The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-16
From the Ne,U York sun.

ago.
From the Nelc York sun.
Tall white-haired, ruddy, clear-eyed, and
..tive for his age, James Perry lives quietly
!, vanderbilt avenue. Brooklyn. and looks
rack to his youth. when he was one Of the
earliest locomotive engineers employed in
The limited States. In 1888 Mr.. Perry was
= Stnrdy Young blacksmith, working at his
+rade in Berks county, Pennsylvania,
b,,t anxious to find a place In
~ machine shops of Philadelphia. He
tsilAd in this, because the shops were
rro9ded. and, as nothing better was at
hand. became clarionet player in sort OF
+rsveling circus. Toward the end OF the
se,ond season, in the spring of 1870, he
fonnd himself in Charleston, aud disguised
-Virh the show business because the we'll
ordered showmen with whom he had started
oI,t lad combined with an older and less
1ennrable company. At this time the
Charleston and Hamburg railroad, run
Ming 1856 miles across the state, was
a very new thing, being one of the earliest
railroads built in this country. Locomo-
rive engineers we're needed, and as Perry
was skilled mechanic, he was looked upon
as the sort of raw material from which
engineers should be made Accordingly he
became a fireman along with a negro, in
accordance with the custom of having one
white man and one negro to do the firing.
Perry speedily learned how to run an
engine, and in the end bought off the Eng
Iish engineer in charge, and obtained his
place. .oo
II ran from Charleston to Aiken, 12O
miles said the old gentleman, first as en-
1ineer of a freight train and afterward with
q passenger train. A railway journey was
looked upon as a serious aud dangerous I'M
dertaking in those days, for there were
GREAT many accidents. There were sixteen
engineers and firemen killed on the road
during my three-and-a-half years OF service.
7 earned reputation for caution, however,
for had only two accidents during my
whole time, and people having journey
TO make used to come to the depot to learn
on what day my engine, the Marion,
was to go out. We used to start
Messenger train at 6 o'clock in the morning
and reach Aiken about in the afternoon.
We could run about sixteen miles an hour,
but we lost good deal of time in stopping
for wood and water. Then, too. passengers
had a way of causing further delay by go
ing off to get drink at grocery stores near
the station. The engineer was boss of the
train in those days. He whistled when
ready to start, and the conductor yelled
All aboardp and rang a bell, so that the
passengers might get back from the bar
rooms and stow themselves on board. We
always stopped half an hour at Blockv1lle
for dinner, and about the same length of
time at a place twenty or thirty miles out
Charleston for breakfast"
Mr.. Perry could not recall just what sort
of passenger tickets were sold, as he never
bought one, but he knew that the fare on
the l20 miles Of his run was somewhere be-
tween 81 and IS. Passengers usually came
to the baggage cars to pick out their bag
gage when they reached their destination,
and from this he fancled that there could
a61 Nov or,d
then the color question came up. 1t was
matter Of course that gangs of slaves taken
across country by slave dealers should be
carried in freight cars. The negroes trav-
eled little on their own account, but good
deal in company with their masters. An
Englishman travelling with a negro body
servant was forced, much against his will,
to send the negro to the baggage car. The
EDgllShman used strong language on the
subject and was somewhat roughly handled.
'But you should have seen the road bed, ;"
said Mr.. Perry. when l first went on the
road there were few cuts or fills, but great
many trestles varying in hight from 8 feet
to 35 feet. Later these were filed in and
the road bed was much improved. The
rails were fiat strips Of iron about 2 inches
wide and fve-eighths of an inch thick.
The stringpieces were rotten in places, and
at such points the rails would bend until
they rose at one end. These were called
snake heads | could see them long way
off. II they were not very high the engine
ran over them and did no harm, but now
and then they jumped the wheel Once I
tore one clear from the stringpiece, and
threw it S or 10 feet in the air. Now and
then a snake head would run up into a
passenger car and kill some one The track
was so unequal in width that at times the
wheels of the engine would be within five
eighths of an inch of dropping between the
rails. Later improved rails were laid, and
found that the engine consumed one-third
less fuel
"All the engines were made in England.
They had inclined cylinders, the two driving
wheels were not more than feet in diam
eter, and the cab was merely an iron frame
covered with an awning. The cars were
about the size OF the present street cars,
and the seats were usually arranged length.
wise of the car. Six regular passenger
cars, baggage car. and a smoking car
made heavy train. They were usually
pretty we'll filed with passengers, as there
was only one passenger train daily each
way. Stations were ten or twelve miles
apart, and the country was mostly will
oerness. Country people stared at us pretty
nard, and were nightly interested in the
watering and wooding up of the enginen
Mr.. Ferry recalled with satisfaction that
his pay as a full engineer was 81, 900 year
~NHoAUOi AMY DcttoT GDdH Un0 pay OF loco
motive engineers now, when the greater
value Of money fifty years ago is taken into
account. He could not recall the wages OF
hremen, but supposed they were pretty low
as negroes were employed. An engineer
was a person of some consideration. He
himself had married while in the service Of
The railroad company, and established
comfortable home in Charleston.
his two accidents, and a narrow escape
from third, were highly characteristic Of
primitive railroading. In the case of the
nrst accident he was running freight
Train, and the president of the company
was In the rear car. The engine had beer
repaired the day before, and some blundel
had been made in the work. Perry discov
cred on going round curve that something
was wrong, and he learned, too, that the
engine ran hard only on curves on one side
OF the road. The president inquired why
ne ran SO slow, and on learning the reason
oade him be careful. At an unusually
sharp curve, few miles further on, how.
ever, the wheels left the track and the en-
glne toppled over. No one was seriously
aurt. On another occasion, while Perry wa:
SUN freight engineer, he volunteered tc
push a passenger train whose engine
ueo given out because the flues were chokeC
WIN resinous smoke from the pine knot:
used as fuel. He got the train to within G
hn AL.