Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-07-27
Causes Sorrow Here.

News reached here yesterday fore
noon Of the death Of Mr. Britton, and
was received with many expressions
OF sorrow and regret. 1t has been
known that for some time Mr.. Brit
tons health has been bad, and that he
had taken trip north, in the hope
that he would be benefited. Tuesday
night bulletin issued from the Brit
ton home at 1872 Lindell avenue, St..
Louis, stated that Mr.. Britton was i'm
proving, but during the night his con-
dltlon grew worse, and the end came
about 8 o'clock yesterday morning.
Started as Operator.
Born &C years ago at Ovid, N. Y.
Frank Hamilton Britton was educated
in the public schools of that place,
thereafter entering the railroad bust
ness, which he followed steadily the
remainder of his life. At the age of
IS years he entered the railway serv-
ice in 1868 as an operator. Attention
to duty brought promotion, and he
served as dispatcher and chief dis
patcher on number of lines until
early in 1879, when he was made
trainmaster on the Louisville & Nash
he resigned to accept the position of
VI IL dIlS wi lOl
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern,
leaving that position in 1882 to be-
come superintendent of transportation
for the Chesapeake & Ohio. He be-
came general superintendent of the
road in 1886.
Mr.. Britton continued with the
Chesapeake & Ohio for several years,
and resigned to enter other lines. The
lure of the rails was too strong, how
ever, and about year later, in June,
1898, he closed out his private bust
ness in Baltimore to accept the SUPER
intendency of the Minnesota & Wis
consin road, remaining there until he
became superintendent of an import
ant division of the Great Northern in
1894, being promoted to assistant gen
eral superintendent of the system in
March, 1898.
Then Moved South.
Mr.. Britton's connection with Gould
railroad lines in the North had
brought him under the eyes of the
heads of that great family of railroad
owners, and in June, 1900, he accepted
the position of general superintendent
of the St. Louis Southwestern of
Texas, part and parcel of the Cotton
Belt. His work for the Cotton Belt
there Immediately brought results
that materially aided in the upbuilding
of the territory through which the
road operated, and brought unwonted
prosperity to the road.
It was but a short time before he
was made general manager of the en-
tire Cotton Belt system, his ,endeavors
toward growth and expansion thus be-
ing given wider field. With a
limited field from which to draw bust
ness. with a territory only partially
developed and settled, and with the
strongest of competition in the older
established lines, Mr.. Brtton remained
firm in the belief that the Cotton Belt
territory could be made a rich field,
and he devoted his every aim and at
tention to the development of the
country and the extension of the trade
possibilities. Through this line of
work, the Cotton Belt has lent great
aid in the establishment of manufac-
turing plants and enterprises, and has
taken a leading part in the full de-
velopment of the vast agricultural re-
sources in the territory reached by the
road.
Aided the Farmers.
AS an indication of Mr.. Britton's
methods, it is only necessary to recall
that the Cotton Belt is primarily re
sponsible for the opening of the great
Arkansas rice-growing section, and
for the vast fruit-growing business Of
Southwest Arkansas and Northeast
Texas. Both these agricultural ven-
lures received great aid from the Cot
ton Belt, and it is remembered by the
beginners in the rice fields that the