The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-02-26

I He soon became the best operator on
the line, and then secured a position in
the superintendent office.
| The superinten was John Birch
who had worked his way up from a
gravel train. Superintendent Birch soon
discovered that his young stenographer
and telegraph operator was an unusual
man, and grew to rely him implicitly.
Master and man were alike In many
things Birch's beginning had been low
| ~ With little education at the start. he
had made of himself remarkably well
| Informed man.
| No work was too hard for him to un-
dertake; he knew no limitation of hours
| in his labor, and his progress was due
| entirely TO his own efforts.
| When a company of Eastern capital
lists bought the rusty track and the right
| of way of a decayed bonded railroad,
and proposed to make it over anew and
extend it across the continent and into
Mexico, they cast about for a man to
manage 1t. and chose John Birch.
With John Birch tent Walter Sanford
raised from the position of stenogra PHI
| er to one of much more responsibility
and influence. the private secretary Of
| the general manager of a great railroad
| system.
| In this position Sanford had acquired
an intimate knowledge of the road and
all its workings. He Knew every foot of
1T, track, stations, roundhouses and ma
chine shops
Most of the men who worked on the
road he knew also, and could discuss the
business of each, whether he was sec
| ton hand, station agents, trainman,
office man. or general officer. His knowI-
edge extended to the construction de-
1t is no wonder, then, that he was a
valuable servant of the company, and
| that when General Manager John
| Birch began the extension of the road
| from the tumble down station in Iowa
where 1t ended in a decaying bumper
post, he chose Sanford to handle many
| of the details.
When John Birch took hold of the
old road, its chief asset was the right
| of wa3'. The stations along the aban-
doped line had been torn to pieces by
narauders. who had taken away the
doors and window sashes, and had
tipped ont the timbers for frewood
| In many places rails had been torn
up by the neighboring farmers, who
| used them to break down the dry corn
| stalks that had stood In the fields all
winter. before plowing ard narrowing
the ground for spring planting.
Tramps had burned ties TO cook the
| results Of their foragfngs, and for
warmth on chilly nights. It was the
wreck of a tosd, with nothing left ex-
cept dishonorea bonds and right Of
| way.
John Birch, with unlimited capital
behind him, and his own unusual abil-
itY and experience, had rehabilitated
and extended it into the Southwest
and had furnished it with the best
rolling stock and equipment, and a
fine train service. IT was his inten-
| ton to make its western terminus on
the shores Of the Gulf Of California,
| tapping the rich and fertile country
| that lay between.
AS Sanford sped to the westward he
reyolved in his mind what the genera
| manager had told him about the CON
| ditfon of affairs In the Indian Terri
| tory.
At first the cattIemen had opposed
| the entrance Of the railroad into the
country, because 1t would compel them
TO fence in their ranges. But Jack
Horne had succeeded in changing their
views, and had used them to bring the
Apache chief Quanah and his sub
chiefs to Il conference with the rail
road people.
There the Indians had agreed TO per-
XIII the FdiitDau TO cross their domain.
This was sealed by a treaty with the
Indians in due form, and the building
OF the railroad had progressed rapidly,
until now 1t was almost on the con-
fines of the reservation.
Oklahoma IS the home of adventures
from every State in the Union Among
the honest settlers there We're many
discredited politicians, debrarred law
ers. dishonored fnanciers. wrecked mer-
chants. and Unfrocked clergymen. who
went TO the new land to begin over
again.
Some succeeded in recovering lost
regulations ard fortunes; others, less
honorable, never rose. but went further
along the smirched path.
1t was one Of these, Milton Doak. a
clever lawyer. driven from New York
for questionable practices, who saw in
the building of the new railroad a pos
sible opportunity to recoup his fortunes.
He wrote to his friend Michael Hart,
a scheming promoter In New York. of
the opportunities for wealth in getting
a franchise from the Indians 10 build