The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-03
WEIGH TO GO TO WESTERN
Railroad Men are Expecting
 Changes in Management.
General Manager Scott of the Georgia Spoken of as Possible Successor to Wickersham-other News
 of the Railroads.

washington to the effect that Samuel Spencer. President of the Southern Rail- road. would resign. Continuing the rumor had 1t that W. W. Finley, now Second Vice President of the road. would take up the executive reins laid down by Mir. Spencer and that Frank z. Cannon, Third Vice President and General Manager. would succeed MT. Finley as Second Vice President. Then the main interest of the story locally came in the state ment that Charles A, Wickersham, President and General Manager of the Atlanta and West Point and Western of Alabama. would succeed Mir. Cannon as Third Vice President and General
 Manager of the Southern.
 None of the Western or Southern peo-
 pie in Montgomery seem to know any
 thing at all about the story, though they
 all admit that there is something in the
 wi1d and that something important is
 going on in Southern Railroad circles.
 When George Smith resigned as Pfesi- dent of the Western two years ago, Mir.
 Wickersham was brought from the Su-
 perintendent of the Alabama Great Southern division of the Southern at Bir- mingham and made President of the
 Western to succeed MT. Smith.
 that MT Weich, Superintendent of the
 South and North division of the Louis-
 vile and Nashville at Birmingham re- signed. Shortly after that The Nash
 vile Banner had story to. the effect that Mir. Welch would succeed Mir Wick
 ersham as President and General Mana
 ger of the Western. Mfr. Wickersham go- ing to Washington.
 Now. whether there is any ything in this | story or not can only be determined by the trend of future events. but the ,Wickersham part of the story Is exactly
 uel Spencer. If Mir. Wickersham is sent to Washington it is reasonable to sup posa that he will succeed General Man
 Sser GSnnon of, of the s soathsrn if MT body will undoubtedly have 10 fill the vacancy in the office of General Mana
 ger of the Western, but whether it will be Mir Welch or not of course is prob- lematica' When the annual meeting of the West ern was held in Montgomery some months ago there was a rumor--seem-
 Mfr. wickersham was to resign as Presi- dent and General Manager of the West ern. During the morning of the meeting Mir. Wickersham and President Eagan of
 President Milton H Smith of the l.. and N. and General Manager Thomas K. Scott of tho Georgia Railroad were both
 here, neither of them being on the Board previous the interest of the l.. and N. in the Georgia Road had been turned over to the Atlantic Coast line, Presi-
 dent smith of the l.. and N VI. leaving
 and President Harry Walters of the At lantic Coast line taking his place. Presi- dent Walters of the Coast line and ev- cry director of the Western were present of the fullest ever held in Montgomery. What was done at the meeting of course
 was not given out to the public. but 1t
 was stated afterwards that everything naapQal1a a nnllld hn--a Varf-
 table love feast. in fact-Mr: Wicker
 sham and the entire Board of Directors being reelected. Now, it Is not at all
 improbable that , the real fight was n, made | Mir. Eagan and his side won out-tempo-
 rarilF. Again 1t may mean that the events of that day were casting the
 shadows of this Washington story of a
 few. days ago. Hr. wickershan1 being
 reelected may have meant that the Central people were being temporized | with-and it may mean that Louisville
 head of the Western now, For years and years there has been a kind of fight un- der the surface between the Central and
 L. and N. people over the Western. sev- eral yearB ago this fight being brought
 out into the open. There was no sub
 rosa business then and injunetions flew
 thick and fast, keeping the officers of | tho Montgomery courts pretty busy. In
 some way. however. that outbreak was
 smoothed over and since then everything
 between the two roads has seemed ami
 cable-on tho surface. Tine Central and l.. and N. also had a joint intrest in | holdings of the Georgia road until the l.. and N. unloaded on the Atlantic Coast | line. At different times there have been
 stories to the effect that General Mama
 ger Scott of the Georgia road would be
 put in the office of President of the Vest
 ern. If this had ever been done it would
 look like a Louisville and Nashville vic 1 tory, and if may be possible that MT. Scott instead of Mir. Welch will be Gen.
 eral Manager of the Western.
 For the first time since last Saturday
 night the Western had a through train | from Atlanta yesterday afternoon.
 The train was No. 35 due at 10:5S a | m and it arrived at 3:55 D. m., four | hours and n half late. owing to the l shaky condition of the track, Conductor
 billiard and Engineer McWhorters. with engine B. bringing the train in.
 Two sections of the Louisville and | Nashville train No. 1 were sent out Id
 New Orleans. the first one leaving the | shed on time at l1:15 a. m, and tho sec
 ond getting out at D. m. with the de- l layed Western connection It was the | first time in nearly a week that the trans-continental link of the Western has been open for business. the Eastern mail and passengers for the Southern in Atlanta having been sent around by Bir- mingham and the Georgia Pacific branch of the Southern. The Eastern connection has been coming from Atlanta to Mont gomery over the same route. but now 1t from Atlanta. The morning train due to
 leave for Atlanta was sent out leaving, however an hour late. waiting on the l., and N train from New Orleans. All