Show the boyhood e of famous vr I 1 americans liu amu tarald patrick E crowley Cattar augue was a railroad town 0 o the erie line it was the alliba lion of must most of the boy boys born and nil raided raised there to learn railroading A con doctor ductor in lit ills AL ato natty uniform d an engineer 1 fireman or meff clinnia lo 10 work stained overalls ove rulla A was as a common enough eight to the boya boys thereabouts SIM it always a I 1 w A gave them i 1 thrill thrift they loped to rise that high in the tile world worle them come some day in the future patrick 11 cr crowley 0 aley shared the of ills play playmate mateR to become a first class oad ond men man lie ile was born in a house near the tracks of the crie brie in ills father bad worked on the crie cria for years he lie was as ahu station agent it at Cattar cattaraugus augus and as such ras a n man of authority and prestige lu the little railroad community tho the youngster knew the tan tun of the ilia railroad almost as soon won as he be atas able to talk ills ears tell him when the puffing eng nes ft ere in to need of repairs or overhauling before he was ten years old lie ile could tell at a glance the tile condition of the ilia rolling block stock as it passed through Ii catta baugus he ile was ups inquisitive and friendly with the train crews from the time be lie was as able to get around alone he lie was uns a wiry vilry youngster r rather other on tre smal size llly lie played in the fields with the other boas be managed to spend much time around the station and in his bithers little office he ile took par nicular Inter cut t in the work of the train dit dispatcher ills mind was made op up while he was in grammar school that he lie would sek a job on the railroad as soon as his father would out permit in those das dai s the generally accepted way iny to learn the business was ups to begin young and work nork your way up the boys father thought that as long as he was ups so anxious to start railroading tie te might as Is bol pass up a high school education so the lad left school when he was wits fourteen years old and went to work as a messenger and odd job boy for the eric erie in his home town each month bl bia pay envelope contained 5 IN title that gasn wasn t much financial incentive the youngster er was nas satisfied and proud of being a wage age earner lie ile was ups learning abe the business he liked getting a lot of fun tun out of it and being paid in the bargain bar aln getting up at 5 30 in the morn ing going to work at seen and not finishing the days tasks until nine at night might not seem so much fun to boys bos of the prent day but young crouley crow ley shded tin bed on the liard hard grind his ills thin legs carried him ocr many a mile in the course of an average days work as its messen ger when he wain t on the jump he sit and watched the telegraph operator at his ills work cork there was ups something in the click of the in that seemed to fai senate the ind the train dispatcher not ing lug his ills interest helped him to learn the u lorhe code the boy praed to be a mighty apt ily file lie time he lie was ups sixteen he lie was a full lodged fledged operator mot boys would hare have gone to bed as soon as they arrived home from such v hard days work orl as this yo youngster unter put in but not lot crowley he lie was a gre greit it reader of history and tech alcid books deiling with rall roid problems often lie remained up read ing until midnight or later in this way ay he continued the aduca lion that was bitted billed so far as school was ups coner concerned ned when mien he finished his grammar school course long before he be was ame atle to vote i he was known knon as a boy who al tit ways was on the job who studied it thoroughly he knew his particular work b ur than any tiny one de elce it wasn gasn t so strange in view of this that when he put his mind to it he became an expert telegrapher at the age of sixteen the erie sent him film to custer city pa ra as at telegraph operator ope there were only a couple of trains a day at the little way station but it u was as a start for the hoy he lie remain there long soon he was as transferred to buffalo and became become a train dispatcher at an important point he fie continued to be a wide ulde reid er of good literature in his spare moments barning the oil to improve his mind he ile worked as hard as le had done fit rn his first job he fie was gaining a thorough foundation in he lle went nent with the new yolk central in 1890 as a train dispatcher next he became chief of the department and then c diet lef train ana mastor cpr he ile was ups already i t man mm led rd tor for promotion wien en he was as offended offa ed the place pace of superintendent of the pennsyl vania vanis division of the central tern tem he refused it at first he ile was u its so modest he lie dant it t think he deserted such an important post friends persuaded him to change his mind from then on bis his promotion pro notton was steady and sure until he be was as named president of the vist cen aral system his ills thoroughness in mastering eiery job as it came come along has paid him and tie new york central big dividends M 0 by rho north american noam no am per alliance I 1 |