Mexico weekly ledger., 1901-05-16
ABOUT TIM BuRx.
An Audrain County Engineer-Farmsr
Who Has Succeeded In Life By
Strict Attention to Business

From the vsndalia Leader.
Every one who lives along the q. &
A. line knows Tim Burk. He was
railroad engineer until recently wher
he took up farming; not actively, how
ever, for Tim would present a sorrI
spectacle at tilling the soil. No mat
ter what his inclination would be ''tt
hold or driye", his weight is against
him, his figure being something like
an inflated balloon upside down. He
can pilot an engine all night and carry
her over the road with as much care
and safety as any one, but plotting a
horse and holding On TO the handles Of
a pillow, is quite another thing. Tim
bad been on the road a long time,
earned good wages, invested 1t
iudiciously and retired ingood circum.
stances. He was well acquainted with
every inch Of the road night or day
and knew In what position TO sit in
his cab at different points along the
road where there might be a curve OF
swerye. So long had he been In the
business that 1t was part Of his nature.
He uses the vocabulary in his ordinary
every day conversation. 1t is said
that he brought a load of produce to
a grocery store in Mexico the other
day and the clerk told him to drive
down the alley TO the side door. He
drove to the mouth Of the alley and
stopped. Calling back to the clerk,
he said, "Did you say to head in
here?" Instead Of using the usual
farm expressions Tim always uses a
form of his own. Instead Of hooking
up or hitching up a team, Tim al
ways says, ''couple up" and measures
distances by car lengths. It is said
he employs an ex brakeman ON his
farm who assists the other hands in
interpreting Tins language.
Tim is devotedly attached to a dol
lar. yet he is not considered misery.
There is very little surplus stock on
his farm. He enjoys making money
but he doesn't run many chances. For
instance, he had a fine blue grass pas
ture and some n asked him why he
did not buy some young stock and his
answer was that he once had a COW
and she died. The inference was that
he would rather rent the pasture and
lend his money, than invest it in
stock and run the chance Of losing it.
When Burk presented his monthly
checks at the bank he always demand
ed gold. He usually got 1t. All the
banks between Slater aud Louisiana
have cashed his checks. When the
Slater bank failed a few years ago he
loser about SO, 0 He has, be-
his farm, valuable property in
Slater and in Indiana.
Most Of the money he lost by the Sla-
ter bank failure wa sgold he had col
Iected FRONT banks along the G. s. A.
line.
Burk left home when a small boy
determined to carve out a fortune.
What he lacked in education was
made up in energy. The first thing
he made up his mind to do was to get
his father and mother a comfortable
home. Then he went to work for him
jelf. His first work In railroading
was done ON the section. He rose TO
viper in an engine house, and then in
-apid strides TO engineer. Burk never
appreciated the fact that he was out
by a conductor. Since he is
master Of the train, responsibility
rests with the conductor and he some
lines finds it necessary to reprimand
IN engineer. "These poor, poverty
stricken college-bred lads" he would
say, with theoretical ideas Of rail-
are placed on trains over an
ingineer. BAH Well, there's this
consolation: They get the rank and
I'D Tim gets the money"
Burk always said that he would
luit railroading before he got killed.
lie wanted to be worth a certain
mount of money before be retired
rom the road. But he didn't do it.
lie worked several years after that.
10 doubt he wanted to make up what
lie lost in the Slater bank failure.
subsequent events proved that Burk
lid not quit the road too soon. The
ngineer who succeeded him was
dlled In q week.