Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-12-18

u the general manager Is created and
Thos. Mason is appointed to the posi-.
non It is stated that Mr.. Mckircn-
er viii elurn u his farm in Kansas,
naslns reureu permanently from the
railroad business. Tae change has
i0ng BEEN animated ailu expected by
the oficials of the read. 1t is stated
that nj ialIiiis hsalth Of Vice-Pfes-
ldent II. N. NIcAersun mas caused .l.in
10 secure q lessening OF ii uut.ss. and
that Mr.. McKircher has been threat
ening 10 resign Tor some months on
the same account. D. F. Butcher has
been appointed superintendent Of
transportation and will fulfill in a
measure the duties which Mr.. Styner
tllea. as general superintendent. He
is well known here. having formerly
been employed by the road in this city
and Chihuahua.
G. E. Pollock, the popular. conductor
on the Z. P. & N. +. railway, Is re.
ceiying congratulations from his many
friends today on his reinstatement to
Office. after a suspension Of about
ninety days. says the FL Paso News.
Conductor Pollock will take his first
regular train out tonight and the event
will be a sort Of an ovation for him
all along the line. His reinstatement
places all the old conductors on the
force again. Conductor Pollock was
suspended for allowing his train to
come into the city twelve minutes
ahead Of time. The affair was an acct
dent. caused by a mistake In his watch.
The railroad men today expressed
great satisfaction at the action Of the
road in re-instating Conductor Pol
lock.
Shop improvements: The Needles
Eye perdicts that, with the coming OF
the year 1904 numerous improvements
will be made to the Santa Fe shops
and roundhouse. The old roundhouse
will be remodelled to the same style
as the new. with the exception that
several Of the new stalls will be Of ex-
ira length to accommodate the new
engines which are expected to arrive
soon. Additional machine tools will
be placed, most important of which
will be a wheel lathe. When the new
machinery is installed 1t Is expected
that much Of the work which Is now
heing done for this division at Albu-
qnerque and San Bernardino, will be
done at the Needles shops. thus saving
the unnecessary transportation f
deaihead equipment.
Nv 0iiocts ou IdF Us GdI DC
learned. engine Ill. which was re
ported to have blown up on the San
ia Fe line, near Needles, the other day.
killing three men. failed to fulfill her
contract with sensational newspaper
writer's, and Is still hooking her ianges
the rails as Of yore, while the
is still taking nourishment. The
story OF the supposed explosion seems
to have originated among the wheels
Of some wildeyed reporters. The or
iginal report was that ar engine had
gone to pieces, with one life lost. but
as the light waned 1t grew to the e
tent that the machine was completely
and that three men we're
blown to atoms, and that there was
nothing left but smoke. The dispatch
er's Office wired to Barstow, the south
ern California division point. but the
answer came that no such catast-
rophe had been reported. AT midnight
a similar reply was received from the
desert town, which would seem to
indicate that "the pipe had gone out"
There vas also a report current that
the alleged explosion vas due to in
ferior repair work, and that two ma
chinists at the San Bernardino shops,
who had worked on the engine when II
was last in for repairs, had been laid
or pending an investigation.
silly canard: President Stillwell OF
the Orient says the stories sent out
his visit to Mexico that the
bonds Of the road were to be guaran-
teed by the Mexican government are
ridiculous. In the first place, says
he, the governments do not guarantee
railroad bonds, and In the second
there is no necessity for II In the
Orient's case. II the road needed any
money II could get It from the
investors, he says. The
Orient Is nov the only railroad doing