Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-04-21
OLDEST LIVING
 ENGINE DRIVER.

Edward Entwistle, who was the en-
 zine driver on the first passenger train in England, is resident of Des
 Moines, Ia. The old mechanic, hale and hearty, is just entering his 90th year, and he looks back over a long vista of progress and invention and tells with wonderful enthusiasm how
 George Stephenson, whom he knew, es- l abolished his great invention as a prac-
 tical possibility.
 I was born in Tillsley Banks. near
 Manchester, England, March 24, 1S15,' said Mir Entwistle, during q recent conversation with representative of Success. At 14 years of age I was apprenticed to the Duke of Bridge water, in his machine shops at Man chester, and was immediately set to work on locomotive.
 Locomotives had been in use for
 about four years, hauling coal from the Duke of Newcastle's collieries in the north of England to the seaboard.
 They had not yet been employed in passenger traffic however, although such use was in contemplation.
 George Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive, had no early educa- tion. At the age of 20 he did not even know the alphabet. but was an ap- prentice i'll the machine shops of the Duke Of Newcastle. At that time he attracted his employers attention by his remarkable inventive genius, and the duke obliged him to limit his work ing hours to eight. so that he might
 put four or five hours each day into study
 s'The Duke of Newcastle was large ly interested in the construction of
 road between Manchester and Liver pool. and Stephenson then about 4o years of age. built for its service the famous Rocket
 stephenson was construction boss on the new railroad. It was q stu pendous undertaking. and the stock holders were annoyed because of the delay in finishing it. For fifteen miles i it crossed q bog called Chatmoss, where the turf had to be removed sometimes to a depth of twenty feet and it's place filled with clay and ] gravel
 sWhen the day approached for the. completion of the road. George Ste phenson asked James Ashcraft. fore man of the Duke of Bridgewater's shops. for a man to run the Rocket Ashcraft replied that he had no man. that he could recommend But he said. as he pointed to me, if you can
 get leave to take that lad, I'll warrant hiln.' He saw the duke. and brought from him a written permit for me to run the, engine, which he read to me in the shop.
 ''It was on Saturday, about the middle of September. 1881. when these arrangements were completed. and the time for the formal opening of the road
 was set for the following Monday.
 Sunday morning Stephenson called me to the shop. and we took out the engine for a trial rum Hitched to car of gravel, We ran down the track about fifteen miles in fifteen minutes, and then back to Manchester. When Monday morning came, i George Stephenson and I ran the | Rocket down to Liverpool to bring bacl. the first passenger train on it's trial trip. Great expectations and in terest prevailed among the people
 Crowds stood at the dock to watch the train depart and lined the track along the entire route of thirty-one miles. i.
 Two fat cars, upon which had been
 mounted four ordinary stage coaches, constituted. the train, and they were
 crowded with people. Stockholders of the road and men of note among the nobility of England were the principal passengers.
 Ut was about 10 o'clock i'll the morn ing when we started, amid the shouts
 and cheers of the spectators. The run
 was made ill about forty-five minutes with only one stop. 1t was during this stop. at a place called Grand Junction. that the only sad incident of the trip occurred. The Duke of Huskinson, one
 of the principal stockholders of the road saw the Duke of Wellington, the
 hero of Waterloo, i'll another coHch
 ana the two alighted to shake hands They stood on the tracks and did not
 notice a gravel train approaching until the crowd shouted to them. turned in time to see the two men jump. The
 Duke of. Wellington escaped, but Illus .kinson fell under the wheels, and both
 his legs were severed. He was taken
 back to Liverpool by the gravel train crew. but died in ten hours.
 .sI continued as engineer on that f; ain fo.. twenty three months, until became so nervous that I asked George