Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-12-16
Misesllaaeuus 8eaains.
SOUTHERN RAILWAYS PIONEER.
Friendly Little Sketch of Fine Old Col.
A. B. Andrews.
August Kohn in News and Courier.

| -. .. HnCToWSs
August Kohn in News and Courier.
Columbia, Dec. 9.-Seated in an arm
chair at the Metropolitan club We'd
nesday night was Col. A. B. Andrews
| first vice president of the Southern
| Railway system. Mr.. Sam H. Hard
wick and had little argument about
Col. Andrews first railroad experience
and we went over to Col. Andrews to
have him settle the issue. The point
was decided in favor Of the newspaper
man, and, by way Of explanation, Col
Andrews took from his trouser pocket
two we'll rubbed and shining Mexican
silver dollars. There were two Of them
and they had rubbed against each 9TH
er for long time, for there were per-
haps no companion pieces. These two
Mexican dollars represented the world
ly possessions Of Col. Andrews when
he left the Confederate army, at the
close of the struggle, except two mules
The mules and two unspent Mexican
dollars represented the beginnings OF
| his present accumulations.
But the point is: When did Col. An
| drews begin his railroad service? 1t
was before the war, before 1860, when
as a lad of II he was given charge of
the trains that hauled the stone used
in the construction Of the masonry on
the present Blue Ridge railroad, run
ming from Bolton to Walhalla, via An
derson. Col. Andrews uncle had the
contract to construct the Blue Ridge
railroad-the pioneer road that was to
have pierced the mountains and pro-
vided a through line from the coast to
the west.
The original contract was for the
company to haul the stone to be used
in the construction work, but the de-
liveries were so unsatisfactory that
Col. Andrews, then a mere lad, was put
in charge of the train that hauled the
rock That was his first service as a
superintendent of railroad. Later he
was a real superintendent and he has
gone the entire gamut of railroad SER
vice-active and actual service.
Then came the war and Col. An
drews, as he Is now called-and he Is
real colonel, and not one by postwar
service-entered the First North Car
olina cavalry as a lieutenant He
served in the Hampton cavalry, and
with distinction and courage. He was
H., t6o Of Of
engagements with Wade Hampton, and
the last time he Saw Gen. Hampton
that distinguished chieftain remarked
to him: Andrews, am going to write
something that I hope will give full
credit to your North Carolina men in
my command, for / do not think you
have ever gotten full justice in record
ed history" Unfortunately that prom
ise was unfulfilled, for Gen. Hampton
died about two weeks later.
With his two dollars and mules Col
Andrews went to work. He saw the
destruction that had been wrought and
it occurred to him that there would
be money and service in rebuilding
bridges-railroad bridges. He borrow
ed money and got the job Of recon-
structing the bridges on the old Raj
eigh and CASTOR railroad. He re-
mained with the Raleigh and CASTOR
railroad for ten years, during which
time he was it's superintendent.
Then he went with what was for
merly the Richmond and Danville
road; perhaps his devotion to this sys-
tenn is accentuated by the fact that
Col. Andrews wife Is the daughter Of
Col. Johnson, who was the first presi-
dent Of the Charlotte and Augusta
railroad. Thirty-five years ago Col.
Andrews entered the service Of the
nucleus of the present great Southern
Railway system. 1t has been largely
due to his constructive genius, his ca
pacity for work and his knowledge Of
men that the weakling roads here and
there have been brought together until
today the system aggregates over 5000
miles. When Samuel Spencer and his
predecessors were gathering In weak
roads, pulling them out of bankrupt
courts and whipping the lines into
shape Col. Andrews was his right-hand
and his safety check. Col. Andrews
then as now was first vice president Of
the system. He kept increasingly at
work to make the Southern Railway a
great system and he as persistently
kept in the background. When Mr..
Spencer was killed he showed the
same keen spirit Of cooperation to-
wards younger man, President w.
w. Finley, recognizing in him man
of abundant ability and energy.
Col. Andrews was severely wounded
in the war. Several years ago the
physicians told him his boilers would
not stand full pressure" but it is even
now difficult to keep him from doing
too much work.
OF course he is interested in the
pending merger" litigation, for 1t was
he and Col. B. L. Abney who handled
the transaction by which the Southern
Railway took the properties 'out of the
wet" and undertook to develop them,
and thereby the state. At that time
Col Andrews went over the entire
system and saw what was ahead, and
is abundantly satisfied with his proph-
ecy that South Carolina had not then
seen the dawn of the great industrial
future that was ahead.
A PUBLIC LOAN SHOP.
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