The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-17
RAILROADS AND FEUDS.
Towns Benefited or BiiEhted by Trivial Gil
cumstnn ces.

'shto y AEhsiei LIT
cumstances.
1T is a common saying that only the Almighty
can tell what a jury will do" said the third
Vice-President Of a trunk line. 1t should be
amended by adding. or a railroad
Il read a despatch in THE SUN the other day.
he went on, about a Kansas Sheriff who
fenced in q railroad of that State. The despatch
reads that the road was abandoned for two
months in the spring of 1892 while there was
some trouble between the Santa Fe and Union
Pacific systems as to which should operate it.
Stone, who had owned the land at one time.
brought suit and asserted that the land had
reverted to him by the temporary abandonment
Of the road, and Judge Myers rendered de-
cision restoring the land to him..
II do not recall q parallel case, but it reminds
me of some things l have secn in my railroad
experience. Several years ago a road was built
In a section Of Iowa. There were the usual suits
on assessed damages. and protests and all that
That. is nothing new. But the people along the
line had such a strong prejudice against the
II trouble rather than patronize 1t. This preju-
dice was 1t Is not often that
{; { rn 4 %s.s sS%p'Hiy Il s sdSna III tih sgt It thi eoa HG0 h aiS;
built a shorter limo. where there would
DO more revenue. The company offered the un;
successful road-I think IL was a branch road
about seventy-ave miles long-for sale. 1t did
not connect with any other. corporations lines.
the country through which it passed did not
want 1t. o. course. and the line was simply aban-
there learned that the Iowa corn was growing
over 1t, and right along tho roadbed. for the
rails were never taken up.
yer was VOL paid for the clever settlements no
mAae for tho company, hut after years. whom he
nsd forgotLsn about It and announced himself
fon In his district. the grudge was dug I'm and
Ne was defeated.
zone OF the deadest towns in Missouri. and I
SSont know but %anywhere, might easily have
people had not refused absolutely to confer with
{ which had authority to locate the
ton TO the proposition was that the roud would
NIL the country with Yankees. who were mimi
Gal to the pot INSTITUTIONS OF that country. and
preferred to travel by wagon or steamboat. K
blight fell upon tho town from which il has
was the result directly of the failure Of the town
TO accept tho offer. But II It had accepted It
the decay would have been less rapid. II might
do / know of any instances on the other
sidef Yes. call to mind ~ town In Wisconsin,.
Some twenty years ago the Chicago and North.
eon. The road 10 not far from the village OF
cambridge which was a stage coach point In
Wisconsin In the early days. l think the town
people Of Cambridge were Indifferent, and the
company, concluded that its interests would be
advanced II Cambridge was left out. The
ovsrshadow and crush Cambridge the new town
was called London. 1t was three miles from
Cambridge. The company put up grain eleva
Tors ana helped some n newcomers build houses
But the Cambridge merchants did not move
and the farmers drove into Cambridge az OF old
and the town, actually improved and thrived
was left, and 10 to-day oyergrown with weeds
do not know OF a hundred people In the place
their own now to a line which is tho rival of Ii,
Chicago and Northwestern"