Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-06-07

man but was fired" because it was
discovered that he was not Of age.
Then he drove ''bus' from Strong
City to Cottonwood Falls, Kansas.
Here he met Dug" Chase, then gener-
al superintendent of the Santa Fe Sys-
TEN at Topeka and he asked for job
on the railroad. He secured the posi-
tion of helper at the Santa Fe station
at Arkansas City and from that time
until the present, more than a quar-
ter of century, Mr.. Hurley has been
loyal to the Santa Fe System, giving
it the best that there is in him. By
working after hours and at night and
by steady application and study he
learned teiegraphy and he was appoint
ed operator at Augusta. Then he be-
came relief agent at Las Vegas under
Superintendent Sands. He was adj
vanced to cashier for Fl. p. Nickerson,
then agent at Hutchinson, Kansas, and
later he was called to Topeka, Kansas,
to become chief clerk to Superintend-
ent Sands who had been made general
superintendent with headquarters at
Topeka. The rise was not rapid, it
came only after hard work and strict
ly upon merit Then came advance
ment to trainmaster and assistant su-
perintendent at Marceline, Missouri.
During the Worlds Fair year at Chi
cago, the Santa Fe System needed a
man of wide experience, of reliability,
of energy, a man who was never tired,
to handle the immense traffic that was
concentrated at Chicago during that
year. And it chose James F. Hurley
for that position, making him superin-
tendent of the Chicago division. That
the confidence reposed in the man was
justified was evidenced by the fact
that Mr.. Hurley went through the en-
tire summer without a single wreck.
although the traffic, as one railroad
manager put It was: Terrific" Mr..
Hurley was then given the New Mexi-
co mountain division with headquar-
ters at Las Vegas. Even under ordi-
nary circumstances, the mountain di-
vision is the toughest problem on the
entire system, but Mr.. Hurley was
placed in charge of it during the year
the man proved his caliber. Ration was
the strike center in that memorable
year of 1894 Nearly 500 men went
out on the mountain division and for
almost two weeks it was impossible
to move a train Superintendent Hur
ley had but six men with him, but
with them, all of them fully armed, he
kept up the fight against the strikers
and he carried off the victory in a |
mastery manner 1t earned him the
advancement to be general superin- |
tendent of the coast lines, which was
soon followed by promotion to the SUI
perintendency of the western grand di-
vision with headquarters at La Junta. |
Then he was appointed superintendent
of the eastern grand division and on
May l of this year he became general
manager of the great system, every
mile of which he knows and upon ev-
cry u1NlSlOu VI HC hao WI hCu III
minor and important capacities and
which during the twenty-five years he
has been with it, has grown from a
local line to the greatest railroad sys-
tenn in the world.
Mr.. Hurley is well known at Santa |
Fe. He is not much of talker but he
is a rustler and he has the eye Of an
eagle, when it comes to watching over
the interests of the Santa Fe Railway.
"He is the best railroad man in the
United States today" said Agent H. S.
Lutz, who has worked Loyalty VI Ter
Mr.. Hurley for many years and has
stood with him during strikes and