The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-06
JOHN sANDERsoNs ROMANCE.
This Is Plain Truth, Yet How Could
Fiction Be StrengerP
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
''The newspapers have printed the
news Of the death of old John Sanderson,
the pioneer farm settler of the British
Columbian coast, but somehow none of
them has referred 10 his strange life TO-
nance" said William mclaughlin, a
longtime resident Of Vancouver Island,
81 knew SandcrsOn we'll and have heard
him tel the story more than once, al
though there was an incident in 1t OF
which he was ashamed, and he always re-
ferred TO it with regret.
'-SandersOu was a native of the Scotch
Hebrides. When he was between % and
40 he fell in love with young girl not yet
rs. The girls name was Margaret Find
! lay. She accepted SaudersOn'S attentions,
and they became engaged, but a dashing
Young fellow. sailor, named George
RothrOck, came into the locality where
they lived. and won the girls heart away
from the plOdding farmer, Sanderson. 1t
/ happened that the latter knew that Roth
rock had at one time in his life been en-
gagged in smuggling Smarting under the
loss of his intended bride, Sandersou laid
information of Rothrock's crime before
the authorities of the island In some
way the young sailor received warning
that he had been betrayed, and he es-
capped from the island just in time.
He was extremely popular, and when
it came out that John SandersOn was the
person who had informed on him she peO-
pie generally made il so unpleasant for
SandersOn that he resolved 10 emigrate
to the Pacific coast, news of the discoy-
cry Of gold in California having reached
that out-Of-the-way corner of the earth.
Before going, however, he married, out
Of pique. a woman who had always been
the especial aversion of the Findlay girl,
/ but. as the latter was almost heart
| broken over the loss Of her young sailor
lover, this marriage of her old lover was
! far from having the effect on her that
| SandersOn had intended.
This was early in 1851. Sanderson
/ and his bride reached san Francisco after
! a voyage Of eight months. The outlook
| there did not suit Sanderson, and, hear
/ ing that there We're rich agricultural
/ lands on British territory further north
ward along the coast he and his wife
continued their Journey thither. They
settled in the fertile valley a few miles
south of Fort Langly, and by the time the
/ gold excitement had broken out in British
/ Columbia in 1886 SandersOn had a splen-
/ did farm He stuck to his farm through
/ all the gold fever and by supplying min
! ing camps and immigrant trains with pro
! duce had made a large fortune when his
wife died in 1861, leaving him several
I Cul4uItu- Nc ltAl4tillltAA a. W lhOhN 1A lbl
/ ten years, adding to his wealth, and then
/ he made up his mind to have another
! wife and that he would like her to come
! from his old island nome of the barren
coast Of Scotland.
'Hc had a sister there and he wrote to
/ her, asking her to look about and try and
| get him "a suitable person for a " life
/ Margaret Findlay still lived at Sander
sons old home, very poor, and still un
married. She had never heard of her old
lover ROthroCk since he fed the islands
| twenty years before. Sanderson's sister
( went to her, told her the word she haO
/ received from her brother, and gave hen
/ the first chance for his offer. Margaret
/ weary of a life of toll, consented to be
/ come her old lovers second wife if he st
wished. SanderSon's sister sent thai
word 10 her brother on the other side OF
the world, and il pleased him. He replied
to that effect, and sent money to pay
/ Margaret Findlay's passage TO his hom(
on the far Pacific coast
Margaret arrived in San Francisco in
| the fall of 1872. While waiting there fOl
the steamer on which she was to proceed
up the coast she heard her name called
/ Looking upin surprise, she suw0nd rCcOg
uilcd. in spite of the changes of twenty
Years, her fugitive lover, George Roth
rock. Tho old love for him, never dead
burned anew ON the Instant and Tho
I MccIluE was iDGIually ndpQt. ROl uHOch
had been leading the life of a miner in
California and had accumulated cousid
able money, and was even then making
7 ARRANGEMENTS to return TO Scotland He
wanted Margaret to become his wife al
once, but she replied that her duty would
not permit her to 10 SO. She had
given her promise to John SandCrsOn
He was expecting her. She would 20 tl
him. If, after snc had told him OF hen
1 unexpected meeting with ROthrocR
and the revival of her love for him, he
was magnanimOus enough TO release her
from ner promise to become his wife, she
would return and marry her lover. Il
Sandcrson insisted, however, on her keep
ing her promise, she would trample heI
love under her feet and marry San6erson
All her lover could say would not move
her, and she sailed ON the steamer, Roth
rock promising to wait a month at Sar
Francisco to hear his fate.
l"n less than that time Margaret was
back. The sturdy Scotch farmer had
been magnanimous. Margaret married
her lover, ana they sailed back to tn,
nome of their childhood, and no doubt
are living there happily yet Old JOIN
Sanderson never married again, and h,
died one Of the richest men on the British
Pacific coast.