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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1903)
Civil Sirvice Practice of a Great Railroad WO Interesting (acta are brought to mind by the recent voluntary retirement of James O. Taylor from the position of auditor and assistant treasurer of the railroad: That Mr. Taylor wu 11. & M. one man of hundreds who held the lrn portant office of auditor and that of assist ant treasurer; that the Burlington baa In vogue a civil service system similar In all essential respects to that one in operation with the federal postal department. Seldom Indeed In railroad management Is one man charged with the Important duties of auditor and at the same time given even partial custody of the treasury, each of which positions is regarded as a sort of chck on the other. Yet Mr. Taylor, who served the 13. A M. for a continuous period In various capacities of thirty-three years, left his combined office with an excellent record. The line of successive promotions follow Ing Mr. Taylor's resignation serves to lllus. tratc the effect of the civil service sys tem. To the position of auditor goes W. P. Purkce, whose place is filled by II. D. Alice, another old employe who in turn la succeeded by K. B. Branch, another old employe. The Idea Is to fill the high places from within the ranks and not go outside the company's own lint of employes and officials, thereby destroying all Incentive and encouragement for subordinates. The resignation of Mr. Taylor, who left for Now York to engage in private busi ness, was an event of unusual moment In Omaha railroad circles. On learning of his action several of the principal officials and employes of the B. & M. addressed this letter to their friend and associate: OMAHA, May 28. 1J03. Mr. James O. Taylor. Omnhu, Neb.: Dear Sir The un dersigned, your associates In the Burlington railroad, have heard with sincere regret that you are about to sever your connec tion with the company that has received and derived great advantage from your painstaking, efficient and valuable services for the past thirty-three years. This voluntary action on your part prompts us to extend to you our hearty wishes for your continued success. We, with other of your numerous friends In Nebraska, would be greatly pleased if you would per mit us to extend a farewe'l dinner to you at the Omaha club at such time as may best suit your pleasure and convenience. With assurances of our high personal re gard, we are, very truly yours. The (Copyright, 1903, by Basset Stains.) TINY tuaboat was threading Its k I way full steam ahcud, puffing and sm I Bnortinir. into the Brooklyn nnvy yard dancing in and out among a flotilla of steam launches, row- boats and scows as cleverly ns a lady In a crowded ballroom. "Say, captain!" sung out an officer lean ing over tho rail of the cruiser Cincinnati. "Aren't you afraid to come into the navy yard like that?" "Afraid!" retorted the tugboat skipper In scornful tones. "We aren't siraid of any thing in this business. Give me a dozen old tugboatmen, and I'll come in and take your blessed navy yard, battleships and all!" "By the Lord," said the officer to himself softly, looking at the old shellback's fierce, weather-beaten face, "I believe he'd be cap able of It at a pinch." This anecdote la illustrative of the frame Of mind of the typical tugnoatmun. There Is no peril too great, no chance too risky for those daredevils of coast and port of New York, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore Philadelphia. Ban Francisco, New Orleans and a score of other American harbors. Foet and novelist never tire of recounting the dangers to which the drep-water suitor la exposed. But he leads a safe and placid life compared to that of the tusboutmun who picks up a living by plying to and fro among the crowded shipping of a busy port. Pally, almost hourly, the tugboatman faces such perils as come to the deep-water sailor only once in a voyage or once In a year. He knows thla very well, and has a lofty con tempt for "them that go down to tho sea In Shlpa and do their business on great waters." "Steamer cap'ns?" said tfle skipper of tugboat the other day. "Don't talk to nm about 'em! They're as timid as girls. There's nothing I like better than hitching my boat 'longslde of a tramp and Just scur r the life cut of the old man on the bridge." "How do you manage thatT" he was asked. The captain spat comprehensively. "Why, we Just creep up In tho dark un til we're right under his bows, and then let off an almighty big toot with tho Blren. Course, they haven't seen us. They n-:ver do see anything on them blessed steamers. Our toot JOBt about scares the old man out of his wits. "When he gets over the shock we make a bargain to bring him up the river and hitch 'longslde. Course wo loma up pretty fast. Time's money in our business. Ha soon gets scared to death running In and out among dosens of ship when he'a been used to hundreds of miles of open water all around him. He stands It as long as lie can, but at last he hollers down to us, Bay, hadn't you better go a bit slower?' W. P. DURKEE, WHO BECOMES AUDITOR OF THE B. & M., SUC CEEDING JAMES Q. TAYLOK. Dare Devils The pilot grins, and, of coursa, I Jest sig nal my engineer to shove her along a I It faster. We take her full tilt on the wliarf till that old man on tho bridge Is trembli ig like a Jelly; and then we jest stop her a hundred feet off and land her 'longslde aj if she was glass. You bet wo teac'.i those merchant skippers that we kow our business." Standing t y the side of Captain Peet as be steered tho tugboat Baltic through New York's crowded harbor gave an In sight Into the daily perils of the business. No sooner hud Baltic got cleir of Its wharf than another tugboat bore !own on Its starboard side and a big ferryl o it threatened t? ram It on the f o. t. It seemed impossible to escape a collision with one or both of them, but Capt:ila Peet gave a little twist to the wheel and the Baltic glided out of danger, nils-lag the stern of the ferryboat by a few feet. "Wasn't that n pretty near thins?" the land rubber queried. The captain looked surprised. "We shouldn't call that near," he said. "If you want adventure you've chosen the wrong time. The river's empty today. A child could navigate it." Empty! It seemed to the uninstructed eye of a lnndsman simply chock full of puffing tugboats, unwieldy ferry steamers and ocean tramps, all getting in qne an other's way and threatening to run one another down. The tugboat passed within a few feet of . a big passenger steamer which was com ing down the river aa if It were a torpedo boat. The skipper noticed his visitor's con cern. "Collisions are very rare," he said com fortingly. "A man gets ao used to the business that he steers by Instinct rather than reason. Ho dodges other boats with out thinking about it, Just as you would avoid bumping into people on a crowded sidewalk. A yard eaves a collision over and over ugttln, but we don't get rattled. A miss Is as good as a mile. "Our only worry Is when some brass bound captain of a nickel-plated yacht comes careering up the river. Ten to one he knows nothing about it, and he's Just like a man trying to learn how to ride a bicycle In a crowded street. He falls tver everything and gets In everybody's way. Yes, those yacht captains put the fear of death Into us sometimes." Talk to r.ny old tugboatman and he will apln you yarna that would make the liter ary fortunes of half a dozen CI irk Itussells. Every one of them has his stories of storm and collision and fire to tell. "I remember," said one, "ten years ago, we were beating about off Sandy Hook, twenty miles out at sea. It was a terrible night daik and foggy with a high sea run ning. 1 bad Jut Kipped out of the (alley of Coast and Port after supper and happened to W-r up. There was the stem of a big liner towering right over us! Next moment it struck us amidships and cut us clean In halves. There was hardly a second for thought, but I knew in a flash that If I Jumped to port of the steamer the sea would woeh me Into the propeller. So I Jumped to starboard, and as its hull flushed past me I caught a rope dangling in the water, and they drew mo aboard. Curious thing was, not one of our crew was drowned except my pet dog, that I wouldn't have taken $100 for." "Talking of dogs," remarked another old Fhellback, "did you ever hear of a dog that saved a tugboat's crew? The boat was tied alongsido the wharf one night, and all the-crew were asleep aboard. Along about midnight it caught fire and blazed up beautifully. The dog howled and barked, but lie couldn't wake the crew, so he trotted up to the cook and bit him la the leg. The cook's yell woke the rest and they Just had time to get clear ashore before the boat was a mass of flames." "We don't usually look on collisions as lucky things," said a third tugboat man, "but I know of a young fellow down Bos ton way who got a wife and a fortune through one. "He was deckhand nn a Boston tug, and It was run down one night by a tramp steamer outward bound for San Fernando, Trinidad. The captain was drowned, but the rest of them were picked up and car ried to Trinidad. When they got there the others were sent back to Boston by the American consul, but the deckhand liked the place and stayed, getting a Job to boss a gang of coolies on a cocoa plantation. "He was a smart young fellow, and he made good. In a couple of years he was the planter's chief overseer, and had a small plantation of his own besides. Then the planter's daughter came out from Eng land, where she had been finishing her education. They fell In love with each other and got married. The planter gave 'em a pretty good start and now that deckhand Is one of the wealthiest cocoa growers in Trinidad and has a treasure of a wife. It was a lucky collision for him." This story recalled a sadder tale which is related of an English tugboat skipper. It was told to Tennyson by the late Ixird Action, and Is supposed to have suggested "Enoch Arden." The skipper's tug was cut down In Southampton water by a royal mall steamer bound to the River Plate. He was saved and carried thither. In Argentina he got mixed up In a revolution and was thrown Into Jail. After his release a series of mis fortunes prevented him from returning home, and over two years had passed be fore he saw Southampton again. Ills home coming was like that of Enoch Arden. He found that his wife, believing him to be Mr. Taylor's response was: General C. F. Manderson, W. P. Durkee. D. O. Ives. J. Francis, et al.: I have lust received your favor of May 28, In which you express to me an invitation to meet yon and others at a dinner at some future date at the Omaha club. On account of my departure for the east during the next three days I find It impossible to comply, gre-it as Is my desire to do so. Your letter touched me deeply and I only trust that I may prove worthy of a few of the kind words you use. It is Impos sible to fully express my feelings In part ing with you all. It Is like leaving a fam ily, like going away from home.- I wish you all prosperity, happiness and plenty. Sincerely your friend, JAMES G. TAYLOR. W. P. Durkee, who succeeds Mr. Taylor as auditor, has been In the Burlington's employ twenty-one years. He is an ac countant of great ability. He entered the company's service as clerk In the car ac counting department in 1881. December, 1881, he was promoted to the auditor's office as clerk and there remained in va rious capacities of clerkship until January J, 1887, when he was made auditor to the treasurer. June 1, 1802, he was promoted to be assistant general auditor and filled that position until called to accept the high office of auditor. Omaha has been Mr. Durkee's home during nil his manhood life and he is closely in touch with the city as well as the state. II. D. Alice takes Mr. Durkee's p'ace as assistant auditor. For years he has been auditor of the treasury. He is equipped with a thorough training and Is regarded as a very valuable man. He has resided In Omaha for a number of years. The responsible duties of assistant treas urer laid down by Mr. Taylor are taken tip by C. J. Ernst, who came up from Lin coln, where he had been with the Burling ton for many years. His chief position was land commissioner. As such a high official of the company attributes the sale of nearly all the Burlington lands and the excellent settlement of a vast territory to the benefit of states west of the Missouri river "The Burlington recognizes worth and ability and meritorious service," said an executive official of that company, "and these qualifications take precedence over political pull or official favoritism with this road." dead, had married another man. His house) and his possessions were in the hands of a stranger. He did not languish and die, like the hero of the poem; he simply went back t.. South America, after a painful Interview with his wife, who vainly Im plored him to stay, and he was never heard of again. As a rule tugboatmen are happy, jovial fellows, full of fun and high spirits; but tragedy Is never fur removed from their dally experiences. Any day they may pick up a dead body floating in the harbor some unhappy girl who has flung herself off the bridge, or some drunken deckhand who has fallen oft the wharf while trying to stagger to hla ship. "I ought to be hardened to It by this time," said the mate of a tugboat, re ferring to this unpleasant part of his work, "and I don't mind pulling up a man's body so much as I used to do when I was a green hand. But every time we come across a woman floating in the water I turn sick and think of my .little wife at home. My old captain, who'd been at the game for forty years, used to get hyster ical sometimes when this happened. I've seen him cry like a child. "A man needs to be pretty tough at this business," the mate continued. "I've seen some nasty sights. A few years ago I was in a tugboat about thirty miles off shore and we had picked up a leaky, rotten old tub of a schooner which had come through somo heavy weather in the West Indies. A tearing gale caught us and the towllne parted. We tried to beat tip to It, but a terrible sea caught It on the beam and down it went before our very eyes with all hands aboard. We saw them struggling In the water, but could do nothing. By the time we reached the place there was nothing left but a few pieces of wreckage. "There's another bad day I well remem ber. We had a cook aboard who was too fond of whisky. He went crazy with It one day and tried to throw himself overboard, I Just managed to lay hold of him as he was half over the side and we locked him up in his bunk, taking away his Jack knife and razor. "Presently, passing by the door, I heard a low groan and went In. There he was, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, with a horrible gash In his throat. ' He had broken Ms looking glass and cut his throat with a piece of it. They tried to tinker him up at the hospital, but he died sure enough the next day." "Once a tugboatman, always a tugboat man," said one of them. "It's a hard life and a dangerous life, but there's no other life on earth that I know of equal to It. Sometimes one of us goes for a voyage or two on a steamer, but he Is always glad to come back to the tugboat business again,"