The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-03-21
Alanson Messer; He Was One Of the Courtly
Gentlemen Who Handled Tickets and Con-
ductor's Punch

tlemen, the dignity Oh q president
OF the road, the heart of child,
those were the reasons why Con-
ductor Messer used to shake hands
the whole length of his train every
rum said a travelling man last week
on learning Of the death of Alanson
Messer, for forty-four years employed
on Minnesota railroads.
Mr.. Messer was a familiar figure
to everyone who rode on Omaha
trains, for his uniform sleeve was
covered nearly to the elbow with
eight gold stripes, each one of which
signitied five years of service. He
was on the first regular train on
that road, and watched many boys
grow up from the round eyed ur-
chins who had watched the pioneer
trains pull laboriously through their
villages until they became frequent
passengers on his train. And through
it all he kept track of them and OF
their people. After the tickets were
taken up an there was a little breath
ing before the next station, he would
stop at the seat arm, shake hands,
aud ask about father, mother, John
and Mary.
Goes to RaiIroadng.
Mr.. MeSser came from New Hamp-
shire to Minnesota in 1865, coming to
St Paul on steamboat Not long
after he arrived the construction of
the old Minnesota Valley railway be-
gan, and he was engineer OH the
first trains.
Old timers in valley towns from ST
Al.
dummy" which for several years
took care of all passenger traffic
on the road. 1t was combination
of engine, coach and baggage car,
and the other day man who grew
up in the valley said his first child's
impression of it was of one strange
animal swallowing another, so queer
did the "dinky" engine look pro.
truding from the body of the coach
Like all engines in those days, it
was wood burner. and Mr. Messer
was engineer, fireman and if mem
DRY serves his passengers right
sometimes conductor, too
Travelling on the old dummy was
an uncertain but enlivening per-
Torrance, as it did not take curves
easily, and frequently would stop,
to be started again only by the Wig
orous use of a pinch-bar in the
hands of the engineer, fireman, con-
ductor and any passengers who
would help. After serving its pur-
pose on the main line, the dummy
was relegated to the branch between
Shakopee and Chaska, and later was
used as an officers car. In 1885
it was stored for time in the round
house at lie Sueur. and its career
came to an untimely end when the
round house there burned down.
ST. James Entertains.
Railroad men of the early days
still tell Of the storm in the fall Of
1880. Mr.. Messer, then conductor on
the ST. Paul and Sioux City, which
was continuation Of the Minnesota
Valley, was in charge Of passenger
train which was stalled in st. James
for three weeks. after the storm
which began October 10. In addition
to the passengers and crew of his
train, crews of two freight trains
were also imprisoned in the little
village, then i'll fitted to care for
such an addition to it's population.
In talking of his kind heartedness,
Que who frequently has ridden on
Mr.. MesSer's train in the last 20
years, tells this story:
81 wasn't more than nine or ten,
think. when my father sent a man
to Belle PLANE with load of cat
tie and earned my first dollar then
by going along to help. That dollar
looked as big as house and lot
to me. | wanted to keep it while.
yet | was mighty anxious to ride
home on the dummy. / had never
ridden on it, and it seemed the prop
Ell climax to the wonderful day. but
it was twelve miles home and in
those days it cost five cents mile to
ride on the cars. Sixty cents would
make an awful hole in that dollar of
mine. | thought and thought. Finally
decided to go home in state on the
cushions, but even after deciding
on it | regretted the necessary ex-
penditure Of more than half my
riches.
Dollar Saved Whole,
well, you know, when I got on
that train and saw the man who
was in charge | felt better. He
smiled down at me, said something
pleasant. and the first thing l knew
] Just told him all about my first
dollar, my first train ride and the
whole story. and when l got off at
our station | still had the dollar, un-
broken, in my pocket"
Men who knew him best say that
the story was an incident common
in his life, that he found it I'M
possible to resist the pleading OF
any one in trouble, and that only
his more than ordinary business abil-
ity, in investments kept his gener-
osity from seriously affecting his
welfare.
Several times in the last ten years
he took layoff, thinking he would
retire Then the usual greetings
through the train would be farewells,
and after few weeks or months
of idleness, he would don his uni
form and pick up his punch again.
unable to resist the call of the road.
Finally, three or four years ago, his
health failed to such an extent that
he was unable to continue, and his
death occurred last Tuesday in his