Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-08-01

| Later in the evening the same ac-
| knowledged that he was a one time a
railroad man. beginning as an operate.
on the old Kansas Pacific years ago
You must have had some odd ex-
perlences in those days" remarked a
| member of the party.
well. yes. we did have a few ex-
citing Incidents. and one Of them was
the affair in which old man Sanders
figured prominently"
"Will l tell you about it? l don't
mind. as / have plenty Of time on my
hands. Thanks. guess / will smoke
ana then he comfortably established
himself on two chairs. and told the
story about the time the old man run
against the orders of the dispatcher.
"Old man Sanders was crazy.
Everybody knew it. and he never re-
scented any incautious insnuating re-
mark that came to his ears. He was a
locomotive engineer. He ran a biz
freight engine on the old Kansas Pa
ciiic years and years ago. long before
they began to make record runs over
the wild prairies and across the sandy
stretches that reached almost the en-
tire length of the road.
II was night operator at Lawrence in
those days. We had night Office
the only one between Topeka and Ar
mourdale. the eastern terminus of the
road.
AS an instance of just how crazy
old Sanders was. | need only tell one
terry. OF course. he laid off. intending
To do no more work as long as he lived.
He had no wife. no family. no rela-
tons. so far as anybody knew. He
took a trip To New York. Nobody
heard of him for three months. AMI
then one day he came back and asked
to be given his old engine again. lie
had nothing to say about the money.
some Of the boys asked him if he mad
spent it all. He would only say:
ITS all gone. I'm back to take Old
"26" out again.
.'The matter was allowed to drop
Somehow the story got out that the
old man had actually spent the entire
5000 in riotous living and had come
back to work as poor as he was the
day before he drew the winning ticket
BE all that as it may, old Sanders
was given &c again. He was crazy
that was a fact. The superintendent
knew it, SO did all the men on the
road. But. crazy or sane. old Sanders
could make better time, pull heavier
loads and get more work out of az
engine than any other man on the div
sion He had a supreme contempt Tor
the new-fangled systems of railroad
ing lust then beginning to be felt on
the Kansas line. Train dispatchers
were his special aversion, and he never
missed a chance to let them all see
that he had a dislike for them. All he
wanted was clear track and good
fireman. and he cared nothing for all
the orders that might come to him. or
course. the orders sent by wire were
arranged in such fashion that the
old man couldn't help running in ac-
cord with them, even if he thought he
was defying the dispatchers and their
nimsy paper.
"Once the old man did defy the tele-
graph and that is the tale ! am going
to tell
1T was one Sunday morning. Things
were quiet along the line and nothing
was going West. If there had been
this tale would have been told in an
other way. The track was single
was half asleep, wondering If there
would be any more orders to take. l
knew that old man Sanders was com
ING east with load of stock. lie was
running extra and making the oest