The Washington herald., 1907-06-09

Of "reminiscences, and then they Learned
that they had been conductor aG1 mes
senger boy in Ohio at the same time.
Eckert's Work Well known.
Eckert's civil war work made him very
well known throughout the land. and
won for him the military rank of major.
with brevet brigadier generals commits
sion. He was entirely out Of the tele-
graph business when the war broke out,
being president Of a company organized
for the purpose Of mining gold in North
Carolina
He is now eighty-two. chairman Of the
Western Union board. and was long its
president He learned telegraphy soon
after Morse's invention was found % he
practicable. but worked at the harness
making trade before he worked at the
key. In 1919. when the telegraph was
/ first taken To Wooster. Ohio he had Just
| been made postmaster there. Operators
were scarce, and as Eckert had learned
10 handle the wire he was asked TO take
/ charge Of the instrument.
He was willing. but could not well leave
/ the post-Office. so the wire was led into
| it, and post-offlce and telegraph Office
/ were combined. He soon became an eX-
I pert operator. a rare thing in those days.
/ which gave him great fame, and his pro-
motion in telegraphy was rapid.
| His North Carolina gold mining expert
| ences We're disastrous; they ate up all
/ the money he had saved. leaving him
| peuniIess. and. 10 make matters worse,
| he was arrested by the COnfederates on
! a charge Of treason 10 the South. II
! looked very black for him at one time
but he managed to get away. hurried
/ North. and entered the military telegraph
service Of the United States government
| at once. He was with the Western In.
| ion for a while after the civil war, but
/ Joined the Gould forces when the Amer
/ lean Union was formed. and helped Gould
IN his fight for the Western Union.
Maj. r. T. ClOwry. now president, {;
also a practical telegrapher, ard was il
| charge Of the military telegraph in tht
| Southwest.
Like Father, Like son.
J. ". Thomas. president Of the Nash
vile. Chattanooga and ST. Louis. learned
the telegraph when a boy, as did hi,
father before him. In the case Of eacl
the knowledge Of telegraphy, however
has been simply part Of his all-rounC
railroad education. But while the fathei
learned his Morse solely as a means O
making a living. his railroad career be
ing q matter Of evolution, the sons tele
graphic training was planned by thf
father as one course in a well-rounded
practical life training
When the present J. W. Thomas was
boy he was wiry and red-headed, and al
full Of ginger as red-headed boys some
times are. His father saw TO 1t that h
got through the ward and high schools
all right, and then. in his mid-teens Sc
him at work learning 10 be an operator
The boy understood that he was to z
into the railroad service and didn't kick
Whether he figured on being at the hea'
Of the line eventually or not is question
able. but anyway he buckled IN, ant
worked while at work with as much Win
and vigor as he played when at play
As soon as he got TO be a good operator
able 20 hold his own in a room full o
trained men. he was taken off the wir
and set TO work braking on a freigh
train. Then he handled brake wheels o.
passenger trains for a while, no eas.
Job in the days before the air brake
regular Understanding. hand-callouslnI
sort OF Job.
Climbed Steadily Upward.
Then, in turn. though I don't know tn
exact sequence, he was station agent. 10
Comotive fireman, engineer. section hand
section boss. yard man. yard master
freight handler. freight Office clerk. cit
ticket Office clerk, clerk in the traffic de
partment; in fact he mastered the de
tails Of every practlca, department an
then was made a division superintend
ent.
He didn't do all these things in q hur
ry; he didn't slide through. but master
| ed each department thoroughly takin