West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-06-28

er. a quiet. somber little woman in
I shawl and bonnet OF no special
shape or slzc-just shawl and a bon
net. that's all. Anyhow. the Duffy
boys mother was that way. ANA there's
n lot more like her don't know what
gets the fathers. Maybe very often
the scrap. But there's almost always
somewhere mother. SO after Martin
began 10 make rccosJlf u help his
mother and his brother both lie spoke
for Bob. Callahan didn't hesitate or
jolly him, rs he used % 10 with good
many. lie thought the company could
not have too many or the Duffy kind.
So he said, "Ycs. sure" And Bob
Duffy was put at work-same thing ex-
actly, carrying messages, reading hair
destroyers and blowing his snlary OH
pie
But pie acts queer. Sometimes Il
makes mans head solid AMI his heart
big. and again It makes mans head
big and his heart solid. I'm not say
Ing anything more now. except that
pie certainly acts different
Bob Duffy was taller than Martin
and. / would repeat. handsomcr. but
can't. because Martin had absolutely
no basis OF beauty 10 start with. He
was parchmentllke and pallsh from
sitting night after night and night after
night over n sounder. Never sick day
In his life. but always over the sounder
until, sleeping or waking. resting or
working. the current purred and pur-
red through his great little head like
familiarity-taking old tomcat He could
guess more off n wire than most men
could catch after the whole thing had
tumbled in
SO mp and up ladder he went. Mes
senger. operator-up 20 assistant dis
patcher. up 10 n regular trick dispatch
er, up 10 the orders and signing the
u. NJ. O." the letters that stood for
our superintendent's name and honor;
up TO the trains and their movements.
up to the lives, then chief. with the
honor OF the division all clutched I'm
Martin Duffy's three quick right I'm
gers on the key and his three quick
left fingers on the pen at the same in
slant scratching orders across the clip.
Talk about ambidexterltyl Martin
didn't know what IL would be like TO
use one hand at time. If Martin
Duffy said right, trains went right: IL
be said wrong. trains went wrong. But
Martin never said the wrong; he said
only the right. Giddings knows; he
copied for him long enough. Giddings
and plenty more OF them can tell all
about Martin Duffy.
Bob didn't rise I'm the service quite so
fQGf Martin To o.,
having n good time. lie did more OF
the social act, and that pleased his
mother. who on account OF her bonnet
and-shawl complexion didn't achieve
much that way. Martin, too, was
proud of his brother aud as soon as
Bob could handle wlre-which was
very soon, for he learned things In no
time-Martin got Callahan to put him
up at Grant as operator Bob got the
place because he was Martins brother:
nothing else He held Il about two
months; then he resigned md went to
San Francisco. He was a restless fellow.
1t was Bob up and Bob down. For a
year he wandered around out there.
telegraphing; then he bobbed up again
I'm Medicine Bend out OF n Job. He
"AhNth " ~ w NOIhs unu-MtlIs 1ul-
lahan - Martins brother, you know
sent him up to Montalr as night oper-
ator. Three months he worked steady
as clock; then one night the dispatch.
ers at the Bend couldn't get Montalr
for two hours. IL laid out No. @ and a
special with the general manager and
made no end Of row.
Martin said right off he ought to 20.
but there was the little mother up
home, silent, expect but pieadlng-like.
II was left largely TO Martin, for the
young fellow was already chief, and
that was the trouble lie hated TO bear
down too hard. so be compromised by
asking his superintendent not TO hre
Bob, but to set him back They sent
him up "a night man to Rat River. the
meanest place on the whole system.
That was the summer OF the TempIara'
conchve at San Francisco.
We worked the whole spring getting
things up along the line from Omaha 10
the Slerras for that cOnclave. Engines
were overhauled. rolling stock touched
mp, roadbed put In shape, everything
shaken from end TO end Not only wero
the passenger records 10 be smashed.
but beyond that lot Of our big gen
eral officers were way up Masons and
meant That our line should get not
merely the cream OF the business. but
the cream Of the advertising out OF the
thing The general tenor Of the IN
structlons was TO nickel plate every
thing from the catalpas 70 tho target
rods For three months before the con
clnve date we were busy getting ready
for H. and when the big day drew near
ON which we were TO un lertake tho
moving and feeding OF OOOO people ono
way on one track through the noun
iains the cartlnks smoked crosscut and
the Russian section men began TO oil
their hair.
Callahan was superintendent under
Bucks. then general manager. and Mar
I'm Duffy chief dispatcher. Nelglbor SUI
erlntcndent Of motive power and Dou.
Lleday division mnster mechanic. and
with everything buttonod up on the
West End we went TINT Sunday morn.
ng on the firing line to take the first OF
tho Templar spcciaL