded was irrevocable, but certain councilmen had to be fixed in advance and it took money to do that.  The company so organized need not actually slaughter any cattle or mold lamp-posts.  All it had to do was to organize to do that, obtain a charter, secure a contract for supplying such material to the city from the city council (which Strobik, Harmon, and