Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-29
FOR RAILROAD MEN
Noted Tower Man Of. Boston Shows a
Clear Stretch Of Track.
AND IDEAS OF ]. o. PAGAN

/
Out aud Some Remedies sag
neutrality-suspicious. that
Are Neglected.
: From a railroad switch tower TO the post
" lecturer at Harvard university. r. the
\ stest climb to fame q James o. FaEan
q Cambridge. Mass. the alert and
thoughtful signalmah OF the Boston &
Maine railroad. Mr.. Pagan is a man Of
few words when on duty. but his work
was appreciated by his employers long be-
fore he achieved national repute through
his Confessions Of a Railroad Signalman.'
first printed in the Atlantic Monthly and
recently produced in book form.
In an extended sketch Of Mr.. Fagan's
career the Boston Herald gives some facts
which will interest the multitudes con-
eernsd in the safety OF railroad travel
Pagan had been going ahead for half a
century. He was born in Inverness. Scot
land and sent by his humble parents to a
school At Manchester. England. There he
won a scholarship through the practice Of
The dominan principles of his life-that OF
going to the rock bottom OF any problem
presented to him. He studied electricity
along with classics. mingling the old and
the new. and absorbing both.
The plnnacie CT the electricians afnbi-
ton in those days was to lay cable. and at
is years Of age Pagan apprenriced himself
20 a cable laying expedition. which took
him to Portugal. to the Canary Islands
and to Rio Janeiro. There he stayed sew
eral years.
Then he caught the gold fever and went
20 South Africa with the vanguard Of
English adventures. He fought the KAT
Sfro - - 4hn hoffla 81 Ms fuha Hill and
did a little gold mining. After that his
restless spirit brought him to America,
and in the spring Of 1881 he went to work
on the Boston & Lowell railway. For
five years he worked nights for the Fitch
burg at East Deerfield. and then he went
20 the signal tower at West Cambridge.
Ten years ago he went into the office OF
the superintendent at the North station,
and for a year and a half was chief clerk
had long ago begun to stow away the
It's Of his observation out on the road,
rnow. in the office. he saw another
important work devolved on him. and
5scame more and more impressed with
magnitude OF the problem he had pro-
ded to himself-what is the matter
the railroads?
work and study.
when the FItchburg overturn came
FnEan. along With all the others in his
office. went out He returned to the tower
and resumed his study from above the
\ level Of the tracks. IL led him to books
on economies and sociology, and he mas
tered question after question.
He used the telegraph key too much and
got telegrapher's cramp. losing the accurate
use Of his right arm. He went to work and
learned both to send messages and TO write
with his left hand. He doesn't speak OF the
difficulty of that achievement, bat he does
say: 1T was pretty hard to hold the job
down while was learning the change"
He began to want to write, but he did
not yet know what 1t was that he wanted
' TO say. So he wrote stories Of adventure
for minor magazines-"only trash" he calls
them. He won several prizes in story COM
petitions. A newspaper found him out and
for a while he did special articles on in
dustrial conditions in mills and went as
special correspondent to the coal fields OF
PenhsylvanIa al the time OF the big strike.
But he always returned to his tower.
Boarding. the Editor.
This man with something TO say walked
into the book-lined office OF the Atlantic
The people who sit in that peaceful sane
Monthly in Park street about a year ago.
tum. overlooking the burying ground. and
ponder weighty manuscript day after day
glanced up and saw a rough-bearded man,
about 80 years old. entering with a loose,
quick step full OF life His hair was iron
gray, his face thin. his hands noticeably
large and knotted. He wore a low collar
that revealed a strong neck. and his neal
clothing was that of the first-class work
man.
He said he saw an article in the maya
zine. He wanted TO talk about it. So ne
sat down squarely on the edge of a chsiI
and they listened TO him. Then his eyes
z began to flash under their heavy brows
' his hands swung in gestures like his sema-
phores. He had been reading an article
about the success OF railroad presidents ir
dealing with employees. and he bad some
thing to say on the subject He had th'
greatest respect for railroad officials. bu
ha thought there was something the matte
With their handling of railroad men.
Il want 10 tell you the cost of harmon,
1 on a railroad" he said
Y No FriIIs ON Him.
He told them he was a signalman in
tower out in Cambridge. had been Their
twenty-five years. and knew what he wa
about. When Pagan gets TO talking. ~
rips off short sentences full OF power AM
picturesque phrases He only wants 20
to listen. and. n you don't understand. tel
him and he'll say II over again. he can
things by their first names; he fairi!
bristies with practical Illustrations There
a little of the Scotch in his speech. bu
tinetured with pure Bostonese. II was cas-
enough 20 see that he was no crank, an
the Atlantic people told him to go HON
and write an article for them So he wrot
his series. a series that brought fort
editorial praise all over the country. an
made railroad men. from president TO cross
ing tender. alternatively curse and lau
him.
His style was clear and concentrated. an
the folks who thought the articles Wer
rewritten in the office OF the msgazin
guessed wrong. They were the direct ex
preston Of a man with an idea. VIII
couldn't help speaking right out in meet
Ing.
President Eliot has = nose for news ]
lid not take him long. after readin
Fagan's series in the Atlantic Monthly. I
arrange an Interview With the signal ma