The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-03-09
II "A # PHONE 414 -
%sH!@ Get Votes Here for Big Auto Contest

deal q style, he more than made up
for It in a system Of his own. that
resulted in making the two streaks
Of rust and . right-of-way one Of the
best paying little roads In the country.
I was general utility clerk In his
once at that time, and sorted out the
old mans mail. One morning l came
across q letter from Tom Goodell.
Tom was a brother of the old man,
who had been in the lumber business
up North, but who had taken sud.
den notion that he wanted to be q
railroad man. The letter was q re.
quest for job
Joe KelsOe was trainmaster up at
Centerpoint at that time. He had some
set notions, like yourself, about Toms
kind, and wasn't at all backward
about expressing them. The boys
said he cussed blue streak when
he got the old mans letter ordering
him to send Tom out braking on the
local to learn the road.
We'll, everybody knew at once
what that meant, and there was a
general howl all along the line among
the trainmen. not official, of course,
but a lot Of talk. and, as usual, that g
about where it ended.
About three months after that. Ed
Burton. q freight conductor with q
through run. came within an ace of
getting into smash.up with an east.
bound passenger on an order he mis-
construed, and. Of course, went on the
carpet. The old man was always
mighty square with the boys when
they got into trouble. and was dis.
posed to be lenient with Ed, though
he had known for some time that nd
wasn't a man to be running a train.
He was oversensitive on the sub
ject. as that kind usually are; %
. when the old man offered to com
promise by giving him thirty days
and gravel train when he got back
Ed fared up and quit, taking a pass
back to Arlington. where he lived
That was the only time l eve.
saw Ed to know him: ard when he
came through the office, looking as
black as a thunder cloud, I surmised
he had been having his troubles II
the old mans little sanctum.
| Well. as everybody expected, two
days later Tom Goodell got his train
. Il had been out on the road look
ing up claim on some stock that had
been killed. and happened to be il
Tom Goodelrs caboose on his frs
run out. altered my opinion of Tom
that night and haven. changed 4
since, for he proved to be one of tn,
exceptions spoke about.
The night operator at Menden hat
given him orders to pick up som,
empty stock cars at Arlington. and
guess that's all that saved us from
about the worst wreck the road eve
had, for we would have gone into tina
open switch at a forty-five-mile clip.
They usually went through from
Menden without stopping, that bein,
part of the run where they made III
time. As it was, they had slowe,
down for the stop. and when they ur
expectedly shot in on the siding from
the upper end, the engineer had hi
train pretty well under control: a
the little bump they gave that strin
OF empties did no damage. The switcl
had been thrown, and the lieh
changed so that 1t showed white
When they found out about IN
changed switchlight the crew laid
to svery cause but the right one. A
Tom tumDed down from the caboos
steps. however. his quick ere h.
eeskAk saht- q 4 nan ane1Ing ,arnln