The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1907-03-22

= a - '1 r.; pr.ne,,
uas very o4d conductor. but old man
Sankey was & veteran when Pat Fran
Gin began braking. Sankey ran pas
senger train when Jimmie Brady was
running, and Jimmie afterward enlist
ed and was killed in the Custer fight.
There was an odd tradition about
Sankey's name. He was tall,
swarthy fellow and carried the blood
of Sioux chief In his veins 1t was
In the time of the Black Hills excite
ment. when railroad men, struck by
the gold fever, were abandoning their
trains. even at way stations. and strik-
ing across the divide for Clark's Cross
ing. Men to run the trains were hard
20 get, and Tom Porter, tra!nmaster.
WAS putting in every man he could
pick up without reference to age or
color.
Porter-he died at Julesburg after
ward-was great jolller, and he was
not afraid Of anybody on earth.
One day a war party Of Sioux clat-
tered into town. They tore around
'aIke storm and threatened to scalp
everything, even to the local tickets.
The head braves dashed In on Tom
Porter. sitting In the dispatcher's Of
ace upstairs. The dispatcher was hid
ling under loose plank In the baggage
room floor. Tom, being bald Rs sand
hill. considered himself exempt from
scalping parties. He was working a
game OF solitaire when they bore down
On him and interested them at once.
I9hat led to parley, which ended In
Eorter's hiring the whole band to
brake on freight trains. Old man San
hey Ia said to have been one Of that
IoEaginal war party. -. t.rsg..... 7
Now. this Is merely q eaboose story,
|isold on winter nights when trainmen
f ges stalled In the snow drifting down
from The Sioux country. But what FOL-
lows ls better attested 7+-.
Gankey, to start with. had peculiar
name -- an unpronouncesble, unspell-
able. unmanageable name. never
heard 1t, SO l can't give 1t. 1t was as
hard TO catch as an Indian cur, and
/ that name made more trouble on the
! payrolss than all the other names put
together Nobody at headquarters
could handle 1t. 1t was never turned
!, In twice alike, and they were always
writing Tom Porter about tho thing.
Tom explained several times that 1t
was Sitting Bulls ambassador who
was drawing thaes money and that he
usually signed the payroll with toma-
hawk. But nobody at Omaha ever
knew how to take Joke.
The first time Tom went down he
was called In very solemnly to ex-
plain again about the name. and, be-
ing In hurry and very tired Of the
/ whole business. Tom spiuttered:
''Hang it, don't bother me any more
about that name. If you can't read 1t,
make 1t Sankey and be done with it,
| They took Tom at his word. They
actually did make it Sankey, and that's
how our Oldest conductor came to bear
the name Of the famous singer, and
more / may say-good name as 1t was
and Is. the Sioux never disgraced 1t.
Probably every old traveller on the
system knew Sankey. He was not
only always ready to answer questions
but, what Is much more, always ready
to answer the same question twice. II
is that which makes conductors gray
headed and spells their chances fol
heaven-answering the same questions
over and over again. Children wer<
apt to be a bit startled at first sigh
LOT Sankey, he was SO dark, but hi
had a very quiet smile that always
made them friends after the SECOND
trip through the sleepers. and they
sometimes ran about asking for hin
after he had left the train.
OF late years-and 1t Is this tina
hurts-these very same children. grow
lever 80 much bigger and riding again
Ito or from California or Japan or Aus
ltralia, will ask when they reach th
West End about the Indian conductor
But the conductors who now run tn
overland trains pause at the question
checking over the date limits on tn
margins of the coupon tickets, anG
banding the envelopes back, will loo
bat the children and say slowly, III
! isn't running any more"
| If you have ever gone over our lin
Ito the mountains or to the coast 70
| may remember at McCloud, where the
| change engines and set the diner in G
Iout, the pretty little green park to til
| east of the depot, with row OF catalp
! trees along the platform line. It lool
| like glass OF spring water.
| If it happened TO be Sankey's RI
| and regular West End day. sunny an
l delightful. you would be sure to Sc
standing under the eatalpas sh
| dark skinned girl Of fourteen or fiftee
years silently watching the prepar
/ tions for the departure Of the owe
HAND
| And after the new engine had be-
backed, champing. down and harness
Ito Its long string Of vestibuled slice