Newspapers / Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, … / Feb. 19, 1907, edition 1 / Page 6
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1111. Cbe Kid engineer By FRANK H. SPEARMAN OvyatU. 1900. by 'fmmk K Spaiau HEN the big strike caught m .at Zanesvllle we bad 180 en gineers and fire men on the pay roll. One hun dred and seventy-nine of these men walk ed out. One fireman just one stayed with the company; that was Dad Ham ilton. "Yes." growled Pad. combating the protests of the strikers committee. 'i know it. I belong to your lodge. But I'll tell you now an' I've told you nforel ain't goln' to strike on the company so long as Neighbor Is master mechanic on this division; aln't'a-goin to Jo it. an' you might as well quit. If you jaw here from now till Christ mas, 't won't change my mind nar a bit." And tht'.v didn't change it. Through the calm i:)d, through the storm, and It stormed hard for awhile. Dad Ham ilton, wjjeuevur we could supply him ,with an engineer, fired religiously. No pther man In the service could have done It without getting kUled, but Dnd was old enoujgb to father any man among the strikers. Moreover, he was a giant ph3'sieally and eccen tric enough to move along through the heat of the crisis indifferent to the ' abuse of the other men. His gray hairs and his tremendous physical strength saved him from personal vio lence. Our master mechanic. Neighbor, was another big man, six feet an Inch In his stockings, and strong as a draw bar. Between Neighbor and the old fireman there existed some sort of a bond a liking, an affinity. Dad Ham ilton bad fired on our division ten years. There was no promotion for Dad; he could never be an engineer, though only Neighbor knew why. Bat his job of firing on the river division was sure as long as Neighbor signed the payrolls at the. roundhouse. Hence there was no surprise when the superintendent offered him an en gine. just after the strike, that Dad refused to take it "I'm a fireman, and Neighbor knows it. l am i no engineer, i n make steam for any man you put In the cab with me, but I won't touch a throttle for no man. I laid It down, and I'll never pinch it again an' no offense t you. Neighbor, neither." Thus ended the negotiations witb Dad on that subject; threats and en treaties were useless. Then. too. In spite of his professed willingness to throw coal for any man we put on his engine, he was continually rowing about the green runners we gave him From the standpoint of a railroad man they were a tough assortment; for a fellow may be a good painter, or bandy man with a jack plane, or an expert machinest even and yet a fail ure as an engine runner. After we got hold of Foley, Neighbor put him on awhile with Dad, and the grizzled fireman quickly declared that Foley was the only man on the pay roll who knew bow to move a train. The little chap proved such a re markable find that I tried hard to get some of his eastern chums to come out and join blm. After a good bit or bustling we did get half a dozen more Reading boys for our new corps of engine men, but the East End of ficials kept all but one of them on their own divisions. That one we got be cause nobody on the East End wanted him. "They've crimped the whole bunch, Foley," said I, answering his Inquiries. "There's Just one fellow reported here he came , In on 6 this morning. Neighbor's had a little talk with him. bat he doesn't think much of him. I guess we're out the transportation on that fellow." "What's his name?" asked Foley. "Is he off the Reading?" "Claims be Is; his nam la McNeaH "McNeal?" echoed Foley, surprised. "Not Georgia McNeair t ' v : ' "I don't know what his first name Is. He's nothing but a boy." , Dark complexioned fellow T " , "Perhaps you'd call him that; sort of oft spoken,"" r ---r r.jtsr "Georgle McNeal. iure's you'ra born. If you've got him you're got a bird.' Ht ran ooposite mo between Now Tork and Philadelphia on the limited. I want to see him right off. If it's Geor gle. you're alj right" . . Foley's talk weut a good way with me any time. When I told Neighbor about it be pricked up his ears. While we were debating In rushed Foley witb the kid, as bo called blm. -' , i ; As luck would have It, Neighbor put the. boy on the 244 with Dad Hamil ton, and Dad proceeded at once to make what Foley termed "a great roar" 1 "What's the matter?" demanded Neighbor roughly when the old fire man complained. "If you're golu' to pull these trains with boys, I guess It's time for me. to quit. I'm gettln pretty old. anyhowt," "Wbaf s the matter?" growled Neigh bor, still Surlier, knowing full well that If the old fellow had a good, Reason be would have blurted it out at the start; "Nothin's the matter, only I'd like my time." "You won't get it," said Neighbor roiwhly. "Co back on your run. If McN'enl don't behave, report him to nie, and he'll get his time." It was a favorite trick of Neighbor's. Whenever the oil fireman got to "burk ing" about his eugiuecr the master ini clmiile threatened to discharge tbo e glaeer. That settled it. Dad Hamilton wouldn't for the world be the cause of throwing .another man out of a job. no matter how litt'e he likod him. TV old fellow went back to work iin!l:S'.il, but it was evident that he ami MeXeal dfdn't Iiiif got on together. The l.-oy was not much of a talker. Yet he H'a his work welL and Neighbor said next t Foley he was the best man we had. About ft week later Foley came Into the office one morning very much ex cited. "Did you bear about the boy's getting pounded last night Ceorgie McNeal? It's a shame the way these fellows act. Three of the strikers piled on him while be was going Into the postofflce asd thumped the life out of him. The cowardly hounds, to jump on a man's back that way!" "Foley." sa:d I, "that's the first time they've tackled one of Dad Hamilton's engineers." "They'd never have done it if they thought there was any danger of Dad's getting after them. They know be doesn't like the boy." "Its an outrage, but we can't do anything. You know that Tell McNeal to keep away from the postofflce. We'll get bis mall for him." "I told blm that this morning. He's In bed and looks pretty bard, but be won't dodge tboso fellows. He claims It's a free country," grinned . Foley. "But I told blm he'd get over that Idea If he stack out this trouble. ' It was three days before McNeal waa able to report for work, though be re ceived full time just the same. 'H.Even then be wasn't fit for duty, but he begged Neighbor for .his run until be got It. The t strikers were Jubilant while the boy wss laid np. but Just Vte boy reached for hit throUU through a rain of iron blowt. what Dad thought no one could find out .1 wanted to tell the old growler what I thought of him. bnt Foley said . a ..... - ....I 1 1 nuiuuu i uv uir kuuu wiu uiikuk im i harm, to I held mj peace.. . I One might bare tboncfat that the in- I Justice and brutality of, the thing would I bare roused blnvbpt men who bare re- prcssed themselves till they pre gray Steaded don't rise In a burry to resent a wrong. Dad kept as mute as the sphinx. When McNeal was ready to go out tbe old fireman bad the 244 shin ing, but It tbe pale face of his engineer bad any effect on blm be kept It to himself. , VJ:J ' MK? rAs they rattled down tbe line with a long stock train that night neither of them' referred to the break In their run. Coming back next night, tbe same silence bung over tbe cab. The only words that passed over tbe boiler bead were "strlekly business," as Dad would say, At Oxford they were laid out by a Pullman special. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and raining bard. Un der such circumstances an hour seems all night At lost Dad himself broke the unsupportable silence.. V : V 'He'd bare waited a good bit longer If he bad waited for me to talk," said the boy, telling Foley afterward. "Heard you got licked," growled Dad after tinkering with the fire for the twentieth time. "I didn't get licked," retorted Geor gie; "I got clubbed. I never bad a chance to fight." "These fellows hate to see a boy come out and take a man's Job. Can't blame 'em much neither." "Whose Job did I take?" demanded Oeorgie angrily. "Was any one of those cowards that Jumped on me In the dark looking for work on this en gine?" . There was nothing to say to that Dad kept still. ";. "You talk about men," continued the young fellow. "If I am not tapre of a man than to slug a fellow from be hind, the way they slugged me. I'll get off this engine and stay off. If that's what you call men out here, I don't want to be a man. I'll go back to Pennsylvania." "Why didn't you stay there?" growl ed Dad. "Why didn't your' Without attempting to return the shot Dad pulled nervously at the chain. 'If I hadn't been fool enough to go out on a strike, I might have been run ning there yet," continued Georgia "Ought to have kept away from the postofflce." grumbled Dad after a pause. "I get a letter twice a week that t think more of than I do of this whole road, and I propose to go to the post offlce and get it without asking any body's permission." "They'll pound you again." Oeorgie looked out Into the storm. "Well, why shouldn't they? I'to got no friends." "Got a girl back in Pennsylvania?" "Yes. .I've got a girl there." replied tbe bo&ats the rain tore at tbe cab win dow. "I've bad a girl there a good While. She's gray beaded and sixty years okl that's my girl and If she can write letters to me I can get them oat of the postofflce without a guard ian," . : There ie comes," said Dad as the headlight of the Pnilman special shone faint abend through the mist nrrm mighty glad of It." aald Geor gle.' looking at bis watch. "Give me eteatn now. Dad, and I'll get yon home m time for a nap before breakfast" J A minute later the special shot over toe switch, and the young runner. crowding tbe pistons a bit. started off tbe siding. When Dad. looking back for tbe bind end brakeman to lock the switch r id swta',i on. called all clear. Georgle pulled her oat another notch. atad tbe long train slowly - gathered headway np the slippery track. As the speed Increased the young man and the old relapsed Into their usual silence. The 244 was always a free steamer, but Georgle put ber through her paces without any apolo gy, and It took lots of coal to square the account , In a few minutes they were pound ing along up through the Narrows. The track there follows the high bench be tween the bluffs, which sheer np on one side, and tbe river bed, thirty feet below the grade, on tbe other., ,;' It is not sn inviting stretch at any time with a big string of gondolas be hind. But on a wet night it Is the last place on the division where an engi neer would want a side rod to go wrong, and Just there and then Geor- gie's rod went very wrong Indeed.' Halfway . between centers the ' big steel bar on. bis side, dipping then so fast yon couldn't hare seen It even in daylight, snapped like a stick of lico rice. The bind end ripped np Into the cab like the nose of a swqrdfisb, tear ing and smashing witb appalling force ,nfl 4,,M i Georgia McNeaHs eeat burst under nun " ac of fi&nt powder bad xP'dea. He was Jammed against the roor IIKa . 11111 P,B ,na reJi sprawi- Ing,. : while the , monster ateef flail thrashed and tore through the cab with every lightning revolution of the great driver from which It swung. It was. a frightful moment Any. thing thought of done must be thought ' and done at once. It was either to stop that train, and quickly, or ' to pound along until the 244 Jumped the track and lit In tbe river, with thirty cars of coal to cover It Instantly so Dad Hamilton after ward told me instantly the boy. h scrambling to bis feet, reached for his throttle reaehed for It through a rain .. of iron blows, and staggered back with -bis right arm hanging like a broken wing from, hia shoulder. And back again after It after .the throttle with his left; slipping and creeping care fully this time up tbe throttle lever un til, straining and twisting and dodg ing, be caught the- latch, and pushed it tightly, borne, Dad whistling vigorous ly the while for brakes. Believed of the tremendous head ou tbe cylinder, the old cugine calmed down enough to let the two men col lect themselves. Rapidly as the brakes could do It.the long tsain was brought up standing, and Oeorgie, helped by his fireman, dropped out of the cab. and they set about disconnecting tbe engineer with bis oue arm the for midable ends of the broken rod; It was a slow, difficult piece of work to do. In spite of their most active efforts the rain chilled them to the marrow. The train crew gave them as much help as willing bands could, which wasn't much, but by every man doing something they got things fixed, called In their flagmen just before day break and started home. When the sun rose Georgle, grim and silent, the throttle In bis left hand, was urging , the old engine along on a dogtrot across the Blackwood flats, and so, limping in on one side, tie kid brought bis train into the Zanesvllle yards, with Dad Hamilton unable to make himself helpful enough, unable to show bis appreciation of the skill and the grit that the night had disclosed In the kid engineer ' The hostler waiting in the yard sprang Into the cab with amazement on his face and was just in time -to lift a limp boy out of tbe old fireman's arms and belp Dad get him to the ground, for Georgle had fainted. " When the 244 reached the abops a few minutes later they photographed that cab. It was the worst ease of rod smashing we had ever seen. and. . the West End shops have caught some pretty tough looking cabs In tbeir day. The boy. who stopped the cyclone and taved hH train and crew lay stretched on the louuga In my office waiting for , the company surgeon. And old Dad Hamiltoni-crabbed. irascible old Dad Hamilton Cew , around that boy ex actly like an excited old rooster,' first ' brlnfrfajr lee nnd then water and then hot co7ee nnd thea fadning blm with a time table. It was worth a small smashup to we It. ; V; . The one sweep of the rod which . caught Georgte's arm had broken It la two places, and be was off duty three months. But It was a novelty to sea ; that boy, walk down to the postofflce and bear the strikers step np and ask bow bis arm was, and to sea old Dad Hamilton tag around Zanesvllle after him wss refreshing The kid engineer bad won bis spars. -' Icar lbi Tmu Burr Mas. Those who tell you they "always are rushed to death" usually aeompllsh the least, and largely because they are im aginative. The really busy man, who turns off an Immense amount of work with the quiet and precision of a per fect machine, most have the Imagina tion to look ahead a day or a month or a year. At the least, his thought is al ways a few seconds ahead of his ac- . tion; his bead saves bis heels; he Is not continually tripping over his own feet T But the buzzy man can; never understand the busy man. - Having no Imagination himself, be saves bis own face by saying that the man who never fusses over his work has little to do. . Let us hear no more about Imagina tion being impracticable: ; It Is one of the most practical thing- a the world. A due proportion of It used with Judg-; ment "will fromtmany a blunder free -us and feollsb notion." . Tbe only con dition under which It may seem' su -perfluous Is that of one who has some -monotonous task to perform automatic- ' oily day after day. Doubtless If one Is to be In' an automatic Job forever the less Imagination the better, but If be is ever to get out of It the quicker he cultivates some Imagination the sooner will be get out Chicago Tribune. . , . Subscribe for ..The Gastonia Gazstte." - t""
Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.)
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Feb. 19, 1907, edition 1
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