The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-12-27
FIVE MESSENGER BOYS,
carnegie Oliver, Pitcairn, McCarso and
Moreland in Pittsburg ONCE.


Moreland in a Pittsburg ONCE.
New York sun.
The story of five messenger bows begin,
in the early days of telegraphy. In a
dingy office in Pittsburg about is4s. An
drew Carnegie, Henry w. Oliver, Robert
Pitcairn, Major William C. Moreland and
David McCargo were messengers. II ia
said that they took the opposite of other
boys, and spent their spare moments in
learning useful lessons. Andrew Carnegie
Is the oldest of the lot, and he was the
smartest, leading all in learning how To
telegraph. He was one of the first oper-
ators in the country to learn to take the
Morse system by sound, which in those
days was considered remarkable achieve
hent. 1t did not take Thomas A. Scott
long to snatch Mr. Carnegie from the tele-
graph office IN Pittsburg into his office as
private secretary when the great railroad
genius took charge of the Pittsburg
end OF the road The education
the young Scotchman received from
a greater mind lifted him from
secretary's seat into the place of division
superintendent when Mr.. Scott was made
vice president of the railroad. The indus
try, the subtle cunning, and watching
faith OF Scott taught him to lay his lines
In other directions than watching the
divisions of railroad, and Scott helped
HIM. His place gave HIM the oppor-
tunlty to look into other lines of indus
try, and he drove q drift into an
iron mill. His pickaxe was not large, but
his cunning and thrift made up for the
size of his axe. J. Edgar Thompson, who
was the president of the Pennsylvania
railroad, then gave great name and
money to the works now dominated by
MIR. Carnegie. At that time Colonel Scott
was power in the nation as well as the
railroad, and Carnegie began to gather
wealth.
my ambition in those days" he said
recently, was to write for newspapers. l
took in material in that direction when
ever 1t was possible. l haunted the pub
Inc library in Allegheny, and caught on to
the fact that distinction was made by the
attendants between the poor boys and the
sons OF well-to-do parents. 1t made me
indignant. L wrote my first public letter
to the board of control, and a change was
ordered. This result more than ever re-
solved me to follow journalism, but an ac-
cident drlfted me elsewhere, and became
manufactures"
Thrift and energy were the derricks
which lifted Harry W. Oliver out of the
telegraph chair next to Mr.. Carnegie and
made him clerk for big. iron firm. He is
an lrishman, with a head full of cunning
about the business economies of life. 1t did
not take long for him to realize the posi-
bilities of the iron trade, and one day q slick
working block and tackle hosted him out
OF his seat at the desk in the big firms
workshop and landed him in a business that
has since grown to be one of the greatest
concerns in the world. He has grown very
rich, and one railroad and seven manufac-
turing concerns now feel the touch of his
hand. He lives in the finest house in the
West, but he works too hard to enjoy him.
self. He must be about 81 years of age,
and few notches lower than Mr. Carnegie
in the scale of years. He once came near
being United States senator. He was the
brains of the tariff commission which,
Senator Sherman says, framed the best
and fairest bill ever presented to congress.
Another Scotchman of the famous five
is Robert Pitcairn, who sits in the seat
once occupied by Colonel Tom Scott and
Mr.. Carnegie. He went from telegraph
chair into the railroad business. and he
has been a master iii all the best condi-
tons of ra ilroad life He is many times q
millionaire but he lives for his railroad,
although interested, like Mr.. Oliver, in
many large manufacturing enterprises.
He does the work of about three men
every day and takes recreation only when
he wants to talk with a big friend or in
dulge with his countrymen in the melo-
dies of Scotland. He has denied himself
promotion many times because he likes 10
cling TO the location where he began as a
messenger boy and has had SO many tri-
umphs.
The fourth member of the groupis David
McCargo. the general manager of the Alle-
ghenv railroad. His strong Scotch charac-
ter lifted him into big railway concerns
Il iayt he taI.
after the other boys and took place on
the railway.
think of it." said Major William p.
Moreland, the last, but not least, of the
famous five. II stood at the key with
Carnegie, Oliver, Pitcairn, McCargo, and
heard the first message pass over the wires
that was sent between the North and
South. James d. Reid, who was general
superintendent; David Brooks, now living
in Philadelphia, and Jackson Duncan, of
Cincinnati, had charge of the experiment.
We had 10 work on short circuits in those
days, and We thought it was impossible to
send a message 20 New York from New Or
leans Brooks and Reid walked over and
inspected the line from the Crescent City to
Pittsburg After arriving here and asSur-
ing themselves that the line was perfect,
the effort was ordered and every telegraph
operator on the line and, in fact, the
whole country was waiting in suspense TO
know the success or failure OF the effort.
Every magnet was adjusted, and every cleo
trician on the line stood at his kew listening
for the result. At the signal New York
called Philadelphia, the Quaker City sig
nailed Harrisburg, and then in quick sue
cession Pittsburg. Cincinnati, Louisville,
and New Orleans were opened TO the me-
tropolis. No one drew breath scarcely
until the tick came, and in a minute an
unbroken message was sent between the
North and South. That may seem print
tive III these days, when there Is no
measuring electric power, but then it was
the talk of the nation. This is bit of un-
told history, but shall never forget that
hour.
"Mr. Carnegie never forgets the old
bows. and we shall never forget celebrating
his 2lst birthday. He was Scott's cont
dental clerk then. and he invited his for
mer companions in the telegraph Office 20
his home in Allegheny, where his mother
and brother lived. We had o good time,
and parted with mutual wishes for each
others success. I think there are no re-
grets among Us, except that We cannot
live always.