Connecticut western news., 1883-03-28
THE CHINESE OVERSEER,
HOW THE LABoRERs ON THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC ROAD ARE KEPT FROM
 DESERVING.

DESERVING.
 The Southern Pacific Railroad is the marvel of modern railway construction. The country which it traverses has pe- culiarly unfavorable physical aspects. The engineers have overcome every ob- stacle. They have threaded sandy deserts, tunneled lofty mountains, lev eled rocky ridges, bridged great rivers and spanned deep canyons. Against them nothing has prevailed. Nature set up her strongest citadels to bar their progress. They melted before their skill like dew before the summer sun. They brought ties and bridge timber three thousand miles and transported the connecting rails across great con- tinent. Savage tribes of Indians harassed and annoyed them. They raised an army and subdued the barbarians. They passed through country on which the white mans foot had never been set Civilization followed in their wake and towns and cities sprang up like magic. The country was comprehensive and forage for their stock and subsistence for the army cf workmen had to be brought from distance.
 In some places water for all purposes had to be carried a hundred miles. White men could not be worked to ad- vantage in this desert country, and six thousand Chinese ooolies were imported as navvies. Armed with pick and shovel, tanping bar and sledge hammer, they worked through the country mighty host of progress, and track laying ad. vanced at the rate of three miles day. Even along the Rio Grande, where can. yons were crossed thousand feet deep, mountains tunneled mile through and rocky ridges miles in extent leveled and graded, these Mongolians moved forward 8 mile every twenty-four hours. passed along the line for the first time last sum- ner, and it was 8 source of never-failina wonder to note the rapidity and preois. ion with which the work was accom- phshed. A hill of solid rock one hun dred yards long had to be cut down tc the average depth of thirty feet. A thousand Chinamen would swoop dow1 upon it with drills and sledges. In si1 hours blast would be ready. Tons O powder would be poured into the innu merable little holes, made in the rock by An Sin. Fuses would be prepared an electric battery attached, the engi neer would press the little button, anC by the time the smoke from the explo sion cleared away the track-laying out fit would be hard at work placing ties il position and spiking down rails. It wa. necessary to lay the track before an, permanent bridge or trestle work couli be done.
 In crossing canyon false bridee were made of cross-ties, and it wa astonishing how quick those pig-taile, heathen ran up the temporary piers The construction company contracte for these laborers in California at a fixe price per head, and was under bond t return them to the agent of the Si Companies when the road was completed An Sin kept his ears open and was ot servant. It was not long before h learned that one hundred cents fo twelve hours of hard work was not tn usual price paid railroad laborers. rumor reached him that another grea road was coming on to meet the one was building, and that navvies receive three dollars day thereon.
 He was justly indignant at the advar tage which the enterprisine but soullee corporation had taken of his ignoranc of prices. He did not openly protest nor did he hold monster indignatio meeting, with brass band accompan ment, and strike for higher wages.
 These are a part of our naon1io civilization, and An Sin had come straiol from the rice fields and tea groves of tb Celestial Kingdom, where such assertion of independence and liberty usually co. the unfortunate promoters, aiders, an abetters their lives. He revolted, how ever, in secret and determined to bette his condition.
 He began to desert, and the countr between Fl Paso and Pesos river ws soon full of eastward moving pig-tail The company sent after the recrean and recaptured most of them. This di not deter others from venturing, and tl company saw plainly that somethin must be done, but exactly what, the wisest heads could not decide.
 In this emergency man arose-the always do under such circumstances who boldly proclaimed his ability to nj this Chinese rebellion in the bud. IT company granted him extraordinal povers, and he entered upon his labor