St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-27

disfavor upon the advent of the iron
horse, and the section hands and rail-
road employees were greatly haraSSed,
nay. their lives Imperilled. by the dis
affected denizens of Orange. The un-
cOuth frOntierSmen under cover of night
would amuSe themselves shooting at
the headlights of locomotives, and,
when nothing less exciting presented
itself, would wager among them
selves as to who would be the
most successful in eXtinguishing
the hand lanters borne by the train
crews. A feright brakeman perched
upon a boX-ear with a lighted lantern i'll
hand was target for dozen expert
rifemen, and the thing got. to be so
common that trainmen, to protect their
lives, would ''douse the glin" when APP
procaehing and passing through Orange.
The respectable element deprecated
these outrages, but as they were at that
time in the minority, 1t was as much as
their lives were worth to openly eX-
press their condemnation. A theatrical
troupe stopped off for one night
at Orange to entertain the rough mill
hands. when, for some reason or other,
the advance agent incurred their dis
pleasure. 1t is SAID that he remarked
III one of the saloons that the place was
a Jay" town. A dozen or more of the
reckless Orangeites induced the advance
agent to accompany them off little
piece. and, at the muZzle of revolvers.
compelled him to disrobe. They then
plaStered him with flaming bills of
his own show and forced him to take
the railroad track out of town.
The sheriff of the town was a cour-
ageouS and energetic man, but was
pOWerleSS to prevent these Outrages,
and, when finally he did attempt to
check the lawleSs element, he was rid
died with buckShOt for his temerity.
Charles A. Burton, self-made man
in the truest sense of the word, was
superintendent of the railroad system
which traverSed Orange. He was de-
termined to put down this lawlessneSS.
and, strange as it may seem, he turned
to minister of the gospel to do it. Mr..
Burton was Nermonter and deYout
Catholic, and he called to his assistance
a French Catholic priest who was sta
toned at Denison, Tex.
The French priest, in the border town
of DeriSon in the north of Texas, was
respected, if not esteemed. by the tough
element, not only because he was sim
cere in everything he undertook, but
because he was known to positively
brook no fooliShness. He was daring
and fearless, was dead shot and would,
when the eXigency required it, have no
hesitation in handling either a revolver
or Winchester. He was known every
where in the north of Texas as ''the
fighting priest"
Mr.. Burton explained to the DeniSon
priest that there was not religious
edifice in Orange. and that the town
Of
class who had no regard for either God
OF man. He informed the priest that
there was nucleus of good people
there, however, who could, under
proper guidance and with time, bring
the refractory element under Subjec-
ton, and frankly told the plucky
father that he wanted him to go
there and undertake the good work.
The task was hard one, but the French
priest consented to give it trial. He
proceeded to Orange, canvassed the
town and publicly announced that he had
come to Orange to solicit subscriptions
to build Catholic church. The tough
element thought the man was crazy, but
as he did not modest them they allowed
him to give play to his within.
1t did not take very long to go through
the town, where he received consider
able announcement, and, having COM
pleted his labors, he got ready to return
to Houston to make his report to Supt.
Burton. His path lay across wide
field, which interviewed between the
town and the depot, which was on the
edge of Orange.
The priest was about midway over his
route when he was stopped by couple
of armed men, who inquired of him
whether he was the priest who had been
canvassing subscriptions to Catholic
church. The priest answered that he
was. The men replied that they had
grave doubts of his being what he pro-
fesSed to be, and to that end ordered
him to arise in the stirrups and recite
the Lords Prayer"
This is not suitable place nor
proper time to pray" rejoined the
priest.
Pray" commanded the men with up
lifted revolvers.
Nothing daunted the Catholic priest
arose, and, with the same calmness and
Solemnity that he would have exercised
within the sacred precincts of his own
church, he recited the Lords Prayer.n
"Now, get out and don't let us see
your face again." shouted one of the
men when the prayer was concluded.
The priest put spurs to his horse and
rode rapidly away to the depot. On
arriving there he borrowed Winches-
ter rifle from the station agent, who
was puzzled to know what he wanted
the weapon for, and in moment the