The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-12-15
WOMEN ON RAILROADS
IN THE SOUTHWEST MANY HAVE BE.
COME INVALUABLE employees.


Romantic Career Of the Only Woman
Trainmaster in the World.
Sometimes railroad companies de-
part from all rules and traditions and
make innovations that. to say the
least are rather startling" said an
old Kansas City railroad man In
conversation with a reporter.
"Its only few years since the
Southern Pacific saw the sudden col
lapse Of what seemed "A very prom's-
ing experiment. yet now it has an
other and IN this case. too, the re-
suits so far are very satisfactory
''Ten or dozen years ago old
Charlie Croker as he was familiarly
called by almost every employe Of the
Southern Pacific. as a reward for a
particularly daring and meritorious
act. prevailed on the directorate Of
The Southern Pacific to educate
young girl She had lived almost all
her life in the mountains Of New
Mexico. with almost no associates ex-
cept her father, an engineer, and his
fireman. She was a railroad girl
from top to toe. and her knowledge
Of railroad craft enabled her to avert
what would have been a most fright
full wreck. Her reward was an edu-
cation such as few girls in her station
IN life ever obtain. Everything one
Of the finest educational Institutions
in the West could do was done for her,
ana at the conclusion Of the college
term she was. at her own request,
given a post graduate course In me-
chancal engineering. Her schooling
finished, she was given a position in
the Office Of the superintendent Of mo-
tive power at a nice salary. which
was looked upon by the men in the
office as kind Of pension. 1t was
supposed that she would. in Office par
lance, hold the chair and that her
time would be occupied by purely
technical duties. but the young wom-
an soon proved she was worth more
than her salary. One day, within a
year of her graduation. she submitted
plans and specifcat tions for n new type
OF engine There were a number Of
new ideas in the plans and some de-
cided Improvements. and It was just
the thing the company had been look
ing for. Some of the best mountain
/ passenger engines the Southern Pa
cihc ever had were built from that
set Of plans.
1T was Il rude shock TO the mascu-
line element in that office that the
girl should carry off the honors they
thought were safely their own. and
then they fell to wondering what this
phenomenal girl would do next She
did what they all do If the right man
comes along. One day a big official of
an Eastern railroad came through the
office No one ever knew how it hap
pened, but the bright light of the mo-
tive power staff swapped mechanics
for matrimony. An experiment with
the new woman was closed. and the
FIRST lady mechanic was transformed
into what she is to-day-a very happy
wife.
mot until little over two years ago
dld the staid old management take
another plunge into officially unknown
waters. Then what Spanish treach-
cry raised the cry, Remember the
Maine and all the patriotic instincts
of the sons Of Uncle Sam We're at
boiling point, o. Il. Pease, the train
master at ella Bend, n. NJ, jumped
out and put his name on the muster
roll Of the First Territory Cavalry.
Before he left he wired his resigna-
tion and turned the Office over to his
wife. who, for years before her mar
riage, had been a telegraph operator
on the line. All her married life she
had been doing more or less of the
clerical work of the office. ella Bend
is little place in the middle Of 4
long division, lonesome as only a coal
and water station in the Great Ameri-
can Desert can be. and it was almost
impossible to keep clerk there for
any length of time. In the interval
between the departure of one clerk
and the arrival Of his su,eessor. Mrs.
I Pease learned all the details Of the
office work. aud, on the departure of
her husband, it was a very handy
knowledge.
Just at that time the road was
rushed to its utmost capacity by the
enormous government business it was
handing, and every employe was
working overtime. Mrs. Pease wired
repeatedly that the Office was with
out a head. but no attention was paid
to the communications and meantime
she handled the Office like a veteran
One day the superintendent Of the di-
vision dropped into ella Bend. The
acting trainmaster' was having an
audience with a big engineer who had
earelessly run through an open switch
He sat, a grnning watcher, while the
dainty little woman made the engine
man squirm with her scathing com
ment on his neglect, and when she
told the big fellow lie could take a
thirty days vacation to improve bis
eyesight the superintendent was evi
IDENTIFY satisfied that the A. T. NJ. was
onto her job Before he left he told
her that the general manager was SC
well satisfied with her conduct of af
fairs that he had authorized her per.
manent appointment TO the office.
1T was over a year after her ap
] Is.4. t.,4. I A.