The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-20

| 1t was then the Ann Arbor's turn.
| The Michigan Central tracks were torn
| up, enough rails taken to replace the
stolen ones, the enbanl1mnet was again
blasted out, cars were tipped over and
| converted into breastworks. and by
Monday morning young Ashley, the in
domitable, was in complete armed and
fortified possession of the battle ground.
! For four days and nights he stood off
the officers of the law with their WrltS,
until 4 judge friendly to the new road
appeared on the scene. and then the
writs began to fly more equally. The
siege lasted for twelve days, through
! the bitterest cold and deepest snow
known 10 that part of the country.
During this time young Ashley worked
and slept in his clothes. and was al
! most necessarily on hand, keeping
strict watch. The farmers of the coun-
! tryside were in heartily sympathy with
! the new road. and succored the Ashley
forces bravely throughout the siege.
! They brought great tubs of hot eof1ee,
whole boiled hams, huge pans OF bread
and mince pies enough TO wofk de-
struction in even the ircn-clad ston-
achs of the hardy woodsmen- Al the
end of twelve days the governor, ran
road commissioner and United states
marshal arrived on the scene, ana
with all the majesty OF the law set
tied the dispute. They ordained that
trains should run on both roads ana
that statu quo should be maintained
until the courts could adjudicate the
matter Then they took young Asnley
between them and marched him on TO
Detroit. under arrest for obstructlns
the United States mails. He was ar
i-raigned before the United States court
by District Judge Brown NOV on the
supreme bench) and fined $1O25O ana
costs.
No Paw Roll For Six Months.
To illustrate the nerve and daring OF
these builders of the Ann Arbor ran.
way. one could find multitude OF
stories. For the history of this little
road is a history of misfortune from
start to finish; not only the misfortune
that goes hand in hand with a dearth
of money, but the misfortune of natural
causes-cold winters. billiards, COM
mercial depressions and multitude OF
other things
The construction of the Cadillac Ill
vision from Mt. Pleasant to Cadillac,
distance of siXty-five miles, was peSun
in May 1887. Arrangements had been
made with New York bankers by
which $1,000, coo had been guaranteed,
and $780, 600 had been sent out to young
Ashley for construction purposes
Three thousand men were gathered TO-
gether and placed along the line in
hastily constructed log nuts, Tor the
region was thinly populated by lum-
/ bermen only, and the road ran through
a dense pine forest the whole distance
But no sooner were operations nicely
I commenced than a dispute arose IN
New York. suits against the elder ASH
ley were instituted by parties holdlns
claims, and the entire issue OF oonuS
which was to serve as collateral Tor the
81 600 900 in loans, was attached Con-
seduenly no more money came from
that source during the entire period or
Z construction which extended over SIX
months. In the meantime some S5Oo,OOO
of additional debt had been created and
stoppage or suspension of the work
even meant ruin for the Ashleys and
receiver for the road. Young Ashley
was acquainted with these facts about
the 10th of August. He had less
than $4,000 left in the bank, but the
work was in full swing and his credit
was unlimited. He promptly decided
upon his course. purchased in Chicago,
Detroit and Toledo carloads of provis-
ions. thousands of dollars worth of
clothing. tobacco and all necessary sup
plies for feeding and caring for his
1900 men, and with these in lieu of cap
ital completed the Cadillac division.
There was no pay roll on the road for
six months. When the monthly pay day
came round Jim Ashley went out and
addressed the men. They hailed from
the pine woods, from jails and work
houses and city slums and it took Il
clever man to handle them. They rioted
among themselves and four or five were
killed, but they believed in young Jim,
their giant boss. and punctured the
paymaster's photograph which he put
up for them to shoot at, instead of him.
stand by me and you will get your
money" Jim would tell them-and they
did
At last the hopeful buoyancy of the
old governor and the activity and
courage of his son completed the rail-
road across the state to Frankfort on
Lake Michigan, total length of 325
miles. A survey of the situation whe2
the road reached Frankfort showed
Sc, G00. GOO of bonds outstanding and ST.
Goo 600 of floating debt While the earn
ings had slowly crawled up to about
81. 600 a year. the demands for equip
ment, and particularly the clamorous
demands of the creditors, made a load
that was ominous.
l.