Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-06-01
VOL. 55--WH0LE NO. 2,724
THOMAS A. SCOTT.
Death of the Humble Mountain Boy
and the Great Administrator of
the Land.
EVENTS IN A MATCHLESS CAREER.
A WONDERFUL RAILWAY SYSTEM HE
DEVISED AND PERFECTED-AN
lLLUsTRIoUs WORK.

), From the Philadelphia Tims,.l
Colonel Thomas a. Scott died at hi,
country residence, near Darby, at 9:lC
O'Clock on Saturday evening, May 2lst
1881, from paralysis, in the 5slh yeaI
OF his age. The primary cause of par,
alysis in his case was a fall from q
locomotive whenSuperintendent of the
Western Division of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, more than thirty years ago,
by which he suffered q violent concus.
sion Of the brain
AN EvENTFUL CAREER.
Thomas Alexander Scott was born
in the village of Loudon, Franklin
4 county, Pennsylvania, on the 2Sth OF
December, 1923. The ltlls town was
merely a few struggling houses on both
sides of the Baltimore and Pittsburgh
turnpike, then the great highw way to
the West, and close under the shadows
of Cove Mountain. The village inn,
kept by bis father, was almost daily
cnlivened by the trains of Concstoga
teams which then freighted the com.
merce between the East and the West,
and the younger Scott was the utility
lad OF the rustic home for the wayfaror.
His only educational opportunities con.
sisted of the common school, OF his
neighborhood, and the necessity OF
constant employment to support him.
self limited his schooling mainly to
what he could obtain in early boy.
Thood. When only ten years of age, he
found employment in a country store
near Waynesboro, in his native county,
ana Inc WIS subsequently employed in
Bridgeport and Mercersburg, near his
birthplace, until 1871, when Moior
Patton, his brother-in-law, then Col.
lector of Tolls on the State Railroad at
Columbia, promoted him to a clerk.
ship in the State office. There was
much complaint made because Major
Patton had given what was then 70.
garded as an important position to o
boy who had not yet reached his
twentieth year, but tho young clerk
soon dissipatod all prcjudices by his
kind manners, marked ability and
faithful and courteous discharge Of his |
public duties. In lS4l Mr.. A. Boyd |
Cummings, yet resident Of Pbiadel.
phia, was Collector on the State Rail. |
road for this city, and he called Scott
to the chief position in the most i'm.
portant Collectors Office in the State. |
lie developed so broadly as a man of
keen perception and rapid and method.
ical execution that he attracted the
attention Of Colonel Patterson, Presi
ident Of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, and in 1851 he was trans
feIred to the railroad that he has been
mainly instrumental in making the
first railway corporation of the world,
and that has made bis name immortal
among the men Of greatest achieve.
ments in the material progress OF the
country. His first railroad assignment
was the charge Of the Portage Rail
road on the Alleghenies, that had TO be
used by the Pennsylvania Company
until its line could be completed and
the use Of inclined planes and station.
ary engines dispensed with. Subse.
quently he was given the charge of the
construction Of the Western Division,
and on its completion he was made
Superintendent Of the Division, with
bis Office at Pittsburgh. In 1858 he
was promoted to General Superintend.
ent OF the entire road, with his office
at Altoona, and in 1860, when the
office of Vice President OF the company
became vacant by the death OF William
B. Foster, he was unanimously chosen
as Vice President, and he thus became
the second executive officer of the cor.
poration. In 1861, although his serv.
ices were greatly needed by the rail.
road, he was prevailed upon by Presi.
dent Lincoln and Secretary Cameron
to accept the position of Assistant
Secretary Of War, and it was his won. {
derful administrative qualities which {
enabled the transportation department
OF the Government to be systematized.
In 1862, as soon as he could be spared, q
be resigned the Office OF Assistant Sec. I
retary Of War; but that did not relieve Z
him IRON repeated impressment into {
the service Of the Government TO aid I
in handling cur vast armies. When q I
grave emergency arose and large y
bodies Of troops had TO be transferred c
with the utmost caution and CELEBRITY, @
the man TO whom the President and 4
Secretary Of War turned was Thomas n
A. Scott. After the disastrous battle d
Of Chickamauga he was dispatched to r
Louisville TO ticilitate the transfer OF y
The Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps a
VIA Nashville to the reliefoi ROsecranz n
1t Chattanooga, and the country re. O
DICED, after the most painful appre. "
PENSIONS and suspense, when the news Ii
vas flashed throughout the land that N
he Army of the Tennessee was rein. A
orced and safe. Concluding his labors d
IS Assistant Secretary of War, Colonel
scott returned to the active service of II
he great railroad corporation. The II
ccords Of the company, which from /,
ime TO time honored him with such sig. 1,
lal trusts, show one steady, continuous q
'dvanoement in position and power N
Until he became its President on June n
ID, 1874, a, "
COLONEL scoTT's GREAT WORK. nj
Born just about the time when the d,
ar.seeing sagacity Of Dewitt Clinton Vi
lad perfected in the State of New SC
york the canal system, which extended di
rom tho great lakes to the ocean, and al
bus secured for that Commonwealth ct
he control Of the through commerce To
4 the country, it was reserved to ir
'homas A. Scott to conceive and build SC
p far mighter system, whose main "
ermini were tho ocean on one hand, 10
be Mississippi, the Ohio and the lakes IL
n the other, and whose incidental OK. 10
ensions alone wero such as to have NJ
llly occupied the brain Of almost any "
ther man, embracing, as they did, an z
xtensive network Of railways through th
u the Southern States on q great bl
runk line to the Pacific Ocean. II is "
My when we reflect upon the magni TO
lde OF the work that he accomplished Gu
bat we can realize the unity Of pur. U
osc which for twenty years past liz
uided his action and which conccn. LEI
'ated every fibre of muscle and brain th
18th such intense vitality upon the an
bieot in view that, burning lilies can. O.
.0 ~ l. a. A. I.II l. - HN