R. H. SOULE at Roanoke -- JOSEPH H. SANDS

[NW Mailing List]

Peter Getz graciously furnished a quote from his Great-Grandfather's
autobiography, viz. --

"... and Mr. R. H. Soule was made Superintendent of Motive Power. Things
went along pretty smoothly for a time, then Mr. Soule began to suspect that
the purchase of supplies and equipment was not being handled quite
honestly. He began to keep confidential records. After some months of quiet
watching and investigating he laid some facts before the general manager
and was pooh-poohed and told to mind his own business. He would not rest
and gathered a lot of data, which he kept secret till he was ready, then
resigned and demanded a hearing before the board of directors, got it and
was sustained by the board."

WELL NOW, I THINK WE HAVE HIT PAYDIRT HERE !

Joseph H. Sands was the General Superintendent and (later) General Manager
of the N&W between 3-31-1885 and 4-15-1897 (according to Biographical
Directory of Railway Officials in America - 1906 ed.)

Sands was apparently terminated rather quickly by the Board of Directors,
who gave him a vote of "No Confidence." The details appear never to have
been divulged beyond the Board Room (unless someone can examine the Minute
Books of the B.o.D.) and the episode has been a matter of speculation ever
since.

Richard Hermann Soule, in the 1901 and 1906 ed's. of the Biographical
Directory, lists his term of employment with the N&W as June 1891 to
7-1-1897.

Sands "ceased to be" General Manager 4-15-1897. Soule says he himself left
the N&W 7-1-1897.

Can we put 2 and 2 together at this point...? This may have solved a
mystery that has been around for 119 years.

I am attaching the bios of both Joseph Sands and Richard H. Soule, as
lifted from the 1906 ed. Biographical Directory of Railway Officials of
America.

BTW, Peter...  I didn't see your Great-Grandfather's name mentioned in your
post, so I did a couple searches and found that he was R.P.C. Sanderson,
who factored in the introduction of the Belpaire firebox on American
locomotives.  Where can I get a copy of his autobiography, "Haps and
Mishaps" ?

-- abram burnett

===========================
Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
... better than AT&T 4G LTE
===========================

Moderator:
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20161001.Soule_Richard_Hermann_%20Biographical_Directory_of_Railway%20Officials_1906.pdf
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20161001.Sands_Joseph_H_Biographical_Directory_of_Railway_Officials_of_America_1906.pdf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20161001/e1af70e9/attachment-0001.html>