Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-06-19
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"oS VI 8 61hiHSu III I1dTTlSDuT6 u uu0 1os<
1897. and during all the twenty-twot
years since that time has not missed
l2-month period without gettingt
together to renew old friendships andt
to retell the thrilling stories of the
epic days when the Pennsy was ina
its infancy and railroading was in
the making Many of the men who'
were present at the organization
meeting have long since passed .to%
their eternal reward and lots OF
young fellows then just coming into
the heydey of their railroad careersI
are now grayhaired veterans, some
of whom have gotten so far as places
OF honor on the retired list of mem
who have been pensioned by the-
company for their good work.
William B. McCaleb, then super
intendent of the Middle Division-
when the headquarters of that divi--
sion of the Pennsylvania railroadt
were in Harrisburg, sent out the
call for the meeting and presided
over the opening sessions. The vet,
Grams got together in the rooms OF
the Pennsylvania Railroad Y. NJ,
c. A, which had been organized
only short time before and we're
at the time located on the seconds
floor of a building at the southwest
corner of Cumberland and Sixth
street, over a green goods store.
Among those present were Frank H
Gregory, the general secretary; Wei
lington G. Jones, who has since BEEN
made the only honorary member of
the association: Brooke Moore, them
one of the most prominent men ON
the main line between Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia; Clader Clemson
road foreman, who held the fate OF
the Middle division motive power in
the hollow of his hand and was a.
power in Tenth ward politics and
city council; James Cullen, of Spruce
Creek, the oldest man then in the ac-
tive service of the road and a gen.
eral favorite; George p Chandler,
who became treasurer of the asso-
citation and acted as such for many
years; the late w. B. Steinmetz, then.
an engineer, afterward assistant road
foreman of engines;; the late David
T. Cramer, of Mifflin, head of the
coal wharves and water station at
| that place, and member of the IA
nous Cramer family of seven broth
ers, all holding official positions
with the Pennsylvania railroad from
| it's very foundation the late James
Wells, then master mechanic, pop
ularly known as Jim" Wells, and a
host of others equally we'll known in
! their day. 1t was a gathering of the
Pennsy clans if there ever was one
and in that circle were men who
had been in the service of the road
since its first track was laid, and
some of them had been drivers on
the old canal even before that time.
|
Some good stories were told on
| that occasion. "I remember" said
David T. Cramer, when the first
engine arrived in Altoona. 1t looked
I more to me like a pile of fence.
rails on wheels with a SIN okestack
up in the front, than it did a mod
ern locomotiv But it could whistle.
My how it could whistle! The ma
| tiVes of the town-not a city then,
the place being in it's infancy and
only n sprawling village-discovered
the noise making abilities of this.
newly arrived wonder. It held them
fascinated. The engineer, proud as
peacock to have so much power
at his command and the center of an
admiring throng, footed his whistle.
until the wheezy old locomotive had
hardly enough steam left to move
her. The excitement ran high and
spread. Next day people came from
miles around to hear the engine.
whistle"
This same Cramer had six brothers
in the service of the road, James,
who held what amounted almost to
superintendency in Altoona; William,
who had an important official posi-
ton at the same place; Wilson, who
was train dispatcher at Miff1in; Dan
iiel, who was stationmaster at the
same place, and George, who was
at one time superintendent of the
old Philadelphia terminal division,
and in his declining years was Ii
brarian at Broad Street Station. All
of them were we'll known in the
service and S. Blair Cramer, a son
of Wilson, succeeded his father at
Mifflin. James McCrea Cramer, vet
eran of the Tenth Regiment in the
| Philippines, former treasurer OF
| Westmoreland county, and recently
candidate for State Treasurer on the
| Democratic ticket, who is an en-
gineer on the Pennsy, and William
Cramer, in charge of car movement
on the Middle Division, with head
quarters at Dunholm, near Miff1in.
are sons of David Cramer, who in his
time was not only a railroad man of
/ DuJ WIOIS many rail-
road stories and anecdotes for mag
azines and was for years a con-
tributor to the railroad column of
the Pittsburgh Post.
|
Mr.. Clemson and Brooke Moore are
living retired. Mr.. Moore dividing
his time largely between his Cumber-
land county home and his summer
place at Juniata Bridge. They are
of the old school of railroad men
who remember the times when loco
motives burned wood and when
every engineer had to be a mechanic
as we'll as familiar with the driving
machinery of his engine. They tell
some rare old tales of early days
on the Middle Division. Another
we'll known member of the organiza-.
ton is Martin G. Stoner, formers
Select councilman under the old
system and for years chairman of the
city's sanitary committee, then in
charge Of the health bureau of Har-
rjsburg. He is prominent brother
hood man and in addition to being
a veteran of the rail is also veteran.
of the Civil War, being one Of the
lmen who stood guard over Jefferson
Davis after the one-tire president
of the Confederacy had been cap-
tured and locked up in one of the
easement cells of Fortress Monroe
at Old Point Comfort.
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