The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-01-07

a. DCSSiuOSI -, lOOJ, IOllOWllS IHelI
attack upon the United States arsenal
at Harpers Ferry, and probably the
most interesting survivor of those ante
bellum days is Patrick Higgins, who
for more than forty years watched the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad bridge at the
Ferry, was on duty at time of the
attack, and, so far as can be learned, is
the only living acquaintance of Browns.
Mr.. Higgins record as a railroad man
antedates the civil war and was begun
on the Baltimore & Ohio way back in
1858, just five months after the railroad
had opened the first trunk line in the
country from Baltimore to Wheeling,
on the Ohio river, and when, as he ex-
pressed it, ''the father of American de-
velopment, the railroad. was an infant. !"
Well may he be termed a railroad man
of the old school, for since starting in
his life's work more than fifty years
ago, he has seen many conditions of
railroading and improved methods of
operation. His first employment with
the B. & O. was as a trackman on the
first division, between Baltimore and
Martinsburg, w. Va, and he was later
made Waterman on the Harpers Ferry
bridge, where he remained throughout
the war.
Mr.. Higgins considers that no one
agency so served to improve railroad
conditions of the early days as the tele-
graph. 1t is rather amusing to listen
to HIM tell of the construction of the
line through Harper's Ferry. ut was
in 1854 that the wires were strung
through here" sad he, land when |
asked the linemen the use to be made Of
the poles they were planting, and they
told me that it was a telegraph, which
would enable officials in their offices at
Bal timore to keep in touch with train
movements out on the road, | really
thought the man was crazy. You see,
before that time train schedules called
for certain meeting places along the
line, and if upon the arrival of the
train the one going in the opposite d.
rection had not made its appearance the
rules required the first train to wait an
hour and allow five minutes for posi-
BILE variation of watches before proceed
ing.
And in those days., continued Mr.
Higgins, ''fOr a man to be a railroad
man meant that',he could endure count
less hardships. There We're no cabooses
and other present day accommodation
for crews, our pay was much less and
there was no overtime then such as is
allowed the trainmen of today. Why, l
remember well making a trip from
Martinsburg to Baltimore, when was
out on the road twenty-five and three
quarter hours, and received for my
days work SITS. The cars in those
days were of smaller capacity than our
present ones, and on each train was
carried house car, in which were the
extra lamps. You see the roadbed was
not as smooth as our wentieth century
seventy-mile- an hour right-of-way, and
the jolting of the train would extinguish
the lights and markers"
Owing to his varied railroad duties
Mr.. Higgins was closely identified with
the thrilling events of the wartime his
tory of this quaint little mountain town,
and though at present retired from ac-
tive duty, he is as hale and hearty as a
young man of one-third his years, his
memory is as retentive as a schoolboy's
and he delights in reminiscing of by
gone days, when John Brown and his
abolitionist followers were MEETING out
breaks of violence among the negroes
of the vicinity.
Eyes, | knew John Brown very well'
said Mr.. Higgins when recently refer
ring to the event that will forever
brand Harper's Ferry as the spark that
enkindled the greatest confiagration of
modern times, .."'but it will be getting
considerably ahead of my story to refer
to him as John Brown About the
middle of March. 1858, man giving his
name as John Smith-Captain John
Smith-came to Harper's Ferry and
procured boarding accommodations over
at Sandy Hook. | was at the time en-
ployed as Waterman on the old wood
en- bridge at the Ferry, and roarded
also in Sandy Hook, few doors from
Captain Smith Naturally | got to
see good bit of the Captain and he
told me he was prospector who had
come to Harper's Ferry in hope of dis
covering some valuable minerals in the
surrounding mountains. He used to
carry pick with him and would fire.
quently take long strols, and remem-
Der on two occasions that he showed me
manganese that he claimed to have
obtained here and also some silver.
which he likewise said he found in the
vicinity.
"Of course, we people of the locality