The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-24
PRESIDENT AND GOLD HANK"
And the Grumpy Engineer Got the
Best of the Strenuous Executive.

Chicago ecoTd-HeraIdO
No one was able TO tell why there had
T Deen q cell for a meeting OF the General
! Managers association of Chicago There
was no docket, no business and no labor
/ scare. Accordingly the men who operate
/ me railroads centering in Chicago locked
the doors and began swapping stories
You have been out with President
Roosevelt recently" suggested St Paul
man to a Burlington official. land it's
up TO you to tell ms some of your expert
/ ences."
The fewer experiences you have when
you're out with Roosevelt the longer YOU
will enjoy a good nervous system. -
grumbled the man from the o.
,Pretty strenuous? suggested another.
Strenuous is not the word Some
bright genius ought to coin a new,
stronger and more strenuous Anglo Saxon
word for transforming with Roosevelt on
a special train
Thought YOU didn't have any nerves.
You hadn't developed any when you were
dispatching trains on the b. & NJ. di-
"Ah. but this is different. - said the Bur
iington man. reflectiVely. @Nhen you are
dispatching trains YOU only have to see
that hundred different flying things
don't get together and kill people But
when running a special train with Roose-
Veh you have got 20 send the supreme
head Of the nation along at pace that
makes big town look Ike a long-ttm-
Dled-down beard shanty as YOU pass
through II. The responsibility is awful.
and YOU get to thinking that maybe 4
riyet in a fishplate has broken or a sem
aphOre has been misplaced"
Likes to ride fast does hep
Fast isn't the exact term. You ought
10 nave cuss word in front of it. Why
we took him from Mendoza to Ottumwa
minetY-seven miles. in seventy minutes. a
pace which makes the fast mail look like
a milk train"
How did he like it?'
Like IL When h passed Mendoza and
/ had given the showdown ocH he asked
ne when We were going 10 give him that
fast ride we had promised
While the general laugh was subsi6iug
the Burlington man added: t'And then.
Just TO make US all feel good he told rs
OF q rea! fast run he had enjoyed on the
road Of one Of our hated rivals"
Is II true that the president likes to
meet engineers?' asked the newly ap-
pointed general manager.
Wen, ] should say go, and that is
where we had the Joke on the president
and got even for the fast run business
On that same trip we stopped AT little
watering station out on the plains of Ne
hr&ska, and the president told Howard
Elliott then second vice president of the
Burlington. that he would like to meet
the engineer We had the schedule KEYED
up TO a point where seconds were too
valuable 10 waste, but Mr.. Elliott al
lowed he could waste a few for the sake
OF pleasing the president SO We hastii,,
made uD an escort. swung off the plat
form OF the special and started for tho
forward end. President Roosevelt led the
way simply because no one could go fast
enough to keen up with him. AS / re-
member. 1t was old Hank Evans who
had the run. Hank could pull out a
throttle bar until he had a string of cars
swinging behind him like the tail of a
kite in gale. and never feel a thrill.
he didn't have an ounce of sentiment in
his big frame
Not much ike the president in that
respect" declared u member of the asso-
citation.
Mop and remember that as Hank
stood there filling the drive wheel Guns
from his Dig oil can he looked the picture
OF stoicism- II would have stopped me.
but not the president. When the presi-
dent caught sight of Hank he never
waited to know his name. He Just sailed
mp 10 him with his glad hand ont
stretched his face lighted up and his
every move denoting intense enthusiasm. \
Elliott tried to catch ND TO do the hon /
1rs, but was distanccd before he got fair :
" started"
president coming?''
Gave him a cTusty look and went
right on filling the oil cups. Before the (,
president had reached him he began talk I
l m President Roosevelt he said /
And / want TO know YOU and / want (
YOU to know me OF course, YOU know .
am one Of YOU now ] have the honor
% be a member of the Brotherhood of /
locomotive Engineers
Hanks oil can kept right on doing
business, while Hank freed himself of I
'-hat had been the half of a 10-cent cut .
u plug.
You may be member Of the Broth
'rhood Of Locomotive Engineers. Mr..
resident replied Hank in an off-hand.
way, but I'm not
g The situation was something trying in
is intensity for a moment but the pres
dent relieved it by bursting into a
Hearty laugh.
fou are such splendid engineer that
'ou ought 10 become one OF US rirhf
way, declared the president.