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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1902)
Edward Dickinson's Rise in the Railroad World CAN ensure you It was no easy matter for mo to hand In my resignation, oven though I was convinced that by bo doing I would be enabled to grasp the opportunity of my life," said Edward Dickinson, In speaking of his resignation as general manager of the Union Pacific to become vice president and general man ager of the Kansas rity, Mexico A Orient. When it Is considered that for thirty three years Mr. Dickinson hud been In the service of the Union Pacific It will not be difficult to appreciate the significance of his remark, "It was one of the hardest tasks of my life to leave the old road." Whatever of fortune, whatever of mis fortune has come to the Union Pacific, has been shared by Edward Dickinson, Insofar as the relations of an employe to a great rnilroad warrant. For Mr. Dickin son began his service, as he expresses It, "In the year one, so to speak." The Union Pacific was completed May 10, 18C9, and the name of Edward Dleklns n was entered on the pay roll In June of the same year. With the exception of two rhort periods this service has been con tinuous. The career of Mr. Dickinson furnishes many a good lesson for the youth who "to fame and fortune unknown," Is about to embark on life's uncertain voyage. It may not give him the key to the vault of riches, for Mr. Dickinson's work has not been that of a financier and he has pro ceeded thus far In life without amassing any great amount of wealth. But for in dustry, enterprise, perseverance and In domitable will power, h's career Is not lacking In good examples. His rise from meeBongcr boy at the age of 11 to general manager at 42, la evidence enough of the qualities of the man. Edward Dickinson was born In Cumber land, Md., October 8, 1850. His parents were unfortunate and he was thrown upon his own resources when 11 years of age. He secured a position as messenger boy In Cleveland, O., In the office of the old Cleveland & Toledo railroad. While work ing as messenger boy he found time, now and then, to devote to learning telegraphy, and as early as 14 years of age ho was holding a regular operator's position In Cleveland for the Atlantic & Western. Evidently the boy had chosen the right occupation, for he acquired great skill as a manipulator of the wires and his ad vancement was rapid. In June, 1869, at the age of 19, he came to Omaha and ac cepted the position of clerk and operator for the Union Pacific In the old freight house which then stood down In the Mis souri river bottoms on part of the tract now occupied by the shops. He remained but a short time In this capacity, how ever, and soon returned to Ohio, where he became assistant train dispatcher on the Atlantic & Western In Cleveland, this being his first really responsible position. The western fever again seized him, and by December, 1871, he was back in Oman; as night dispatcher for the Union raclflc. He handled this position so well that In a short time ho was promoted to that of chief train dispatcher at Laramie. In the summer of 1877 he was made superinten dent of the Laramie division. His next promotion was to the general superlnten dency of the Wyoming division, which he held until November, 1884, when ho was sent to Denver and made assistant gen eral superintendent of the entire system. He was appointed to this position by S. R. Callaway, then general manager of the Union Pacific, recently president of the New York Central railroad, and now presi dent of the American locomotive works. In April, 1887, Mr. Dickinson became gen eral superintendent of the system, which t CONGRESSMAN JONES of the state I . I of Washington tedls this "ami'ii" D l V. 1 J . UI...K. .... ..v..n." student had be-e'ti Invited to come and preach as a candidate. Brother Silas Smith was noted for his ten dency to keep the audience awake by shouting "Amen" about every so often. Some of the- members thought that this might disconcert the preacher, go one of the members offered him a new pair of boots It he wculd refrain from bhouting "amen" that day. Silas agreed. But toward the end of his discourse the stu dent waxed a little too eloquent for Silas, who shouted: "Amen! Boots or no boots, amen!" The Englishman was being surprised at the rapidity with which the sky scraper was going up. "Deah me!" he exclaimed, "it seems as if your buildings grow as rapidly as your maize." "Yes," replied the westerner, uublush lngly, "and the process of raising them Is much the same." "Fawncy! Won't you explain further?" "Well, you see, we just get an Iron plant, put It In tb ground, have the street sprinklers water It and In a month or six weeks the sky scraper Is full grown." And. taking another breath, the coubId from overseas managed to believe It. Maurice Grau, the operatic Impressarlo, has been abroad engaging singers for next winter's season of grand opera In America. He Is looking older than his years. His once more brought him back to Omaha, where he has been ever since except the ten months that he was with the Baltimore & Ohio at Chicago. In ISSIt the Union Pacific was cut up into five divisions and Mr. Dickinson was made! general manager of the Missouri division. He remained In this position until the last of June, 1S90. Here occurred a crisis In Mr. Dickin son's career and the chain of successive promotions was suddenly broken. To us Mr. Dickinson's own words: "I then left the service of the Union Pacific by re quest ." This was an Interesting affair. W. H. Holcomb was assistant general manager and It was he who requested Mr. Dickinson to resign. The' latter's resignation was filed on June 30, when the office of general manager of the Missouri division was vacated and on the following day, July I, before the news (f Mr. Dickinson's retire ment became generally known, he was In Chicago, entering upon the position of general FUpcrlnlcndctit of all the lines of the Baltimore & Ohio west of the Buckeye state, a position of nun h weight and re sponsibility. April, 1891, however, found Mr. Dickin son again with the Unjnn Pacific, his old mother road, and the circumstances of his return are among the most interesting of any In his entire career. The factthat he came back to displace the man who had caused his retirement, probably is of sec ondary Importance to the fact that it was through the personal Influence of Jay Gould and Sidney Dillon that he was In duced to return and accept the position of assistant general manager. Holcomb then left the road. S. II. H. Clark was at that time president of the Union Pacific, and, while President Clark himself made the proposition to Dickinson to return and ac v m i Mr n fu i. .v".7.o. u r d mm imwi m ' T CUTTING WALNUT LOGS Gleanings From the Story face Is seamed with "worry lines." He attributes these to the peculiarities of his business. "It's a pity," he said one night as he Bank into a chair in the Waldorf grillroom. It was during the early days of the Boer war. "What's a pity?" someone asked. "It's a pity that they can't send them to the front," he answered. "Who can't send who to the front?" was asked. "Why, the British send the women to the front," he exclaimed. "If the average woman could fight In the field half as well as the average woman can fight elsewhere wars would cease or the population of the earth would be destroyed." Still his companion did not understand and looked at him Inquiringly. "They'd be great warriors," he said. Another pause; a long sigh. Mr. Grau rose and prepared to go. "I've Just been discussing contracts with Mme. Calve," he said solemnly and wearily, as he started away. As he reached the door he half turned and added over his shoulder: "Enough said!" In a Broad street hotel in Philadelphia Senator Quay and some friends were In the habit of "sitting In" at a regular weekly game of poker, at cne of whh-h Senator Pen lose of Pennsylvania was a mere looker-on. After watching the game for an hour or two the Junior senator Innocently remarked: "Fellows, I think I could play that game If you'd Just make me out a schedule of cept the assistant general management. It Is an open secret that but for the Influence of the greatest railroad magnate of those days Dickinson probably would have stayed with the Baltimore & Ohio, where he was comfortably situated and promised the pt i ral management by President Charles F. Mayer if he would reject the Union Pa cific's offer. Mr. Dickinson in the fall cf 1S92 was advanced from assistant general manager to general manager and this position he held continuously until the close of this week. He was, therefore, at this Impor tant post when the dark days of the re ceivership dawned, October 13, 1S93, and when the clouds dissolved, February 1. lMix, and the company passed out of the hands of receivers into those of the re organization, commonly railed the new company. From his first day on the Union Pacifl.: Edward Dickinson was associated with It. W. Baxter, now superintendent of the Nebraska division. It would be difficult to review the career of one of these men without retracing that of the other. Their business associations have bound them by the strongest ties of friendship. Mr. Bax ter and Mr. Dickinson first met when Bax ter served as Dickinson's messenger boy at Laramie, when the latter was dis patcher. Baxter, however, had been in the service of the company as long as his companion, having started In at the ago of 10 as water boy for a dirt train in Wyoming. When Dickinson left the Union Pacific for the Baltimore & Ohio In 1890, Baxter went with htm. When Dickinson returned to the Union Pacific, Baxter came with him, or at least a few months later. E. E. Calvin, who Is now general superintendent of the Oregon Short Line, one of the Union Pacific's proprietary iru,tv -, 1 IN SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA, TO points." They did so, and Penrose, with the rules carefully written out In front of him, took a hand. As the time for the Jack pot approached one of the players said: "I'll open for a dollar." Penrose scanned his hand, then looked carefully over the rules and finally asked: "What's all of one color?" "A flush," he was told. "I'll play," he observed. The man who opened perfunctorily bet a chip and, when the senator raised, drew out. "It's all yours, Penrose," the latter was told, and then, as he drew the pile toward him, somebody added: "Let's see what you got, anyway.". They looked, found two diamonds and three hearts and sarcastically Inquired: "Didn't you say you had a flush?" "No; you said it," replied Penrose, add ing. Ingenuously: "I don't know much about the game, you know, but I rather think I like It." Perhaps the Maryland priest of whom the following Is related did not give the best possible advice to the penitent who ap peared before him, but he has not yet been reproved by his bishop. The penitent was a young theological student, who was also a foot ball enthusiast and the commander of a team engaged In a very hot contest The game was a tie, de pending on a grand rush to secure the vic tory. It was a man-to-man contest, and the youthful bishop in embryo, with all the fire of those militant churchmen of old who rode In armor, with blazing eyes, into the lines, has been spoken of as a possible suc cessor to Mr. Dickinson. Should this come about It would be Interesting fqr old-timers to recall that Mr. Calvin "learned the business," as the saying Is, under -Ed Dickinson. The latter gave Calvin his first end almost his entire Instructions in telegraphy and Calvin held the station at Carbon, Wyo., under Dickinson. Mr. Dickinson, though a native of thr Atlantic seaboard, Is said to have been a typical frontiersman from his earliest days in the great west, when train and sta-re coach robbery were mere amusements r.nd pastimes for some of the swifter members cf society. And friends of Mr. Dickinson love to recall his eternal vigilance in help ing to thwart the ways of these wary follows. "Never was there a robbery on the Union Pai iflc," said an old friend of Dickinson's, "but that Ed was em the track of the bandits right away and he generally made the desperadoes realize It, too. Those fellows knew Dickinson and they never went out of their way to meet him, either. Dickinson could teil some mighty thrillin.; talcs about things that happened In thow days If he wanted to. The Union Pacific never had a more faithful guardian of Its Interests than this man. And he was equally as alert when there was a big snow drift or flood to be dealt with and there used to be lots of them. In the big wash out of 1S7.", when from twenty-five to fifty miles of the Union Pacific track was de stroyed In Wyoming, Mr. Dickinson worked day and night to repair the damages. That was a great pressure upon the road and a strain on him. Trains over that division could not run for three months. One of the pleasant memories which Mr. Dickinson loves to cherish Is his association with the late Bill Nye. It was largely through his efforts and Influence that Ed- 1 SsA;l J'Sitf ,V SHIP TO ENGLAND. Teller Pack thick of the fight, cried out to his squad: "Do your d dst! Do your d dst!" But when the exultation of victory ha I passed off and calm reflection had restored the youngster to his normal state of mind conscience troubled him as it has troubled many another man ajler giving way to the excitements of the flesh. He fedt that he had done wre ng and should atone for It. In his trouble he went very penitently to a priest who had witnessed the exciting s'ru.j; gle on the college campus and was hardly done rejoicing over the result, for he was a backer of the side which won. The conscience-stricken student apologetically said: "Father, I fear that In my excitement I did very wrong and said things I should not have said." "What did you say?" "I urged our side to do their d dst. What penance should I do?" "Well, do your d dst." The wisdom, the wit and the consolation of the advice were gratifying. It showed him that he bad consciously done no wrong, and if he had the maxim of the homeopath lstg should be applied to the case slmilia similibus curantur. A worthy man, who was very sensitive and retiring, having lost his wife, privately requested that he might be remembered In the minister's morning prayer from the pul pit, but asked that his name might not be mentioned. On Sunday morning the good minister frayed most eloquently for "our aged brother, upon whom the heavy hand of sore affliction has so lately fallen." gar Wilson Nye then a tall, gaunt, angulal Yankee, launched the Lnramle Boomerang, the medium through which he was Intro duced to the world as one of lis brightest und best humorists. There was nothing In this forlorn country editor which at firet suggi'stcd to any of his friends, of which some how he had hosts, that he would ever eitivulse a wrrld with laughter, but there was a peculiar magnet in his warm and genial soul which drew men to him. The plain, unassuming manners, the aversion fur formality and style and the geniality, of the two men is said to have formed a bond e.f mutual affection between Dickin son and Nye. Mr. Dickinson is no man for ceremony. A suggcftion ol thif trait may be obtalneil from the circumstances ef his re'signat ion lis ge neriil manager of a road which he had served a third of a century. His resigna tion was handed In not more than a week prior to the time he' expected to leave the company. In February last Mr. Dickinson was ap prnuched by a re-prescntal ive of President Stilwell of the Orient line and asked If he would ae-ccpt a proposition to become the general manager of that road. Mr. Dickinson received the matter favorably, but made no definite reply. However, be tween that and July an understanding was reached and Mr. Dickinson had made all preparations, e'ven to the extent of engag ing bis berth on the steamer Philadelphia te sail for Europe July 9, on which trip ho would have severed his connection with the Union Pacific and gone to the Stilwell peeiple. But the shopmen of the Union Pa cific ttruck June IS, and Mr. Dickinson abandoned all these plans, believing that it was his duty t,o stay and help President Burt through this trouble. Stilwell was disappointed, but waited un til August, when he pressed Mr. Dickinson for a final answer. "I can do nothing under present condi tions," said Mr. Dickinson, "for I feel that my duty is here so long as this strike lasts. If you will give me until January 1, 1903, when I think matters will have resumed their normal shape, I wUl accept your proposition." Stilwell wanted Dickinson. He said: "I'll wait." A little over a week ago Mr. Dickinson was in Kansas City. Stilwell sent for him. lie pressed him to come to the Orient sooner than the- first of the year. Dickiu-. nun returned to Omaha and theu for the first time disclosed bis affairs to President Hurt, and November 1 was decided on as the day Mr. Dickinson should begin his identification with the Stilwell road. When it became definitely known that Mr. Dickinson had decided to go to the Orient (ieorge J. Gould took occasion to send heartiest congratulations to President Stil wedl, eaying he hail secured the best man he could for the place. Mr. Gould added that he personally was strongly attached to Mr. Dickinson, who had won the admira tion of his father, the late Jay Gould, many years ago. Side by side with this tribute from the man who is preside. nt of more railroads than any other individual may bo laid a token from the Union Pacific strikers, many ;f whom have known and worked under Mr. Dickinson during the greater part of bis service with the' Union Pacific. When these men le arned that Mr. Dickinson was about to le-ave tlwre was universal re gret and expressions of estee'in and admira tion for thedr old chief. "We always got fair treatment from 'Dick,' " said one, "and if he could not give us what we wanted be made us feel that it was for some good reason and he was still our friend." At this point an elderly man, whom the minister bad married to a very young wife during the week, rose with a bounce and stamped down the aisle, muttering loud e nough to be heard all ever the chapel: "It may be an alllietion, but I'm blest if I want to be prayed feir in that fashion." The recent Grand Army encampment in Washington provoked a good deal of com ment regarding the large numbers of civil war veterans who are still in good enough physical condition to endure the fatigue of a long march. Several southern democrat s were discussing this in a Washington hole.1 lobby the other evening, reports the Ne York Times, when Secretary Charles A. Edwards of - the democratic congressional committee said: "A few years ago Colonel William Green Sterett and I were sitting at a window watching the parade at a Grand Army en campment. Hour after hour passed and still- the Yankee hosts swept by. Colonel Sterett became more and more thoughtful, silent and depressed as the mnrch went on. After a long silence he looked up, and, lay ing his hand on my arm, said with the ut most impressiveness: " 'Charlie, I'm going back to Texas and burn up every southern history of the war that I can find.' " 'What are you going to do that for?' I asked. " 'Because, Charlie,' he said, still more Impressively, 'they're full of lies. They all tell about how many Yankees we killed, Charlie, we never killed a d d Yankee. They're all here now!" "
