The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-20
THE BREAKING OF
ANSON PETTlGREW.
BY Francis Lynde.

case of premedltated dislike Tor Supt |
,rabv's successor; and before Petit
,..av got his Office chair well warmed
.,a men on the western division were
,.ipe for revolt.
There were reasons, such as they
,,-ere. For one, Pettigrew was young
man and college graduate; for an
other. he had succeeded old man Greby,
whose bark was ferocious, whose bite
was never worse than a sharp nip,
and who was rather proud of his as
cent from his beginnings as a section
boss. Lastly, Pettigrew. was some
thing of a martinez in the matter of
discipline; and discipline as he defined
if had hitherto been an unknown guam
tity on the western division.
Il tell you, boys. I'm giving him just
about six months to stay out here for
his health" said Abe Griscom, at the
roundhouse caucus of engineers con-
Nened to "cuss and discuss" the new
superintendent. why, they tell me
at back in that Boston college where
he got his brand he used to wear a
eownd, like woman"
AN they do be telling me he doesn't
and a 'mogul,'" put in Lafferty.
."Twas on'y yesterday the engine des-
hatcher seq to 'um, Misther Petit
grew SEE he, thin engines av the 800
class do be too light for thrain swim
teen sez he. viii be sindin' out the
comeback? SEE he. 'Phats the cam
ilback?' seq this new dickie by. Sure
tits the new Baldwin, SEE M 'Murtrie,
%, the Consolidation, We mane,' SEE the
boss"
A laugh greeted this fresh proof of
the new superintendent unsophisti-
cation; and the gibe at college grad
yates in general, and at Mr.. Arson
Pettigrew in particular, went the round
of the caucus.
But big John Mccartney, the en-
gineer of the Fast Mail, put in a word
for tolerance when he got up and
stretched himself preparatory to the
daily inspection of the huge mail
flyer"
Don't you fellows be too swift about
making up your minds,'' he said. LAS
you say, Abe, it takes a whole man to
run this division, but 1 amt so blessed
sure we havn't got one. Hold your
breath a little while till you see what
he's made of.
"Aw, go on! He's tailor-made,
that's what he is growled BLACK
jack Mccain. the runner of the
overland express. Mccain was the
head and front of the critical opposi-
ton; and when he added that he would
bet a months pay that time would
prove all things derogatory to Mr.. An
son Pettigrew. there were no takers.
In the meantime the new superin-
tendent was having a rather uncom-
Portable experience in the chair-warm-
ing process. 1t is a standing accusa-
ton against the newly-appointed Of
fetal in the railway service that he
always brings an eXecutioner's ak, well
sharpened and thirsty for heads. But
there are two sides to that shield: or
rather the shield itself is bounded by
an endless circle of cause and effect.
With the fear of the ak to unsettle
them, the employees lose their esprit du
corps; the loss finds expression in reck-
lessness, the recklessness in disaster
and then the AK come in play
Pettigrew knew all this beforehand,
and he had determined to keep the ak
well in the background. But trouble
met him at the office threshold Super
intendent Greby had taken his chief
clerk with him, and a new office chief
had to be installed at once. Pettigrew
made the mistake-the generous mis-
take--Of promoting the man next in
line, with the result that every other
man in the office became the unwilling
underling of one who had but now
been a fellow underling.
From Pettigrew's own office as an
epidemic center, the disaffection spread
like the measles: first to the train dis
patchers, then to the trainmen and the
shops, and everything the new super
intendent did was given an unfriendly
twist
When he suggested mildly to Hard
up" Walker that the engineer of a
crack passenger train looked more in
keeping with his job in clean overalls
and jumper than in greasy frock-
coat and a -brimmed Derby
hat two sizes too large, a howl of
"Despotism!" went up from one end Of
the division to the other.
When he insisted, also mildly but
firmly, that speed recorders in freight
cabooses We're made for use and were
not to be adjusted with a coupling pin
when the conductor wanted to do a
little wild" running, they called him
a tyrant: and when he discharged
Adam Larkin for smashing his recor-
der, there was open talk of a strike.
AS matter of course, such a state
of affairs soon made itself felt in a
lack of efficiency at all points. Dis
patcher Lohengrin went to sleep in the
middle of his trick one night and let
two freights find each other on Jack
Mountain. His successor, a man who
as it turned out. had forged his letters
of recommendation, lost his head and
let the Fast Mail telescope a stock
train between stations, killing Macart-
neys fireman and the conductor of the
freight
After this a very demon of disaster
ran amuck on the Western Division,
and the right of way was bestrewn
with smashed cars and ditched engines.
Pettigrew set his teeth and held on
like a man: but he knew it was only
question of time when the frightful
record would break him-when the gem
eral manager would intimate that a
change of physicians was sometimes
the only hope for a sick patient, or a
sick division
Il seem to have struck bit of pam
ammonium out here-a remnant of chaos
and old night" he wrote, in letter to
the friend of his youth. 1--WE read in
the Book that he devil is to be loosed
at the end of some certain millennium;
ne S loosed here now. The business of
tnls Office has come to be the making
OF the daily report of smashes.
can't begin to account for all the
disastrous confusion. I have practi-
cally the same set of men that my
predecessor had: and as for my own
part, II / don't know my trade, l ought
TO- And yet the most unheard OF
lnlngS are continually happening. Last