The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1901-08-09
Stackpole'S
Stump Fence
Old Cyrus Lucky Escape From
the Recoil of His Own Hate.
BY JAMES BUcKHAM.

nave W SQOlhltJ Ny uo, 0dld OONOACk
Bowker. ''The law seems to be pretty
clear on the subject. When the state
grants a railroad charter and a town
grants it the right of way, the railroad
company can take at fair appraised
value any property lying in the line of
it's survey, provided the owner refuses
to sell at an agreed price. That covers
the facts in this case. You refuse to
sell the company strip on the south
side OF your orchard. The state says to
the company, we give you the right to
appropriate that land at our appraisal
It's no use for the owner to protest.
The law can do nothing for him. If
there was a ghost of chance to fight,
Cyrus, I'd be glad to do what | could
for YOU. But lawyer can't do any
thing when there's no law on his side"
Colonel Bowker tipped his chair back
and threw one leg over the corner of
his Uttered table An old man, trem-
bling with impotent rage, sat in a rick
ETY. armchair ON the other side of the
table His chin quivered and his thin
lips kept opening and shutting as the
senior village lawyer spoke.
"Then eff the law can't do anything
for me IN do it for myself cried the
old man, bringing his withered fist
down on the arm of the chair. 'I'll see
eff man kin be robbed of what's ben
his'n for so year and ben in the family
for more'n a hundred"
Il hope you won't do anything rash,
Cyrus" said the colonel blandly. Its
a case where the welfare of the many
overrides the welfare of the individual,
you see. The law provides no recourse
for the indi ridual in such case"
81 got done with the law, l tell yer
shouted the old man fiercely. I'm de-
pendin on myself now. | said eff the
law couldn't help me I'd help myself.
I'll see eff they kin run their consumed
trains through my orchard without my
permission. A mans proputty's his
own. The amt no law that kin knock
that fact out O the Ten Command
ments."
Colonel Bowker accompanied his
irate client to the door. Better be eau
tious, Cyrus" he said as the old man
plunged down the steps. Don't do any
thing in hurry. Take time to think it
over. And remember that l am always
ready to advise you on any point that
may come VI"
Cyrus Stackpole drove home in a
blind rage. He was one of those old
men who are as set as the everlasting
hills, and the fact that everything
seemed to be arrayed against his will
in this instance only served to make
his resolve the stronger. He was bound
and determined that the new railroad
should not pass through his orchard.
There was no particular reason why it
should be denied this right of way eX-
cept that Cyrus had taken notion not
to allow it, The trees in the orchard
had been set out by his fathers father,
and their knotted and wrinkled trunks
and limbs had long since passed the
age of fruit bearing. They only served
to cumber the ground, but Cyrus would
not cut them down and plant new ones.
They were a part of the old order of
things, and Cyrus was a conservative
of the conservatives. A peck of bitter,
worm eaten windfalls from the old
trees was more to his liking than a
bushel of sound and toothsome fruit
from younger and more vigorous stock.
That the pert modern railroad should
desecrate his venerable orchard was
not to be endured 1t went against the
old mans grain, and that grain was
exceedingly tough.
AS it happened, however, Cyrus
Stackpole fell into the clutches of a Sc
we're attack of inflammatory rheuma-
tism soon after his visit to Colonel
Bowker's law office and about the time
when the railroad men came to grade
and prepare the roadbed across his
orchard. The work was all done while
the old man was groaning and Tuning
in bed, and by the time he got about
again the ties and rails were laid
through his orchard Then the first
train came along, roaring triumphant
ly and vomiting black smoke over
what remained of the ancient apple
trees
Upon this Cyrus bestirred himself,
though physical exerton still sent ex-
cruciatinS pains through his joints.
The regular passenger train schedule
had been in operation just day when
he began to do for himself what the
law could not or would not do for him.
At 8 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon,
his wife having driven to the village,
Cyrus hitehed up yoke of oxen and
began to drag stumps from the stump
fence on the north side of the orchard
to the railroad bed. He chose the lar
gest and soundest and toughest stumps
he could find and by 6 o'clock had a
formidable fence built across the rail
road on the exact boundary of his
orchard The roots of the stumps bris-
tied in the direction from which the
next train would approach, the train
from Wilmington. due to pass at s
o'clock in the evening. Should a loco
motive strike those formidable roots
the butt of the stump would only be
driven tirmer into the ground. Some
thing would have to stop or smash. and
Cyrus felt confident that it would moi
be the stump.
1t was several minutes past when
the horn blew for supper Cyrus was
glad Of the extra time and glad tina
his field Of operations was hidden from
the house by rise of land. When hi