The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-18
JAMES d. REID

| face appeared in the hotel rotunda "a
half hundred hands were extended IN
greeting. "Old Crit was the way the
boys addressed him. and the. old gentle
man evidently was pleased with the title.
His attire was quite unique. we'll
worn overeoat, frayed and badly torn,
| covering his bent form while his feet
were encased in patent leather shoes.
A SLOUGH hat of ancient pattern covered
his head Mr.. Crittenden, who is a vet
eran and a member of the military corps,
has attended every convention since the
birth or the organization and the dele
gates accorded him a reception becoming
his station He is fifty-eight years of
age, and forty-one of these have been
spent in the employ of the Western
Union Telegraph company at Chicago
He is still with the company. and the
delegates say can send and receive with
the best Of them lie began with the
Erie and Michigan at Marshall Mich
which was later absorbed by the West
ern Union. Four years he served in the
Civil war, and on being mustered out
was given employment by the Western
Union
The New York and Boston delegations
arrived yesterday morning and were at
once escorted to the Ryan by Messrs.
Hope and futile.
JAMES D. REID.
In the New York party was that Mes
tor of all telegrapners, James Douglas
Reid, who at eighty-two years of age
IS still enthusiastic enough TO undertake
& journey half way across the continent
to be present at a reunion of ''old boys, y
most of whom had not seen the light of
day when he was a full-fledged superin-
tendent.
Mr.. Reid is designated by his col-
leagues as ''the father of the telegraph
| and the title is no misnomer. He was
appointed superintendent of the Atlantic
and Ohio telegraph line in 1S45, and af-
ter this system had been demonstrated
to be feasible, other lines We're construct
ed, and of these Mr.. Reid was also put
in charge. He was along in 1913 superin-
tendent of five lines at enc time.
Andrew Carnegie and Robert Pitcairn
the two well-known miIlionaires, were
| messenger boys under Mr.. Reid. and he
taught them both how TO operate and
subsequently was the means of obtaining
for them positions which led to their
future success.
Until 1889, Mr. Reid was continuously
identified with many of the largest rail-
way and telegraph companies, and in
that year he resigned his position on the
executive of the Western Union Tele-
graph company to become United States
consul at Dunfermline. Scotland. An
drew Carnegie's birthplace. Appointed
by Harrison, Mr.. Reid held his consular
position through Cleveland administra-
tiop until the election of Mckinley, when
he returned to the United States.
He has now retired from active parti-
cipation in any business, and has set
tied down to spend his old age in New
York, where fifty of the busiest years
of his life have been spent.
Mr.. Reid. in spite of his advanced
age, is vigorous and alert. There is no
stoop in his tall frame and he can still
enjoy a game of gelf with the best Of
them. He is an excellent conversational
list and appreciates joke as we'll as any
| man forty years his junior. He will take
a prominent part in the convention, ana
to him the large key. typical of the
freedom of the city, will be presented
John B. Hurd Is another distinguished
member Of the New York party He
| is the inventor of an automatic annun-
ciator known to the craft as the ..Hurd
| iigger,' without which every office in
New York would have to suspend opera
! lions.
]. B. Tartavall, editor of the Telegraph