TH - Canada Southern Railway

82
New York Central Lines Magazine for May, 1928
William H. Smith drove a flag-adorned locomotive for his farewell run as Engineman on the Ohio Central Lines. He is shown
here with his crew and with the flowers that were presented to him. The men are, left to right: Brakemen O. E. Heinz
and Ed Benton, Conductor Adam Conkle, Engineman Swith, and Fireman C. Love.
Patrick Kane, William Smith,
Retire Together at Corning
FTER forty-seven years of con­
A tinuous service, Patrick W. Kane,
Passenger Conductor on the Ohio Central
Lines, Bucyrus, and William H.
Smith, Engineman, Bucyrus, with
forty-five years of continuous service,
were retired on pension March 31, both
having reached the tge of seventy.
These veterans were honored with a
dinner at the Bucyrus High School on
the night of March 30, attended by a
large gathering of railroad officers
and employes.
After an enjoyable repast, served
with military precision by the Ladies'
Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Railroad
Trainmen, a number of officers
and fellow workmen spoke of the commendable
records of the honored
guests and of the years of pleasant
association with them. Conductor L.
A. Miller officiated as toastmaster.
Among the principal speakers were Conductor Kane with Mrs. Kane in the
Superintendent J. J. Brinkworth, Di­ rear of the bunting-bedecked train
vision Master Mechanics O. P. Skeen which he handled the day of his re­
and W. A. Jex, Superintendent W. W.
tirement at Bucyrus.
Houston of the Hocking Valley Railroad,
Mayor Arthur Schuler, and Earl James Keenan Remembers
Cook, President of the Bucyrus Board
of Education.
Early Adirondack Days
Music was furnished by the New RAINS used to kill deer occa­
York Central Athletic Association Tsionally in the days when James
Band and several vocal selections F. Keenan of Albany started railroad­
were given by the Bucyrus New York ing on the Mohawk & Malone line.
Central Quartet. "Pat" and "Bill" Since then times have changed con­
were presented with appropriate gifts siderably, he mused the other day on
by their associates, also President Jex the eve of his retirement as a bag­
of the Scioto Chapter presented them
gage man on the New York Central.
with life memberships in the Veterans'
Association.
When the Adirondacks were still
Mr. Kane will make his future a wilderness, forest fires were plenti­
home at Beulah, Mich., while Mr. ful and a constant hazard for railroad
Smith will continue to make Bucyrus men. Winter brought other problems,
his home.
Mr. Keenan remembers. Once, when
he was a train baggage man, his train
was stopped by a blizzard. When the
steam gave out, the crew shoveled
snow into the tank of the locomotive.
In 1892 Mr. Keenan became a mail
handler at Albany for the New York
Central. In his retirement he will
live at 49 North Lansing Street, Albany.
Southern Division Men Show
Spirit of Co-operation
N example of New York Central
co-operation is related in a letter
telling of a landslide at Hatfield Cut,
in West Virginia.
John Chuvales, Section Foreman,
writes that four hundred tons of rock
were loosened and that a hundred tons
covered the tracks near the Hatfield
Tunnel April 7.
Engineman P. C. McCoy, arriving at
the place about 12:10 A.M., was immediately
alert to the danger and
stopped his train in time. When the
section laborers arrived to clear the
tracks they were given able assistance
from the train crew, headed by the
conductor and Fireman Bennett.
Mr. Chuvales comments: "I hear
that Henry Ford has given instructions
for his crews to assist in work
whenever the occasion demands; our
men do not have to have instructions,
and Henry's men will have to step up
to beat the New York Central men
cn the Southern Division."
Sergeant Joseph C. Dunn has been
appointed to the vacancy caused by
the death of Lieutenant F. J. Bigley
of the New York Central police. Sergeant
Dunn has been on duty on the
Mohawk Division since 1919.
New York Central Lines Magazine for May, 1928 83
Sprightly Tales from Cab and Caboose
A Series of Merry Minglings of Fact and Fable, Chiefly Along
/^"J|" NEVER see a circus train but
I get a hankering for the old
days back in the nineties when
Dan Collins and I were following the
sawdust circle together through the
West," said Slim Wiltsie, Boston &
Albany engineer, as he sat in the cab
of the 1213 at Chatham one June
morning awaiting a chance to get
through the yards on a return trip
to Hudson.
"It's like railroading, once it gets
in your blood it sticks. By the looks
of that flat that just went by loaded
with stakes and tent poles it hasn't
changed much. If I had a dollar for
every stake I drove for the Bustem
& Baleful circus I wouldn't have to
railroad another hour. Those were
the days!"
"When did you ever travel with a
circus?" asked Ed Carey, brakeman,
a bit scornfully as if doubting Slim's
word. "I'll bet you've never been
nearer a circus than I have and that
means you paid your half dollar and
took a seat on a hard blue plank,
along with several hundred other
rubes."
"Is that so?" answered Slim. "Well,
for your information I'll tell you that
I spent a couple of the happiest years
of my life traveling with the Bustem
& Baleful circus. I've been in nearly
every town of any size in every western
state, but you fellows don't have
to believe it if you don't want to. I've
got my memories."
"Tell us about it, Slim," said Ed.
"How did you come to give up circus
life for railroading? There's two sections
of the circus to go through and
by then it will be time for No. 3. Be
an hour yet before they give you the
iron. Go ahead, spin the yarn."
"I was in St. Louis at the time,"
said Slim, easing himself down on a
seat cushion and elevating his feet up
on the reverse lever. "I was broke
and so was Dan Collins, a lad of
about my own age whom I met in the
railroad yards. We were both looking
for some way to get out of town.
Bustem & Baleful's circus was leaving
town that night and we left with it,
bedded down on a section of the big
top, on a flat car. The next day we
hired out to the boss canvasman. Our
the Harlem Division but Just as Interesting to the Folks
all Along the Main Line
1\p. 4 2 — T h e ^ Fakers
By GEORGE H. W O O D I N G , Towerman, Ghent, N . Y.
(All rights reserved)
job was to kiss stake heads with an
iron sledge. We were good at it, too,
but Dan was ambitious and I followed
him like a faithful collie. In the two
years we followed that circus we had
nearly every job on the lot and we saw
quite a bit of the country. When we
finally quit, Dan was in charge of the
magic medicine tent, where they cured
everything from a corn to a case of
acute heart disease for a dollar, if
you had it, or for a quarter just before
we loaded the last train at night.
I was Dan's assistant and we made
the medicine during the forenoon
hours near a handy brook or well.
A little oil of cloves, alum, liniment
and some sweet smelling essence. It
cost about a nickel and sold for a
dollar a bottle and it was wonderful
the way Dan could dispose of it, especially
to the women. They would
be first to hand him their dollars after
he gave one of his spiels or perhaps
rubbed a few drops of the Wonder
Cure on a baby's head to remove a
rash.
"We quit the circus at Jefferson
City, Mo., one spring morning. Dan
got the idea that we should strike out
for ourselves and make some real
money. 'This tent of mine cleared
four hundred dollars last week,' said
Dan, 'and here we are working for
about thirty a month, coffee and cakes.
As long as I can find a drug store and
brook I can make this medicine and
sell it. We'll strike out through Oklahoma
and into New Mexico and maybe
next season the Atlantic seaboard.
Slim, we go fifty-fifty and your job
is to be the sick man. Let's get out
of town a bit and make a batch of
medicine, then I'll drill you in the part
you are to play.'
"Dan's idea was original and no
doubt would have been worth a couple
of hundred dollars weekly to the circus
if we had stuck with them. At
each town we visited, my role was to
precede Dan by a day or two as a sick
and ragged hobo, eliciting food, sympathy
and often medical attention. In
the evening when Dan's torchlight
and ballyhoo had attracted a crowd
I would be among them and when the
sales began to slacken 1 would do the
faint act and the Wonder Medicine
would do the rest. I'll give you an
illustration.
"It's an evening in, say, Alamosa,
Colorado. At a prominent street corner
Dan has a crowd of a couple of
hundred and is giving his usual spiel.
" 'Ladies and Gentlemen: Opportunity
knocks once at every door. She
is knocking at yours tonight. There
are none blinder than those who will
not see, none deafer than those who
will not hear. If you still have doubts
of the efficacy of the Wonder Medicine
which I have just described to
you, listen to these testimonials. Here
is a letter from a mother of ten children
who lives in Osculpupia, Arizona.
She writes:
" 4
"Dear Wonder Medicine Man:
Enclosed find two dollars. Send me
by return mail two bottles of the Wonder
Medicine. Eight of my children
were badly stung by bees and they
have a rash which resembles the hives.
Their father gave them a good licking
for knocking over the bee-hive and
some of their rashness has disappeared.
Still I do not feel safe without
your medicine in the house at all
times." Signed, Mrs. Lucy Littlewill.
" 'Here is another from a poor,
hard-working woman in Joseyville,
Alabama:
" ' "Send at once three bottles of
Wonder Medicine. Pete has used up
our bottle for his rheumatism and
now is so well he can sit in the sun
all day and I have been able to take
in four more washings. Mrs. Alice
Weakweather."
" 'Friends, are there any among you
troubled with ardemiasia, arteriagria,
arthrocile, acholia, achroma, cerebroma,
cebrosio, dermalgia, dermatrophia,
dermatosis, dumdum fever, gasterasthenia,
gastralgia, Gaucher's disease,
German measles, earache, toothache,
backache, corns, bunions, spine
or hip ailments, liver or kidney complaints,
biliousness, loss of appetite,
dandruff and falling hair or any of
the numerous ills or ailments that the
human flesh is heir to? I say to you
one and all, step right up, deposit
your dollar and go home happy; happy
in the knowledge that your troubles
will vanish with the rising of tomorrow's
sun, for the Wonder Medicine
never fails to do all and more than we
claim for it.'
"About then if the sales were slackening,
he would give me a signal, and