The Washington times., 1901-06-30
THE RAILROAD Pooh BAH.
Finnigan, the Section Boss, and
Some Tricks of His Trade.
Supreme Contempt for the General
Managerial Mammoth Exaggerntor
But an indispensable EmpIOye.
: You have heard
rd this little rhyme:
on agin,
On agih
Gone agin.
Finnigan.

Finuigan-
After ride of 135 miles in Finnigan's
private car, with an empty nail keg turn
ed upside down for a seat, I am satisfied
that Finnigan and the men who work
under him are a pretty good set of fell
lows Finnigan, be it understood, is the
section boss, and great man he is, too.
The section hands have the utmost con-
tempt for the general manager. He is a
silk-stockinged dude who couldn't pull
hand-car a mile to save his life. The
general superintendent isn't much better.
and the superintendent is a sort of an
evil that must be put up with. The road
master stands well, but the king of them
all is Finnigan. the section boss The men
stand in awe of him. and what the boss
says Is law, regardless of what anyone
else may say about il. And Finnigani
His domain is about seven miles of track,
though where there are yards the section
is smaller and his subjects number from
three to ten men. The work TO be done
decides the number of men in section.
The popular idea is that all section men
and Finnigan are Irish. AS a rule this
is so, but there are exceptions to the rule,
for on the Decatur section 1 met Louis
and August Gendvookonwitz. and they
are as good In their business as anyone.
You can frame up all the smooth men
in politics and throw in a few bull con"
men for good measure. and they will all
have to take off their hats to Finnigan.
He is one of the best all around exagger-
iators-not a mean, malicious one, nor
scandalizer-he just exaggerates in his
business. and he does it with face that
would make an angel sob. He will hide
r{al in, ba cd
der the tool house and swear he used it in
the track-not for any pecuniary gain to
himself, but to make good si,o-sing
without much expense One section boss
built sidetrack. and as far as his report
showed he did not use tie. He had pur-
1oined a lot from another section and this
kept down his own expenses. He will
tell the greatest stories of the work he
has done and will always kick because he
has the hardest section on the road. On
this trip 1 met forty-odd Finnigans and
everyone told me in confidence that he
had the worst section and the poorest
handcar on the pike.
Some of the Finnigans are pretty well
educated, and one 1 met could quote
Shakespeare by the yard. I found only
one musical Finnigan. He had one song,
something about soldier with a wooden
leg who always had tobaecky in his old
tobaccky box" and he sang this song to
every tune, from "Old Hundred to rag
time. 1t is not often that the section
man gets much higher On some lines
he may become roadmaster, but he sell
dom gets above a section boss. Still
there are exceptions to this rule as well
as to others. Vice President Hanrahan.
of the Illinois Central, was section
C,,fIE
of the same company, began railroading
with shovel. and there are others who
have gone up from the section, but they
are not many.
Finnigan is born "knocker," and he
does it in season and out of season. But
most of his knocking" is against the
other Finnigans. for be it known that the
height OF Finnigans ambition is to put
up a better track than any other Finni-
gan, and he does not hesitate TO point out
the bad work of the other fellow in
order to help himself along. He is a
most artistic swearer also, and his paths
are as long as his pick handle and as
sharp as the pick itself Finnigan, on
the average, leads happy life. He works
hard accumulates a nice little home and
an interesting family. and when his boy
is old enough he puts him on the section
and instructs him so that in time he may
become a Finnigan himself.
The genuine F'innigan can be picked
out anywhere. He has an indescribable
something about him that makes his oc-
cupation known. He can mount his hand
car as a circus rider leaps Cd his horse.
He has peculiar knack in pumping. as
he calls it-"pulling" a handcar-that
keeps him from getting broken back
watched Finnigan and three of his men
pull handcar for eight miles. and when
the end of the section was reached they
were as frolicsome as could be- An ordi-
nary man could not have stood the work
half an hour.
The amount of responsibility that rests
on Finnigan is hardly appreciated by the
general public. because the general pub
lie seldom meets Finnigan in his official
capacity: and besides, F1nnigan is too
wise to talk to anyone he does not know.
He stands for the very foundation of rail-