, 1901-06-14
HOTEL CLERKS RISE
HOW WILLIAM II. NEWMAN CAME
TO BE PRESIDENT OF GREAT
RAILROAD SYSTEM.
Went from Position of Hotel clerk at
Salary of Ten Dollars a Week and
Climbed Step BY Step Until Now
He Draws Same Salary as Presi-
dent of the United States.

position of clerk in the United States
hotel, Louisville, t%hirty-one years ago,
at $40 a week, to the presidency of the
great New York Central railroad, at
:. salary of $4,000 a year, is the career
Of William Fl. Newman. Newman came
70 Louisville the year he came of age,
which was in 1869.
If luck has anything to do with his
success it came in evidence only in
connection with his departure from the
freight agent of the Southern Pacific
road at Shreveport, La. This rOad had
been purchased severa years before
that time by II. b. Hall. John S. Long,
Thomas Coleman, and several other
Louisville capitalists, among whom
was William Garvin, senior member of
Garvin, Bell & Co, wholesale dry
goods merchants, who met death in the
collision between the river steamers
United States and America. plying be-
tween Cincinnati and Louisville, on
the night of Dec. 4, 1868.
The luck manifested itself in this
way: Colonel Hall had been made
president of the road. He felt proud
of the honor, but bemoaned the noCes-
sity of removing to a strange country.
away from the friends that surround
ed him in Louisville.
Ur,r,, n,I ,r, l.,,,, ,I,.. ,r;,I So. -
said he to Long, Il must have some
Kentucky company or I'll get lone
some"
81 wish | could" said Long" but
what could l do down there? Why
don't you take young Newman"
That's a good idea remarked
Colonel Hall, IAN it reminds me that
he told me last night he would like to
go with me, but | paid no attention to
his remark at the time. He's a bright
fellow, however, and believe I'll take
him.
Only a few years previous to New
mans arrival in Shreveport the civil
q Ia pN'h louShl. buoIl'SS III
Shreveport was carried on i%ndolently.
Goods consigned to merchants, pass
ing through Newman's hands as
freight agent, We're taken away in
wheelbarrows, hand carts, and OK
teams, and in any primitive fashion
possible. The transfer industry of the
ritv had itc ipraptipp in n muln and
wagon which was purchased by the
enterprising Newman, and put into
commission as a public dray. Instant
popularity crowned the enterprise. and
pretty soon Newman bought another
mule and dray. Progressive stages of
business brought three more mules
and drays, and the freight agent add
ed to his salary of $75 a month an even
larger amount through drayage
charges. According to the belief of
the drivers, he made money hand ever
fist.
All this time while Newman's ener-
gy was working overtime, he had not
lost sight of his purpose to become a
great railway man, and he made his
next important step by securing the
position of general freight agent of
the Dad after it was extended to
John S. Long. When the line was
merged into the Texas Pacific in 1872,
Newman retained his position under
the new management, at the heaI of
which was Thomas H.. Scott as presi-
dent. Edgar Thompson, first president
Of the Pennsylvania road; John Nc
Manus, w. II. Waters, and other men
prominent in the early schemes of the
Pennsylvania railway system, com
bined with Hall, Scott, II Long, and
Long and other Louisville ]stockhold-
ers of the old South Pacific, to extend
the road from Fort Worth TO Dallas,
but the panic of 1873 retarded the
work for the time being. When the
road commenced to grow again New
IA was still there as general freight
agent, growing with it. In the quarter
of a century since hal time Newman
has held various positions OF trust
and magnitude with the Missouri Pa
ciiic, the Chicago anG Northwestern,
the Lake Shore line, and others. Two
years ago Mr. Long met hin in the
Waldorf-Astoria.
well, how are you getting along?"
said he to Newman.
Pretty WELL" said the latter, mod
estly, as if it was an everyday matter.
81 had a conversation with Vanderbilt
yesterday and he offered me the presi-
dency of the Lake Shore"
well, that's about as high as you
can get in the railroad world, isn't it,"
laughingly remarked Long.
Perhaps" said Newman.
Which may have meant that he was
then thinking of the New York Cen
trail.