The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-02-27
A WEALTHY ENGINE DRIVER
Young Cornelius Vanderbilt a
successful Railroad Man and
Inventor

Young Cornelius Vanderbilt a
Successful Railroad Man aud
Inventor
Among the young railroad men
mere Is no one more talked about than
Cornelius Vanderbilt. He has been
successful in his chosen profession,
mat rl railroad engineer, and there arc
some people who consider this remark.
able, simply because he does not have
to be Il railroad engineer unless he
wishes to. His father did not leave
nm as much money as he did his
brother, and III the settlement of the cs
tate he received only 81 900 900. With
.hls lrill.nG sum as start, however,
ne mas done very well.
III has been only seven Yeas s.nco
ne graduated from Yale, but III tn, Sc
seven years he has managed TO do 4
number OF things. He has worked in
the railway shops and learned all about
lhc making OF an engine. lie has
patented number OF inventions of
great importance in the railway busi-
ness. lie has become il national
guardsman and dabblcd in politics a
hlllc. He has become a public Official,
beng now member Of the municipni
civil service board. Efforts have been
made TO induce him to run for Office
but he IS very lcvcl-hcadcd young
man.
Ills best known invention is a patent
lire box for the economical working of
locomotives, which has been success
fully tried on nine Of the principal
railroads and which bids fair to come
into general use. He also invented Il
tank car that has macy points of SUI.
pcriorty over the old style car. The dc
mand for tank cars is greater than
ever before known and this promises
to be very valuable pat nj.
Ever since he came out of college he
has been very busy and hard work
my young man. He is striving hard to
prove that a silver spoon in boys
mouth does not necessarily press up
ward SO as to affect tho blain Tie is
convinced, evidently, that the only
way to have Il name worth having is to
make it for yourself.
y great deal has been said and
printed about this young man, but he
is nota notOrlcty seeker He is Just
as modest as any other man Of his age
in his own business, and his
friends say that the attention
he receives in certain ways annoys him
greatly.
Not long ago he gave Il supper to
some of those in ms militia company.
a great deal was printed Of the fact
that one of his guests was Il man who
drives a cab. At this supper he said
to one of his fricnCs: | am having
a splendid time tonight, but what wor-
RIGS me is the fact that the papers arc
going to have a write up Of it.
wish they wouldn't. | wish they
would let me bc.' The Iapcrs had
their write up' all right, but they
did not get any of their information
from the host.
MIR. Vanderbilt is modest and docs
not like TO talk about himself, lie has
no press agent and does not under
stand why The fact that he gets down
to his desk at the New York Central
Office in time each morning and attends
to his business during the day should
interest the public any more than the
same fact concerning any other en-
plOyc OF the road.
Besides being an inventor, Mr..
Vanderbilt is also something of Il
writer on mechanical sub ccts, and
has read several papers before scicn-
tilic bodies. He has addressed the
American Society of Mccha1 ical En-
ginccrs and lccturcd at the Sheffield
Scientific school at Yale. The ad,
dresses have attracted a great deal of
attention.
/" Mon y has not been able to keep
him from amounting to something, )"
was what was recently said OF nm, by
Il wcl-known railroad man, who add
cd: "Thc odd thing about this is that
every one seems to think this is very
remarkable"
1t is not probable that Mr.. Wander
bilt when working in the shops and
porinG over plans for boilers, wastes
any time in contemplating the fac;
that he Is setting an example for other
young men OF great wealth, but al the
same time the public attention he has
attracted has been largely on account
of the fact that he presents such IL
strong contrast to most youn" men sit
uatcd as he is situated. --Ncm York
Commercial.