Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1896-12-24
ENGINEERS.
The Passing of Capts. Jake Hicks
and Bill Swami From Their
Old Runs ON the Southern =
A Brief Review of Their Ser
vice to The Company.

A bf1eI ReVIeW OF Inelf Ser
vice to the Company.
The residents. along the line
of the North Carolina Railroad
between this city and Greens,
boro must have noticed with re
greet the absence of the familiar
faces of engineers, Jake" Hick:
and :Bill' Swan, the veterat
locomotive engineers, who have
hauled daily the passenger train:
over that line for the past thirty
years. The little bright>eyed chill
dren who had during these year.
run to the front door. to see the
great iron horse pulling it.
heavy load of human freigh
through the country at such
| rapid rate under the trusty hane
and vigilant eye of these two
veteran "Knights of the throt.
tle' have watched eagerly fol
their coming from day to day
and haye grown from children to
fill their places in the world as
men and women and have taker
their little ones ia their arms tC
the door to see the trains pass
with these familiar faces still in
their seats in the cab. Although
never a word had passed between
them, vet they had Lecome ac>
|quainted by constantly seeing
each other and the engineers
watched for the familiar faces al
the door aud the residents knew
from the manner in which the
shrill notes of the whistle were
sounded which n of the above
two was pulling the train.
Il is no wonder then that the
people along the rural districts
and in the villages, towns and
cities, who have been as accus
toned to seeing these familiar
faces from day to day as
darkness follows daylight, should
note with regret the younger and
strange faces of the men now at
the throttle who have taken the
places of the wrinkled brows and
hoary heads they haye been &C
customed to see.
They have both rounded up
their three score years aud the
laws of nature demand and the
authorities that rule the South
ern Railway haye decreed that
they give place to younger heads
and stronger arms.
Mr. Swami has been given a
run on a branch line between
Chapel Hill and University and
Mr.. Hicks will rest until the 1st
of January, when he will take d
run on a similar short line be
tween Winston and Mocksville.
"Uncle Jake" as Mr.. Hicks is
Familiarity called by railroad men,
was sitting on a box in front Of a
grocery store in the Northern
end of the city watching the
shifting engines on the A. & N.
G, and Southern Railway yards
yesterday afternoon when THE
ARGUS man approached him and
asked him how he liked the
change that the company had
made.
1T suits me very WE'LL" h.
said. II am now getting old an |
the long runs [ had been making
daily for the last thirty Yeas
was getting to be too much for
NE. OF course [ felt deep regret
at giving up my place because I
had been on the line so long and
felt more at home there
than anywhere else. [ have
been asked by several people if
| could be contented off the road
[ have no desire to ever pull an.
other throttle after leaving my
old run and If | was able to live
without it I would never mount a
cab again"
He said he would be 81 years
old the first day of January and
that he went to work for the
North Carolina Railroad in 1857
During the SO years he had been
at work for that road, he said, he
had never been off the road but
four months, and thai Was some
few years ago when the regula :
tions required that every engin-
eer should read train orders an d
sign his name thereto. AS he
could do neither he had to quit
work aud learn to read and
write. Up to that time he could
only tell the denomination of a
wood check by the color it bore.
He said in all the years he had
hauled the passenger trains he
had meyer put a wheel on the
ground and had never disobeyeo
a train order,
When the Yankees invaded the
town of Burlington Mr.. Hicks
was delegated to guard the COM
pany's valuable property at thai
place and now boasts OF holding
conferences with such men as
|Gen'l Johnson, Gen'l Wade
Hampton and others, as one o.
his fondest recollections.
Mr.. Swami, the other veteran
engineer, is a quiet. unosten,
tatious. unassuming gentleman
lof moderate habits and has fol
the greater part of the time made
regular trips to this city over the
above named road every day fol
the past 35 years. He has al,
ways gone out and come il
iamong US with a gentlemanly