Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-27
Messenger Boys
Who Became
FinancierS
A ND now comes another chapter in


~ the wonderful romance Of The
Poor Young Man in America. A
dispatch from Denver says that
J. P. Hall Of the Santa Fe railway sys-
tenn is organizing an association to be
composed exclusively of men who we're
once messenger boys.
Among them are Andrew Carnegie,
Sir william c. Van Horne. president Of
the Canadian Pacific railroad; Marvin
Hughitt president of the Chicago and
Northwestern; w. A. Gardner, general
manager of the Chicago and North
western Colonel Robert c. Clowry,
president Of the Western Union Tele-
graph company; T. p. Cook, general
superintendent of the Western Union
in Chicago; Albert ]. Earling, presi-
dent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and
st. Paul; Henry r. Williams, general
manager of the Chicago, Milwaukee
and st. Paul; w. C. Brown. vice presi-
dent OF the New York Central and
Lake Shore railroad; Benjamin L.
Winchell, president of the Rock Island
system; j. p. Hall of the Santa Fe;
Belvedere Brooks, general superinten-
dent Of the Western Union, and w. G.
Black, the Colorado superintendent of
the Postal Telegraph-C Cable company.
Not long ago these men, now ranking
among the great ones of the Industrial
world, were at the bottom of the lad
der-a dollar a day would have
seemed a veritable bonanza to the best
of them. Every western village has
just such boys hanging around the
"depot," awaiting a chance to carry
messages for the operator and sta
tion agent.
In those early days Of railroading,
when the war fever swept the country
of its men, the railroads were only too
glad to get intelligent boys to assist
the overworked employe in his duties
as station and freight agent, express
agent, baggage master and generally
telegraph operator, which, with fire.
quent soldier trains carrying recruits to
the armies of Grant, kept the agent on
duty night and day.
He seldom slept at home and his
few snatches of sleep were taken on a
bunk in a corner of the telegraph
Office, where he kept one ear open, for
he was likely to be called dozen times
through the night. Soldier trains might
be expected at any moment, which
meant that the agent had to get out
on the platform, give the conductor his
orders and report the train to the
dispatcher at headquarters.
The country boy, whose happiest
hour was when the train came in,
dreamed of locomotives and fast ex-
presses, and in his eyes the biggest
man in the world was the wizard who
jumped at the chance to carry mes
sages, help copy them and when wait
ing" practice at the key and hope and
pray some day to become an operator
himself
Everything about railroading and
telegraphing was absorbed through
the pores, and before the boy became
Is he could read by sound the most diff
ficult messages, name every train and
the number of the locomotive on the
road, and call all the brakemen. con-
ductors, engineers and firemen by their
first names. 1t was the supreme ambi-
tion of all such boys to become opera
tors. And the road to it began by be-
ing messenger. 1t was far and away
above his earlier dreams of firing on
locomotive or being a brakeman on
the express, shouting the stations and
swinging a shining lantern almost as
bright as the conductors who had his
name engraved in wreath on the
respondent glass.
What man in those wonderful days
gave second thought to the barefooted
boy shining around town with mes
sages from the telegraph office? Lit
tie Jimmie was a favorite with the
railroad men, but the big merchants
who sold calico, plug tobacco, Ken
tucky whisky and watermelons little |
dreamed that the kid would ever rise
high enough to become a first class
clerk behind the calico counter.
Now of the Mlghtiest
But today the youngsters are men
among the mightiest-captains of in
dustry, as they are caled-and they
dine with royalty and the newspapers
tell the world of their growing mil
lions.
The story begins with Carnegie,
when he was a small boy with tow
hair, bright eyes and a confident, earn
est manner. His ambition was to
rise and educate himself. He had
worked long hours at the bobbins in
the mills and had been promoted to
run the engine at twenty cents a day,
bu. without an increase of salary
Considering that he had knowledge
of arithmetic and wrote a good hand
he determined to better himself For
tt.., l.,