Crittenden record=press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1907-1909, 1907-04-25

10 the stockholders? Not so. II be
longs to men like Mr.. McWilliams
who own IL when they need IL At
other times they let the stockholders
carry it-untl they want II again.
Wen do what we can, Peter" re-
piled the president, desperately anna.
bic. "Goodby."
| am giving you only an inkling Of
how il started. not word as TO how
countless orders were issued and
countless schedules were cancelled. not
a paragraph about numberless trains
abandoned In toto and numberless 9th
ers pulled and hauled and held and
annulled. The McWilliams Special In a
twinkle tore a great system into great
splinters.
1t set master mechanics by the ears
aud made reckless falsifiers OF previ-
ously conservative trainmen. IL made
undylng enemies of rival superintend-
ents and incipient paretics OF jolly
train dlspatchers. II shivered us from
end TO end and stem TO stern, but il
covered 1O26 miles OF the best steel ia
the world in rather better than twenty
/ hours and a blaze OF glory.
my word is out" said the president
In his message 10 all superintendent
/ thirty minutes later. You viii get
/ your division schedule in few mo
! ments. Send no reasons for Inability
/ TO make II. Simply deliver the goods
/ With your time report, which comes 10y
/ by VI. $, want the name and rec
ord OF every member OF every train
crew and every engine crew that hauls
| the McWilliams car" Then followed
/ particular injunctions OF secrecy.
Above ALL the newspapers must not
/ get IT,
/ But where newspapers are secrecy
/ can only be hoped for. never attained
/ In spite Of the most elaborate precJu-
/ tons TO preserve Peter McWilliams'
/ secret would YOU believe it?-the even.
/ ing papers had half a column, pract
cally the whole thing OF course they
/ had 10 guess lt some OF Il, but for %
newspaper story II was pretty correct
/ Just the same. They had 10 "A minute
/ the time OF the start from Chicago ard
limited broadly that the schedule was
a hair raiser. something 10 make pr"
vious very fast records previous very
slow records And-here In 5000.
was the secret-the train was 10 con
vey prominent Chicago capitalist o.
the bedside OF his dying son. Philu
McWilliams. I'm Denver Further. thu.
hourly bulletins were being wired t1
the distressed father and that every
effort Of science would be put forth Cd
keep the unhappy boy alive until DIS
father could reach Denver on the s,c
I cial Lastly. a. was hoped by an tIe
evening papers TO MI ont the half first
4 column scare, that sunrise would see
the anxious parent well on toward the
gateway Of the Rockies
or course the morning papers from
the Atlantic 20 the Pacific had the
story repeated scare headed. in fact
and the public were laughing az orr
peoples dogged refusal 70 confirm the
report or TO be- interviewed at an on
the subject. The papers had the story
anyway. What did they care for our
efforts 10 screen a private distress
which insisted on so paralyzing q time
card for 1926 miles?
When our own. the west end Of the
schedule came over the wires there
was a universal. vociferous. kick
Dispatchers. superintendent Of motive
power. train master. everybody. pro
tested We were given about seven
hours 10 cover 400 mileS-the fastest
percentage. by the way. on the whole
run
This may be grief for young No
the chief dispatcher that evening as
he cribbed the press dispatches going
over the wires about the special "hut
the grief is not theirs alone
Then he made protest 10 Chicago
What the answer was none but him.
self ever knew. II came personal and
ne took il personally. but the manner
IN which he went 10 work clearing
track and making n card for the Nc
Williams Special showed better speed
than the train itself ever attempted,
ana he kicked no more.
but they never got ready TO leave Chi
cagO till ( o'clock. and when the Nc
Williams Special lit into our train sys-
tenn it was like dropping a mountain
ion into a bunch OF steers.
Freights and extras. local passenger
trains even. were used 10 being side.
tracked, but when ii came TO laying
cut the hiers and Il whisper this the
White Mail and the Manila express the
iii began 20 sizzle in the journal boxes.
The freight business. the passenger
traffic, the mail schedules OF "a whole
railway system were actually knock
ed by the McWilliams Special into
cooked hat
From the minute il cleared Western
avenue it was the only thing talked
d. Divisional headquarters and car
| link shanties alike were bursting with
excitement.
or the West End we had all night u
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