El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-07-20
Rich Locomotive Engineers.

Because man happens to be born
with millions at his command, itdOes not
of a necessity follow that he is useless
memb .r of society and that he would
starve should he lose his money. A
millionaire, as a rule, is an emlnently
practical man, who has to have his
wits about him to retain his millions.
He must know every detail of his
various enterprises, and smust know
them better tina do the men be en-
ploys. Take railroad presidents, most
| of whom are millionaires, as examples.
They must know the minutest mocha
nical detail of their roads, and though
| they may be dressed in the best and
| though they may drive to their offices
| behind fancy trOtters. yet they must
| know as much of the mechanism of
| locomotive as does any engineer in
| their employ.
That they are capable of doing this
they have proven on a number of
occasions, much to the astOnlShment OF
| the UNI informed.
Take DR.. Seward Webb as an in
stance. On recent occasion, and
while arrayed in a full dress suit, he
| took the lever of the engine which was
drawing him and some friends and
proved to their satisfaction that he
knew as much about a locomotive as
did one of the engineers OF his road {,
the New York Central. His friend
| Chauncey M. Depew, is another who
knows ali about the mechanical details
| of a railroad. but is too busy a man to
personally inspect his road.
| Frank Thompson, the presid Mt of
the Pennsylvania road, multi-mil-
lionaire, is another. There are few
engineers employed by him who knows
| as much about the construction of an
engine as he does. He is a practical
| Cyiv n
proof of this.
John Jacob Aston is still another
rich man who is one of the best loco
motive engineers in the country. On
one occasion he was on board of train
which was delayed for several hours
through breakage of a part OF the
engine. The engineer was unable to
repair the damage with the limited
tools at his command, but Mr.. Aston
was equal to the emergency. He crept
on his hands and knees under the
locomotive and, after an hours hard
| work, managed to straighten GU!
things to such an extent that the train
could proceed.
| George J. Gould knows every part OF
a locomotive, and has a number Of
times taken the engineers place and
run the train on schedule time. His
father compelled him to take a course
mented by q practical one in a machine
shop.
Hetty Green s son, Edward H. Green
the preside emit of the Texas Midland, is
another skillful engireer, aud despite
his wealthy mother, takes pride in this
knowledge.
Perhaps the most practical of all is
Charles E. Pratt, the vice president Of
the Long Island and II of the Stand.
ard Oil millions ire. In order to be-
come thoroughly acquainted with the
business, he entered the machine shops
as cOmmOn laborer at a laborer's
wages. and slowly worked his way up
| ward until he at aimed the position OF
engineer. In consequence he is able
to tell his employees just what to do and
how to do it, auu eau run an engine
| with the best of them.
Among the titled persons ges who are
masters in this respsc ct is Emperor
| Wi liam, who is said TO be an exp ri
me chanical engineer and locomotive
driver of considerable ability.-N. Y.
| Journal,