The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-07-03
THE OLDEST CoxDUcron.


! oldest living railroad conductor, as he settled
| two hundred pounds OF avoirdupois in
comfortable position and cleared his throat
| to tell why they didn't Then he threw
/ back his hat and disclosed a well rounded.
| jolly looking face, with clear cut lines I'm
sixty-seven," said Conductor William Rob
erts by way of preliminary, but be doe. not
look to be over fifty. He is remarkably well
preserved, and his small, bright eyes peer out
over two big fat cheeks, which show that he
is able TO manipulate the punch for few
seasons yet
II believe am the oldest railroad con-
ductor in the United States" he said as he
bounced his cane on the floor and straight
| ened himself out 50 that his memory could
run clear. II entered the railroad business
/ in 1881, and did not rellnquish active ser
vice until two years ago, when an accident
incapscitated me for some time to come. |
was bus or coach driver along with father
IN the city of Baltimore up to 1881, and at
10 years OF age was called to the profession
to which l have tenaciously chung until
nearly the term of life allotted TO man has
been fulfilled. They didn't know much
about building railroads in those days, and
when the idea of constructing the Baltimore
and OHIO road was preached people laughed at
! it. To give them an idea of what the
! tramwaY would be like, a circular belt of
rail was laid in the rotunda of the exchange
in Baltimore and small car placed upon it.
| Here the members of the commercial and
financial bodies, whom it was desired to in
tetest in the scheme, enjoyed the novelty of
whizzing around the rotunda and riding on
rail. 80 ignorant were the people of rail-
road building that they made the car wheels
with the fianges outside. This they ascer-
tanned to be great mistake when they at
tempted to take the cars around a curve
Then they placed them on the inside, and
| found that worked all right. Inquiries were
sent to England and all around in the hope
of learning some improved method of rail
way building. with but little satisfaction
| cleaned. However, we managed to get along
| first rate ourselves.
| SIN 1928, 1929, 1880 and 1881 the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad was constructed, and ex-
tended TO the Relay house, thence to Eli
| colts Mills The cars were somewhat like
summer cars on the horse railroads, while
in few months we advanced so as to re-
move coach bodies and place them on iron
| wheels to run along the track. The trains
were drawn by horses, each car holding
about twenty persons, having one horse. In
! this humble manner the foundation was
laid for what is now one of the great trunk
! lines of the country. For a couple of years
the trains were run without conductors but
in December, 1881, three of us were APP
! pointed TO act IN that capacity. Both of
/ my partners have since died. They were
John T. Surault and Gustavus Allen.
| Al Jnat time the agent sOlQ YOU piece
| of paper on which was printed
your destination. This was your ticket
| When you purchased this your name was
written upon it, and al the same time your
name was entered in a large book in the
Office, thus: Andrew Jackson, Ellicott's
Mills" The conductor was great man,
! and much thought of. He was invited to
dinner with the prominent citizens, and as
ISOLATED with the chief officers of the COM
pany.
well now, really don't know why the
companies introduced those little punches;
but | presume they thought some of the
conductors were getting rich too fast SO
they determined upon some check to pre-
vent them becoming owners of the roads. 1t
was 1860, or sometime about then, that the
punches were first put into use.
when the Baltimore and Washington
road was first opened, in 1885, was appoint
ed conductor, and spent three years there.
We had steam engines then, and had given
up the horse power. The first and best en-
gines came from the shop of man named
Davies at Little York. People talk about
fast trains in these days Why in March,
1887, the day before Martin Van Buren, was
inaugurated president, we ran an engine
and special car from Baltimore to Washing
ton in s. min .es. This was to
next day. What a big thing that
was. whole and an engine for the
message of the president! Well, we started
off but broke down before we arrived at
Baltimore, and had to send the message on
by coach. There were many incidents of an
amusing character which came under my
notice while on that road. One day we had
special car containing two immense cheeses
for President Van Buren,. Some fellow sent
them TO him all the way from Massachusetts,.
Probably he expected post Office by return
mail. The cheeses were very large, one be
ing at least two feet thick"
The president accepted them, OF course"
said the reporter, intending to anticipate the
answer
Presidents in those days were not like
the present breed. They didn't take brick
houses, horses and steamships. Mr.. Van
Buren looked at the cheese and smiled. He
offered to purchase them from the man, but
take them as gift he would not. There
was no clause which he could find In the
constitution allowing the president to accept
q gift from his people, so the cheese was pre-
pared to skip back to New England. How
ever, it was stopped at the national capital
and sold for fifty cents per pound, and there
was right merry fun while it was being dis
posed of. The president himself bought
couple of pounds.
"TheD, there was James K. Polk. of Ten
nessee as we used to call him. He loved
horses Indeed, 1 think he was as fond of
fast steed as General Grant. Many sleek
animals were sent down over the road bear
ing a tag showing that they were for the chief
executive. If the horses suited his ideas he
would purchase them and pay cash, but
many OF the critters were sent back to their
owners because the president was too con-
scientious to receive them as gift. Andrew
Jackson was the same way, only stricter
than the rest, if anything.
II remained with the Baltimore and Ohio !
company until 1851, when | transferred my
self TO the Philadelphia, Wilmington and
Baltimore company, and am still actively
employed. During the many years l have
been employed as a conductor l have trav-
eied altogether by railroad somewhere about !
Z. OOO, 900 miles. You open your eyes at the
figures. But when you travel on an average |
about seventy-five miles day for forty-fve
years it counts up. All! but railrOading now is
not what it was years ago. The conductors
are different, the officers are changed and
there are so many new-fanged ideas that
one is almost bewildered. As soon as my
spine gets all right again 1 will be ready to
move through the cars and will sound the