Mohave County miner., 1890-04-26
4 LITTLE GAME or sLurr.
nsv . millionaire Rurpossly wrsekss !
Railway Trade.

nee : .1illionairs Rurpossly WsscksG :
Railway TfaAs.
SEQ that man over thersr' said 3
prominent Detroit lawyer to me the
other night - we were standing in the
rotunda Of the Fifth Av....ue hotel
POINTING =. - ne spoke to tall. smooth
shaven, powerful-faced man who had
Just entered. '.He DOESN'T look much
like . man who would deliberately
wreck 3 train, docs hef But he did,
all ths eatne; less than ten years ago;
to my personal knowledge.
WHO Is hep Well, that's MichIgan's
newest millionaire, James NJ. Ashley
Jr,-Jind' Ashley, as they call him
out thererthe grand rnogul Of the To
ledo and Ann Arbor railroad system.
He started out twelve years ago with
out dollar, and In that time has built
and equipped 400 miles Of railroad.
and. without freezing out . stock
holder or cheating any one out OF
penny, now controls II. and 10 worth
~. 000, 900 II he's worth nickel. How
did he do up Simply by ccmbins
ton of brains. grit, and gall For,
while his tongue suffers like sin, l
don't believe that his brain has missed
cog since the day he was born.
Speaking to me not long age a
how he came to 20 into railroad build.
Ing. he saidi i'W.whsn ! c-c-came out
Of c-c-college and s-s-saw the power
that m-m-money gave to those who had
1t. m-m-made up m-my mind that /
w-S-wanted some Of II, and l g-g-guess
I've g-g-got IT, And he has.
but I started to tell you about bis
wrecking that train. 1t was about six
years ago, and Jim was In tight spot,
financially, and he couldn't get any
more town bonds until he had got his
road running forty miles ahead of the
terminus at that time. You see, he
had received upwards OF $50. 900 in
bonds from towns ahead. which he had
already hypothecated, but they all
contained a provision that they were
to become utterly worthless unless he
ran train into the towns that issued
them by certain prescribed date. II
they were thus defaulted, of course
those who held them would swoop
down upon him and drive him into
bankruptcy; and every cent he had
made SO far he had put into the road,
for he was playing for a big stake or
none at all. Well one fine morning.
while Jim was moving heaven and
earth to get through on time. and just
~ his graders were preparing to put
his tracks across that OF another road
that intersected it, Jim was served
with an injunction restraining him from
crossing the other road. OF course the
whole thing was bluff, the manage
ment Of the rival road well knowing
that 1t would be dissolved at the hear
ing, but they knew how badly Jim
was pinched, and they fondly hoped
that the loss Of that $50, 900 would
ruin HIM. SO that they could gobble up
his line for o song. Jim read the in
junction through, sat down on stump
scratched his head, and looked at the
high embankment OF the other road.
Suddenly an idea struck him, and as
soon as the sheriff disappeared he pro-
ceeded to put 1t into execution. The
next day the trainman Of the rival
road reported to the management that
Ashley was tunneling under their
track, after snoring it up SO that 1t was
perfectly safe for their trains. Down
went the sheriff and ordered Jim to de-
sist, only TO be coolly informed by him
that:
"The injunction only r-r-restrained
from c-crossing the other track, and
g-g-going under w-w-wasn't c-crossing
BY a d-damned sight
The sheriff didn't dare to interfere
with him, with the 400 navyies at his
back, and so went back to the county
seat and telegraphed to the Governor
for troops to uphold the dignity Of the
law. The governor ordered two COM
panies Of troops to the seat of war, and
SO telegraphed the sheriff, all uncon-
scious that Jim had tapped the tele-
graph wires and was getting ready to
receive them. In order to get to the
tunnel, their nearest route was to come
by rail and strike Jim's road about
twenty miles from 1t. and then run
down his line to the field OF battle.
When they reached the junction the
train stopped. and the Major in COM
mand got out to see what was the mat
ter. He found an engine in the ditch
and pile Of broken fiat cars thirty
feet high on the track. while Jim sat
on the top rail of an adjacent fence,
serenely smoking corn-cob pipe and
calmly surveying the wreck. You see,
he had deliberately taken his Oldest
engine. hitched thirty dilapidatsd fiat
cars to it taken up two rails at that
spot. and then. after telling the train
men to get out Of the way Of splinters,
had run the train back up the track .
mile, pulled the throttle wide open.
jumped of and sauntered leisurcly
down the track to look at the ruins
and witness the discontinue Of his
snemies.
Whats the matter here, Mr.. Ash.
ley" asked the Major, as, In company
with the conductor Of the militia train.
he approached the silent Sphinx on the
fence.
"H-h-had Q w.w-wreck,' said Jim.
when will you get it cleared OFF,"
asked the Major.
"Well.' said Jim, my m-m-men are
pretty busy up the track, and ! r-r-
reckon it'll be about t-t-three days.
B-but it's only twenty miles to the end
Of my t-t-track. and you c-can walk it
in q day II you're in q h-h-burry.'
'Of course the soldiers didn't care 10
hoof it that far, and when, after a long
detour that took them at lest twelve
hours, they arrived at the seat Of war
they found the track laid through and
two of Jim's engines footing defiance
at them from the other side, SO they
turned around and went home again.
a. nd lime honda wara sayed