The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-09-01
Fighting a Railroad
BY NJ. QUAD
Copyright. 1918. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.


them with an action for trespass II
they set foot on his land
II was old Ransome who had lived
on that farm since he was born and
was now over sixty years old. Boy
and man, he had been known as stlngy
and mean, and no one had ever dealt
with him second time. His wife was
about like him In her dlsagreeable way.
The two seldom or never disagreed
with each other, but they disagreed
with everybody else.
The town OF Scovlle wanted that
railroad and wanted 1t built at once,
but there was old John blocking the
way and his old wife backing him up.
1T must cross his eighty acre farm to
reach the town. The surveyors argued
md coaxed. but IL was of no use.
The railroad finally guarded its sur
Veyors and the line was run. but that
was only the beginning of the fight.
IT collected its forces and began the
grading. Old John was out there with
his gun and his wife was there with a
club, but the lusty men laughed at
them and carried them off the scene,
and in a few weeks there was the
hooting and footing that the old couple
dreaded to hear. They would not sell,
and the railroad waited for them to
propose some sort of settlement
There was a highway about a quar-
ter of mile to the south of the Ran
some farm, and the new railroad cross
ed it at level. The soft earth was
soon quilted out by the wheels Of the
wagons, and this left the tracks three
or four inches above the surface. When
old John observed this he yoked up
his oxen and hitched them to his wag-
on and went after load of wood.
When he returned with 1t to the cross
ing he stuck there. The oxen could not
pull the wagon across the rails. The
old man sat down to patiently wait
for train to come along One appear
ed In sight in about an hour and found
its progress blocked. 1t took all the
train hands and some of the passen-
gers to boot to get that wagon across
the track. There was Tuning and
threatening, but old John was very
quiet and calm. He repeated this per-
Torrance once day for week. Then
the railroad put down planks and the
scheme was defeated.
well, Wen have to try some other
trick" said the old folks to each other
And as a result of their planning they
went out at night with big pail of
soft soap and smeared the rails for
distance of thirty rods. The next train
that came that way did not whizz past;
it stood still and whizzed, and 1t took
the best part of an hour and barrel
of sand to make the wheels go round
ngain and have grip on the rails.
Old John was arrested for this soapy
trick, but they could prove nothing |
against him, and he was discharged |
from custody. After this a new at |
tempt was made to bring about set
Element, but it was doomed to failure |
from the start. Then came another |
adventure. Old John cut the grass in |
mis- meadow, and while drawing it to |
the barn to store away he drove across |
the track at point on his own farm
and wheel somehow came off the
wagon and dumped hay and vehicle In |
a grand heap. There was just time to
get the oxen out of the way when a
locomotive Of a freight train plunged
into the mess. Hay and splinters flew
over half the county, and the whole
train was derailed at a cost of many
thousand dollars to the company.
There were two lawsuits begun i'm
mediately, one by the. company to
make the old man pay damages and
one by Old John to collect the worth of
n wagon and a ton of hay. The rail
road folks could not show any scheme
On his part and was the loser In its
suit. A jury also held that an en-
gineer who would slam bang into a
load Of hay In broad daylight should
be held responsible, and Old John got
q bout three times the value of the
destroyed
BY and by when the pumpkin season
had come old Mr.. Ransome kindly
permitted a passenger train to run into
a wagonload of them-that is, his oxen
stopped to rest when the wagon was
halfway over the track. He was heard
shouting at them at the top of his voice
and seen to flourish his CAD in an ex-
,ited manner, but he was forced to es-
ape to save his own life. Pieces of
hose pumpkins were picked up miles
away, and a week after the wagon
was wrecked again, and one of the
pxen was converted into fresh beef.
Here was groundwork for another
awsuit, and the jury decided that any
abroad that would strive to lessen the
crop ought to pay for it right
imartly.
1t is very probable that the old
ouple might have returned to the soft
Dap trick if they had been given more
ime, but fate willed it otherwise. :
they were coming home from call on
neighboring farm. and it was a
-usty. rainy night. As they approach
d the crossing they saw the light of a ,
locomotive approaching. but defantly ,
ept on their way and were struck and
urled into a field and both instantly
illed No one in Scoville was mean
nough to say they were glad of it. but |
he B. and r. railroad saw its chance
nd moved quickly. Before il could be
ued by the heirs it went into court