The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-24
"OLD BY GUY."
The Oldest and Most Conscientious . Conductor on the Old HOusatOnic
(Canaan NeWs.l


 A thousand anecdotes might be re- who. ,at the time of his death, some ten years ago, was, in years of actual
 service, the oldest employe of the old Housatonic railroad, the present Berk- shire division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford system, and for years was known as the "Old Relf- able'' of the whole division.
 He went into railroading in the early part of 1850, on the Housatonic, when railroading was virtually in its infancy, and not only" witnessed the
 development of the science of rail- roading, but took part in it, and was a part of that development. He re- called the days of his early exper- fence as conductor of a freight train when the locomotives-the wood-burn- CTS, with balloon stocks as large as the boilers-were of primitive design, weighing from thirteen to twenty tons, and put to their severest test when required to haul six loaded cars, with which they frequently got stuck on heavy grades and short curves. MT. Emmons was an earnest pro- fessing Christian, from boyhood, and consistently religious and scrupulous- ly upright all his life. It was prac- tically impossible to make him lose his temper, even under the most ex-
 
 the fact that his most vehement swear-word was "by guy!" he came to be familiarly and affectionately known, all along the line, by the nick name, "Old By Guy"
 He was famous for the fervency of his supplications. in prayer meetings, and almost invariably raised his voice
 as his prayer proceeded until, when it
 had arrived at it's highest pitch, he would stop abruptly, and the Amen" was uttered almost in whisper. Although invariably and at all times prudent and careful in the handling of his trains, and taking no unneces-
 sary chances, Conductor Emmons was astonishingly expert in every detail of freight railroading, and could swing himself on board a swiftly moving car with the utmost dexterity. He
 never required his brakemen to take any chances that he would not take himself Many time his engineer, in a spirit of mischief, attempted to run away from him, on the morning start. when the train stayed over night in Canaan. MT. Emmons would appear at the Main street crossing at the proper time for starting, carrying burden of extra paraphernalia- sometimes consisting of pair of rub Der boots, overcoat, dinner pail, extra glazed cap, etc.; give the starting sig nal and wait for the caboose( in those days called the "buggy'O to come along. The engineer would throw her wide open and by the time the bug gy got to where the conductor stood the train would be under almost full headway. But it never left him. He invariably swung aboard apparently without an effort-rubber boots, din- ner pail. overcoat. cap and all excess baggage.
 After many years as freight con- I 0pc cyix O Y,oc senger train, where he proved equally
 reliable and no less conscientious. It was related of him that on a certain trip when he had an unusually crowd ed through excursion train, he went through the cars two or three times to make sure he had missed none of the tickets, and finally, to make as-
 surance doubly sure, stood up in the
 forward end of the most crowded car
 and exclairned: "If there is anybody in this car who hasn't given me his ticket, won't you please hold up your | h