The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1948-10-28
That >Lundtic Engineer
Still Huunts Gov. Dewey

! Gov. Dewey made about "lunatic
lengineer" who sought to be shot at
sunrise" was still dogging him this
week.
Target of Dewev's blast was Lee
Tindle of Evansville, Ind, a veter-
an trade unionist and member of
Ithe Independent Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers. Dewey burst
out with it at the little town of
Beaucoup, ILL.,, when the engineer
Slowly backed his train a few feet
to get in line with a water tank.
Union officials here reported that
the attack on Tindle had brought
a flood of protests from railroaders
all over the nation--and that many
who had thought of voting for
Dewey had now crossed him off the
books. 9u
Tindle himself pointed out that
he had abided fully by the rail
roads rules when he backed up the
train.
81 did so at a snail's pace, giving
all necessary signals" he said. 81
followed the rules to the letter, and
not one person among the crowd
around the tracks was in danger at
any time. No one screamed or
shouted. If Dewey hadn't made a
fuss about it, the whole thing
would have been forgotten"
Then Tindle added this barb: 81
think as much of Dewey as I did
before, and that's not very much"
Later, Dewey said he asked the
management of the railroad-the
Louisville & Nashville-''not to dis
cipline" Tindle. Rail labor chiefs
pointed out, however, that the man.
agement had no thought of discipl-
lining him, and that Dewey's appeal
was merely an effort to "cover up
his own blunder."
President Truman and other
Democratic campaigners have made
considerable capital out of the in
cident.
Truman referred to it twice. In
one speech, at Logansport, Ind, he
spoke about the wonderful train
crews we've had all around the
country" praised their handling of
the train, and let it be known that
they're all Democrats"
Later, in radio speech on a pro-
gram sponsored by the Int'l Ladies
Garment Workers Union, he took
another jab.
ave have been hearing about en-
gineers again recently from the Re-
publican candidate" Truman said.
"That candidate objects to having
engineers back up. He doesn't men,
tion, however, that under the Great
Engineer (Herbert Hoover) we
backed up into the worst depression
in our history"
Harold l.. Ickes, former Secre-
tary of the Interior, also seized
upon the episode in a network
broadcast, during which he "slugg-
ed" Dewey.
Speaking of trains, Mr.. Dewey
the Mechanical Man-slipped off
of that precise, streamlined, split
second schedule of his the other
day.
"The engineer was backing his
train into town according to the
time -honored formula of railroad
men. But Mr.. Dewey, who knows
very little about trains since he
spends all of his time on the back
platform looking backward, was
and called his engineer
"a lunatic.'
"Do you know what | think real
ly happened? That engineer had
been listening to SO many of
Dewey's speeches that he thought
the Elusive One really meant them.
And every speech that he listened
to sounded as though Dewey was
going to turn the clock back in this
country to the days of Harding,
Coolidge and Hoover.
"The engineer was trying to be
helpful. He honestly thought that
Dewey wanted the trains in this
country to run backwards, too"