The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-08-13

vice. in the United States Is Capt.
"Billv" Smith. VINO for more than
90 wears has had the run on the
Southern road between Columbia anu
Greenville. On his sleeve are ten
chevrons, each stripe representing live
years honorable service.
tECapt. Billy" as he is afectionate-
" called by the railroad employees and
by thousands Of passengers who have
come to know him in travelling over
the road, is approaching 80 years Of
age. yet no detail Of conductors 5
duty escapes him. In his long SER
vice he has especially endeared him
self to the lady passengers who travel
over his line. The old gentleman al
ways makes it his business to see per-
sonally to the comfort and conven-
ience Of the passengers, and no one
who has ever ridden with him has
been carried past station by mistake.
On his train there is no indistln-
gu;shable yell that nobody under
stands except the yeller thereof.
When Capt. Billy goes through the
train every passenger knows what the
next station is, and at functions he
is particularly careful to make the
train connections known. This IS one
reason Why ladies like to ride on his
train. They dom make any mistakes.
Capt. Smith is one Of the first men
to run on the Southern road. He mas
had the one run, from Columbia to
Greenville, for more than half Gen.
turv. His "reminiscences Of old-tlme
railroading are extremely interesting
and entertaining. He was running
train before the war and he tells OF
incidents that occurred before Sc
cession was declared. On one occasion,
the dav before South Carolina seced-
ed. he was standing on Main street
in Columbia, and there was a great
crowd in front Of the Nicholson hotel,
calling for Senator Chestnut. The war
fever ran high, and Senator Chestnut
was one Of the leaders who famed 1t.
The senator appeared on the balcony
and made a speech in which he de-
elard that South Carolina would Sc
eede from the Union; that the South
was right and its cause would pre-
vail. 'sThe Northern people" ne
said. "are too busy making money to
90 to war; if an army is raised It Will
be an army of the rabble and the
sluus. They will not fight. One regl-
ment Of South Carolina soldiers can
whip a ten acre lot full of them.
can drink all the blood that will be
shed in the war with the North. 10
in. bows. and win the fame and the
glorv.'' That is the way Capt. Billy
tells it.
He saws he was standing on the
street near where the skyscraper now
is and heard the speech. Capt. Bill!
was not in favor Of the war, and SAID
to himself, :'You know not what you
saw" But Capt. Billy was an intense
Southern partisan, just the same, and
is today a good deal of an "unre-
constructed REBEL The other day
when he carried the militia on ms
train he could not reconcile himself
to the sight of soldiers from the South
carving that flag that halt GEN.
tnrv AGO was carried in the van OF
the forces that laid waste his State
Capt. Billy told 2ow, when the
Southern soldiers returned after the
war. the women at the various sta
tions along the road from here to
Greenville >pared tables filed with
things good to eat, and dressed the
soldiers wounds. The veteran 5 way
of telling about these things IS inter-
esting in the extreme.
He told of one soldier who had 8
children and an invalid vile. he nao
come home on a furlough to see his
family. and had done some work to
get them provisions. and he knew to
90 back to the army meant starva-
ion for them. He overstayed his time,
and the provost came after him and
compelled him to return with them
shackled. When the train they we're
on reached Columbia this man IN des-
. peration, manacled as he was, got
possession Of his knife and slashed
ooen his abdomen and tore out his en-
trails BY handfulS. He was Abandoned
for dead. but doctor put the vital
parts back, sewed up the wound, and
the man got we'll. Capt. Billy SAID