The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-27
Every Wheel on Santa Fe Will
Stop September 3.
Fer 5 Minutes Saturday After
noon Business Will Cease.
PRESIDENT TO PORTER
Letters to Mrs. Hurley From All
Ranks in Railway Work.
Big Eastern President Sends Re.
grets Also a COl0red Porter.

| 6ACOC AACO a OV4VA OU. A-VA tOls
| Every employee of the vast Santa
Fe railroad system. extending more
than 5000 miles across this country,
will bow his head in reverence and
grief at o'clock Saturday afternoon.
September 3. For five minutes these
thousands and hundreds of thousands
of heads will be bowed and the mem
cries of the late James E. Hurley, gem
eral manager, will be freshened for the
last time while his body is on earth.
| Not only will the employees of the
Santa Fe respect the funeral hour of
the loved general manager. but every
train, every locomotive. every wheel
and every movement of any kind on
| the big railway system will stop. Quiet
ness will reign on the Santa Fe.
Three O'Clock. Saturday afternoon,
September 8, has been set officially for
this act of respect on the road. But it
will be o'clock for hundreds and
thousands of afternoons before the
memory of this man is lost on the
Santa Fe.
In addition to this general order
over the lines of the Santa .Fe. it has
been decided that at every division
point on the system. the offices of the
road shall be cropped with black and
white. At this time every division
point and practically every station
tells the story to the travellers of the
grief which has extended over every
mile of the company's lines. Every
Santa Fe flag has been at half mast
since the news of the death of Mr..
Hurley was flashed over the cables.
After the services at the church
the Masons will take charge of the
body. This matter has been placed
in charge of Sloan lodge No. 225 of
Topeka, the lodge that Mr.. Hurley be-
longed to fifteen years before his
death.
One of the prettiest features of the
many letters of regret which have come
by the scores to Mrs. Hurley, wife of
the late general manager, came to light
the other day when there came in the
same mail letter from one of the big
railroad presidents in the east and a
letter from a colored porter who work.
ed at one time on Mr.. Hurley's private
car while he was working his way up
in the west
The wide range between the charac-
ters of the authors of these letters, the
sincere regret and love that was shown
in each and the theme which revealed
the personality of Mr.. Hurley in his
dealings with every man, is shown in
such correspondence. To think that a
letter should be received from the pres
ident of big eastern railroad, a man
who is known all over the railroad
woodland another from a colored por-
ter who worked with Mr.. Hurley when
he was superintendent of the Mexico
division Of the Santa Fe with head
quarters at Las Vegas, is a secret of
Mr.. Hurley's character revealed.
The letter from J. M. Barr, president
of the Norfolk & Western railroad with
headquarters at Norfolk, Va, read as
follows:
Norfolk, Va, August %, 1910.
Mr.. Dear Mrs. Hurley:-I am greatly
shocked by the sudden death OF your
husband in Germany and beg to ex
press my sympathy with you in your
great bereavement.
Mr.. Hurley was associated with me
while L was in the service of the Santa
Fe. His untiring work, forcefulness,
manlinesS, and personal loyalty drew
me to him and commanded my hearty
regard. His successful career should
be an enccurag cement to every boy who
has way to make in this country and
a cause of pride to you.
Should be able to serve you in any
manner at any time 1 trust you will
call upon me. 1 beg to remain, sincere
ly yours, J. NJ. BARR.
The letter from William H. Brown,
the colore6 porter. read as follows:
Yankton, S. D., Aug. 10. 191O:-Mrs.
James F. Hurley, Topeka, Kan: My
Dear Mrs. Hurley want to tell you
of the regret with which l read in the
evening PAPER OIL aug uSt L Ol the SUD-
den death CT Mr.. Hurley. 1 know what
it means to you and the children and
wish to EXP: ess my sincerest sympathy
in the hour Of your bereavement.
shall always remember Mr.. Hurley as
the best friend 1 ever had and 1 real
ize that the friendship, which meant
so much to me, was only the out-crop-
ping of his good life of which I saw
so much in your home and on the car
during the years 1 was with him.
Sincerely your old servant
WILLIAM H. BROWN.
Every man along the lines of the
Santa Fe who knew Mr. Hurley-and
most of them did-tells a story of his
democracy, his dealings with the sec
ton hand in the same manner that he
dealt with the officials of the road.
But the above letters tell story unso-
licited-a story of a man who saw in
every other man the good and the joy
of living.
The Southern Iowa Normal school,
field, Ia, where Mr.. Hurley attended
school thirty-five years ago, had the
following letter to write to Mrs. Hur-
ley:
Bloomfield, Ia. Aug. 16. 1s1o.-Mrs.
James E. Hurley, East Las Vegas, N.
M: Kind Lady-As the institution of
Mr.. Hurley's earliest attendance, al
low US on behalf of the officers and
faculty of this school. to express our
deepest sympathy to you in the death
of Mr.. Hurley, notice of which comes
to US in the press dispatches.
The institution has always felt a
pride in Mr.. Hurley's work and sue
cess and begs you to accept our ex-
preston of coincidence.
Yours most cordially.
H. c. BROWN,
J. H HUSSEY.