The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-09

stoop-shouidersd at the company's desk; he was
from all accounts, given by the oldest inhabi-
stoop- shouldered and is getting to be bald
headed for the old ''Van.p He sits at desk
in the room leading to President McKeen's, and
he sits there many hours He IL sitting ma
chine but the meshes of his heart 10 not wear
away. The title of secretary not covering his
muitifarous duties, there he added to it
general" Then they made him general freight
agent of the Logan division. When those jolly
fellows. the travelling men. took off their ha Is
In heavy rain and gave him three cheers. it
was an occasion for the common remark that
He deserved it" May his shoulders grow
straighter. the hairs of his head increase, and
his days lengthen the hours that he snarches for
his own and for his delightful family.
In the room with Mr. Harrington is big
vault and another secret repository. The latter
Is Charles Melville. He not only knows the
com bination of the safe, but has "by heart all
other secrets, but what he has other man
may have from him. / have tried him. He Is
asphynx He won't even give You lead-penci
On occasions he can talk in way to startle the
outsider, as he did the other day when they
were calling OF the proxies in the annual cleo
ton. He can do it, giving the number OF shares
OF every stakeholder big or little, in Indiana or
Connecticut His handwriting in the stock
books Ia small and SO 10 the quantity of informa-
ton a newspaper man gets from him Every.
thing with him in the Office is "of1cia, and
everything outside OF the Office is home.
Before the Ives period there was no vice
president Of the company. The office was Gre
general manager of the Cincinnati. Hamilton 81
Dayton. The other day in the election of off,
GERS Mr.. John G. Williams, the general counsel
of the road, was also elected vice-president.
Bayless Hanna. then attorney of the l. d ST.
L. visited Natchez under-the- hill years
ago and through him the young man Williams
came to Terre Haute, soon finding it necessary
to branch out on his own shoot as lawyer. He
was successful and his success made him the
successor Of Uncle Dick Thompson general
counsel of the Vandaia, when Uncle Dick went
to Washington to become Secretary of the Navy
in the Hayes administration. John Williams is
spare-built man IN physique. but he has the
tenacity of bulldog. the reserve and caution
of fox in a lawsuit, and the speed of q grey
hound in his movements when he knows where
he is going. He's a strange mixture; brainy
man. a student, a fighter and a thorough gen.
tleman of the ideal sort. He is a Democrat,
perhaps foreordained one, a shrewd politician,
and man TO be relied on in any respect.
j. W. Crufr, ''Will" Cruft, most people
hero know him, is treasurer. He is a brother OF
Gen. Charles Cruft. known to all who know
anything of Indiana in the war. He attends to
his business constantly, speaks to you pleas
antly on the streets In the Office, and his
books are always balanced.
Maj. Frank Crawford is paymaster. I think
he is about six feet four. If he is only six feet
he carries himself upright that you would
think he is taller. He is relative of Mr.. Nc
Keen. He knows the road and its employees
over every inch of it, and he meets them with
great regularity once month.
In the room with Mr.. McKeen is Will Arnold,
who was deputy postmaster here for many
years, until the democrats came IN. he Is MIR.
McKeen's private secretary, and the word
private is in raised letters every one Of the
few hairs on his head. It is in the corner of his
eyes, and has recently been SCARED into his NECK
in the places where half dozen bois came to
be with MIN with the rest of the trou bles. There
are others IN the buildiug-Mr. Digs in the
treasurer's ofice-who will not deign to work on
book that, opened, doesn't measure six feet
from tip to tip; the telegraph operator and the
superintendent of the stationery room-but
there is not an army of them. Comparatively.
their number is small, probably less than in
any like Office in the country, but the thing
be said of all, that they are hard workers,
gentlemen and good fellows.