Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-06-26
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hut II Deiaroo rreared the proposai
coOlly, not so Maize Sampson. When
the news of the offer reached him.
Maize went into an unaccountable fiut-
ter. He acted at first exactly as If he
wanted to hold his man back, which
was dead against cab ethics. Finally
he assented, but his cheeks went flabby
and his eyes hollow. and he showed
more worry than his creditors. Nobody
understood it, yet there was evidently
something ON. and the majors anxiety
increased until Delaroo, the Indian fire
man and knight companion Of the An
cient Order of Druids and Fluids. COM
"'ntely took NeighbOr's breath by de-
ing the new engine. That was a
West End wonder. He said if 1t made
no odds he would stay on the 264.
The men all wondered. Then some
thing new came up, and the thing was
forgotten. Maze SIMPSONS cheeks fill
ed out again. he regained his usual
nerve and swore on the money question
harder than ever.
After that it was pretty generally
understood that Delaroo and MAZE
Sampson and the 264 were fixtures.
NeighbOr never gave any one chance
to decline an engine more than once.
The boys all knew. II DelarOo didn't,
that he would be firing a long time aft
er throwing that chance by, and he
was.
The combination came to be regard
ed as eternal. When the sloppy 264
hove in sight little DelarOO and Big
Maize Sampson We're known to be be-
hind the boiler pounding up and down
the mountains, up and down year III
and year out. Big engines came into
the division and bigger. All the time
the division was cr0wding on the mo-
tive power and putting in the man.
moth types until when the 264 was
stalled alongside consolidated or a
mogul skyscraper she looked like an
ancient beer glass set next an import
| ed stein.
With the 2G4 when the 800 or the
| /, 100 class were concerned 1t was sim
ply case of keep out Of our way or
get smashed. Maize Sampson or no
Maize Sampson. money question or no
money question. Benevolent benefits
fraternally proposed or anterOom sig
nails cOnfdentially put forth by the
baldheaded 2G4 were of no sort of con-
sequence with the modern giants that
| pulled thousand tons in string up
1900 foot grade at better than twenty
| miles an hour. 1t was clear yet cold,
"You old tug, get out of our way. will
| you?" And the fast runners, like
| Moore and HawkswOrth and Mullen
and the Crowleys, Tim and Syme. had
about as much consideration for Maize
and his financial theories as their ma
chimes had for his machine His Jim
crow freight outfit didn't cut much OF
| figure in their track schedules.
So the Maize Sampson combination,
but quite as brassy as though it had
rights Of the first class, lodged the big
| fellows up and down the line pretty
| successfully until the government be-
gan pushing troops into the Philippines
and there came days when Rocky
mountain sheep could hardly have kept
out Of the way Of the extras that tore.
| Kissing and booming, over the noun
tains for Frisco. For time the traffic
came hot-sO hot we were pressed to
handle it. There was good bit Of
| skirmishng OH the part Of the passen-
ger department to get the business and
| then tremendous skirmishing in the
operating department to deliver the
| goods. Every broken down coach In
the back yards was scrubbed up for
the soldier trains. We aimed to kill
| Just as few as possible Of the boys en-
route to the islands, though that may
have been Il mistaken mercy. How.
ever. we handled them well. Not n
man In khaki got away from us In
wreck, and in the height of the push
we nut more live stock into South Oma-
ha. car for car, than has ever gone IN
before or since.
1t was November and great weather
for running. and when the rails were
not springing under the soldiers west
bound they were humming under the
steers eastbOund. Maize Sampson. with
his beer kegs and his crackers and his
26i and his beknighted fireman, hugged
the sidings pretty close that week.
Some Of the trains had part of the
rights and others had the remainder.
The 264 and her train took what was
left, which threw Maize Sampson most
of the time on the wornout. rundown
scrap rails that made corduroy roads
of the passing tracks. Then came the
night that Moulton, the Philippine COM
mandant, went through on his special.
With his staff and his baggage and hIa
correspondents and that kind, he took
one whole train. Syme Crowley pulled
them, with Ben Sherer conductor, and,
whatever else may be said Of that pair,
they deliver their trains OIL time. Maize
Sampson left Medicine Bend with ~
ut noon on his regular run and tried to
get west. But between the soldiers be.
hind him and the steers against him he
soon lost every visionary right he ever
did possess. They laid him out nearly
. every mile of the way to the end of the
run. At Sugar Buttes they held him
thirty minutes for the MOultOn special
to pass, and, to crown his indignitles,
, kept hin there fifteen minutes more
waiting for an eastbound sheep train.
Sampson afterward claimed that
Barnes Tracy, the dispatcher that did
it, was gold Democrat. but this never
was proved.
1t was nearing dark when the crew
of the local freight 70 heard the dull
roar of the Moulton special speeding
through the canyon Of the Rat. A pas
senger train running through the can.
yon ut night comes through with the
far roll of u thousand drums, deepen
, ing into u rumble of thunder. Then out
and over al comes the threatening pur
! Of the straining engine breaking into
Peculiar to Itself
r..,..t,o,, ,,roportlon and combination