The Anaconda standard. [volume], December 31, 1899, Morning, Page 18, Image 18

About The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
JERRY FLANIGAN'S TRIP TO NEW YORK
Montana's Most Popular Conductor Tells About His Jaunt in Daly's Private Car and
What He Saw in the Big City.
Y all odds the most popular con
ductor ihn Montana, as well as
one of the oldest in point of
service. is Jerry Flanigan, who runs
on the Great Northern line between
Anaconda and Havre. He has been a
conductor on the Great Northern ever
since it laid its rails in Montana,
starting in with the construction of
the road. No railroad man is more
generally known in the state, and par
ticularly along the line of the Great
Northern road. He has more friends
in Butte probably than anywhere else,
but that is because there are more
people in Butte than anywhere else in
the state. At Anaconda, Helena, Great
Falls, Havre and in scores of other
towns his friends are only limited by
the census returns from those towns.
He has a way of mdaking friends and
he does it without knowing it and with
out trying.
Jerry Flanigan was born in a rail
road town. That was Dunkirk, N. Y.
Nobody knows just how old he is.
Sometimes he looks older than he does
at other times. But he began railroad
ing back in 1873 on the Erie road. He
was a conductor on the Dakota line
of the Northern Pacific in 1880. but
since 1885 has been with the Great
Northern. For a number of years he
had the run from Great Falls east, but
now runs from Anaconda to Havre. At
least, that is *the position he is still
slated for, but at present he is under
the weather and will start in a few
days for Arkansas Hot Springs.
Conductor Flanigan claims that he
never had any remarkable adventures
In his career as a railroad man. He
was lucky enough never to be in charge
of any 'train that was held up by train
robbers or was badly wrecked. That,
however, as Jerry says, "is all in the
luck."
The one great event that Jerry Flani
gan will date everything from through
life is the trip he took last summer
with Marcus Daly in his (Daly's) pri
vate car. Mr. Flanigan has been back
to Montana some time, but he is not
yet through telling stories about that
trip. It is not known just what is the
secret of the intimacy between Con
ductor Jerry Flanigan atnd Marcus
Daly. Mr. Daly is a pretty good miner
and it is probable that he was not long
in discovering that Jerry assays high in
gold clear into the heart. It is also
probable that. Jerry found Mr. Daly
was "of the right sort." They first
,became well acquainted at Colonel
- roadwater's funeral. In the years
since then, when traveling over the
Great Northern line, it made no differ
ence how prominent the men he tnigiht
be with Mr. Daly would always man
age to get away from them and sit
down for a quiet chat with Jerry.
Last summer Flanigan was pretty
sick. He lost 40 pounds in weight and
had to lay off from the road. While
he was looking pretty peaked Mr. Daly
chanced to meet him in the lobby of
the Montana hotel.
"You're looking bad," said Mr. Daly.
"I'm feeling worse than I look," re
plied Jerry.
"What you need Is a change of cli
mate," said Mr. Daly.
"Your judgment is all right," said
Jerry,
"What you need," continued Mr.
Daly, "is the climate of Sheepshead
Bay."
"When is the Suburban?" asked
Jerry.
"One week from to-day. Just pack
your grip and get into my car with
rme. There is plenty of room."
"Sheepshead Bay .would be a good
climate for my complaint," said Jerry.
That is how Conductor Jerry Flani
gan happened to go East with Mr. Daly
in his private car.
"I don't know how many people of
different kinds have been guests of
M'r. Daly in that car," said Jerry, in
(J I
"All the pleasure is in tLe approach to
ihenag--not the consummation,"
telling about the trip, "but I'll swear he
never had a guest who appreciated
that trip more than I did. If there is
anything on earth that a man could
want that wasn't in that car, it's one
on me. I never saw it. Oh, say!
When I die, if they want to give me
any heaven just Ict them put me in
that car and keep otn traveling forever
and ever. That's all I want.
"I tell you it was fine. All the way
to New York our car was on the rear
of the train and we could just sit in
the observation compartment all day,
and smoke and chat and watch the
scenery. There was just three of us
-Daly and me and another fellow.
Then there was a waiter and a cook
to see we didn't get lost. We went
over different railroads and through
all kinds of country. Half the time I
couldn't tell whether I owned the par
ticular road we were going over, or
whether Mr. Daly owned it or the other
fellow. But we could all criticise the
roadbed and equipment as freely as
we wanted to. Of course you know
how it is with private cars. Lots of
people at the stations crowd around
them out of curiosity. So once in
awhile we would go out on the rear
platform and show ourselves. At I"iast
me and the other fellow would. I te
lieve the populace is entitled to some
rielhts.
righ ts.
"We stopped over one day in St. Paul.
There were some people wanted to see
me and Dalr. While we were wait
ing, although we had come over the
Northern Pacific, the Great Northern
people switched us over into their yard
and cleaned the car for us. That shows
what kind of people they are. But you
ought to see that combination brush
and hose they have to clean cars with!
That heats my game. I am out in the
country. When they got the car clean
ed Mr. Daly shook hands with the
fellow aend handed him a five or a ten.
That snows what kind of a fellow he is.
.We reached Chicago at 10 in the
morning on the Burlington line, and
the Pennsylvania train was to start at
10:30. A Pennsylvania offi.ial had come
into the car, and Mr. Daly told him he
was anxious to catch that train, as
otherwise he would have to wait ser
eral ]ours. Well, we no sooner got
up to the station than up comes a
switch engine, backs us off and gets
us on to the Pennsylvania train just
a minute before it started. I was on
the rear platform, and as the switch
engine was uncoupling I leaned over
and shook hands4vith the fellow on the
front of the engine and left a tive in
his hand. That was to show what
kind of a fellow I was. He tipped his
hat and said:
"'Thank you, Mr. Daly!
"And that is all the credit I got out
of it.
"And that is the way it went. The
weather .. is fine and that cook is the
best cook -over lived. nobody barred.
I could feel my disease disappearing
the nearer we got to Shcepshead Bay.
We would watch the scenery all day,
and in the evening we would sit at
the table and chat. Mr. Daly would
hand me out a bouquet and then I
would hand him one right back. H
was the finest trip I ever had, all
right."
"Where did you stop in New York?"
"The Hoffman, of course. That is
the only hotul to stop at. Oh, there's
the Waldorf-Astoria and the Nether
lands, and the rest of those. T'he Wal
dorf-Astoria is a mighty good hotel for
a man who likes that kind of a hotel.
But as for me, give me the Hoffman.
You'll meet all the people at the Hoff
man that's worth meeting. The Hoff
man cafe is not so many: you can pass
that up. Oh, of course, you can take
a meal there once or twice, if it comes
right. But for steady eating go to
Shanley's. The Hoffman, however, is
the place to stop. The hotel is all
right and the bar is all right. When
you go there just tell Major Peacock
at the office desk that you are a friend
of Jerry Flanigan of Montana, and it
will be all right."
"Did you sne any baseball while you
were in New York?"
"Baseball is the first thing I didn't
see. You see, it was just this way:
We got into the Pennsylvania depot
at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I had
looked at the baseball schedule and
found that the game that day was to
be the last league game in New York
for more than a month. The Eastern
teams were gsoing west. So I thought
I ought to see one good baseball game
before I started back to Montana. So
T jumped into a hack and when I got
to the elevated line I paid the hack
man, told him to take my grip on utl
to the Hoffman, and I got out. I took
the elevated up to the Polo grounds and
got therl, just before the game started.
I paid a half to get in, another half
for a reserved seat and a quarter for a
score card.
"The game was between the New
Yorks and tlls" Irooklyns. The New
Yorks didn't t an'y runs ill the first
inning and the I1br tkl'yns got a whole
hunch of them. Thien there was asrow.
The New Yorks went for the umnpire
and it was more fun than an election
in Butte. Only, nobody waso hurt. We
had about 15 rinuit's of it and th" um
pire sirstlared the game forf,-itrd to
llrooklyn. I looked for a goe;d hang
ing thern or a little shooting anyway.
Ibut there wasn't any.
"'Welt. I just called it one had olne
and gl;t ready for somerl good ones. My
time was too valuable to linger. I start
ed to get out of the grounds. There
were a lot of kickers in line who were
waiting to get their money back. They
called to me to come back and get in
line.
" 'Excuse me,' says I, 'my time in
New York is worth $10 a minute and I
can't afford to wait here to get back 50
cents.'
"But I couldn't get out. A big crowd
blocked the entrance and they were all
hooting and yelling and demanding
their money back and calling Freed
man pet names. Meanwhile many val
uable minutes were slipping away and
nothing to show for it. I hadn't even
had a drink since I struck New York.
"I saw a policeman standing off to
one side and I went up to him.
" 'See here,' says I. 'I come 3,900
miles to see a ball game-'
"'I can't help you,' says he. 'I am
here to keep the peace. You'll have to
see the officers of the grounds about
getting back your 50 cents.'
" 'That's not it,' says I. 'I don't want
my 50 cents back. All I want is to get
out of here and get out quick. My time
in New York is worth $10 a minute. I
am traveling fast and I am 'way behind
itlme.'
"'That's different.' says he.
"I shook hands with him and left a
silver dollar in his paw.
"'Can you get me out?' says I
"'I can,' says lie.
"He took me to a little door in the
fence. Then he handed me back the
silver dollar. Think' of that! Think of
a New York cop handing back a dollar,
"I ate three broiled live lobsters in one day, and I wish now that I had eaten a fourth
for my midnight lunch.
after all I had heard about the New
York police! He hands it back, and
says:
"'Young fellow, put that by itself
where you'll know where it is,' says he.
'You're a fast traveler and I've seen
fellows like you get 'way ahead of the
dining car. When you get to that point
you'll have that dollar to get a square
on.'
"That cop was all right. But he was
all off on my needing that dollar. I've
got that dollar yet.
"But I soon found a better way to
watch the ball games. You start out
of the Hoffman pretty early in the af
ternoon. You kind of saunter along
down Broadway and drop into the sa
loons. In the saloons are tickers and
the ball games all over the country are
given by innings. Each saloon will
give you one or two innings. By the
time you get down to Wall street you
will know how all the games come out
and have accumulated a gentle jag at
the same time. Then you strike Wall
street just about the time George Hal
dorn and Frank Maguire are coming
off shift at the stock exchange.
"The secret about havinsi a good time
in New York is not to drink too fast.
Keep drinking right along, but don't :et
it get action on you. Just I-:ep mellow
and you can enjoy all that's coming,
see? All the pleasure is in the approach
to a jag-not in the consummation.
Keep letting the jag approach, but see
that you stay on the windwsrd1 side of
it.
"Quinn by the way can give more
good reasons for not drinking than
any man I ever saw. As a temperance
I crturer he heats the hand. After I
talked with him I quit drinking for
two whole drinks. But Quinn is all
right. He is right to the front and the
best move heever .made is when lie
went to New York. He couldn't do too
much for me. He's all right up to the
democratic club, too. He's right in it
and they all respect him. He is study
ing law, and he won't be any jack law
yer. I can tell you. He dresses just as
fine as anybody in New York and he is
in with all the big ones.
"It was Quinn set me right on my
hat. When I was in Anaconda getting
ready to start I went to the store and
told them I wanted a new hat. I didn't
want any last year's hat, I wanted a
hat right up to date-a little ahead of
date, you know. I wanted a hat that
would be riglht in style when I climbed
in to New York. So they gave me the
only hat, they said, that wouldn't make
me look like a jay in the big town. It
was a good hat, all right. It was a
soft white felt and it looked all right
When I got to New York I couldn't
see any hats like it. Pretty soon the
'other fellow' wanted to know why I
didn't chop it and get in line with the
rest of them. He had bought a hat just
like mine, but had switched it for a
straw after the first day.
" 'Never mind,' says I. 'These Npew
Yorkers are 'a ,little slow, but they'll
catch up to me in a few days. They
can't be far behind. I'll just wait for
them.'
"I kept wearing the hat and when I
went out to Sheepshead bay I got up
on the roof of the grand stand and
looked at the hats. There were about
40,000 people there, but no hat like mine.
Then I met Quinn.
"'Where did you get that hat?'
says he,
"'Never mind,' says I. 'I am a little
ahead of you fellows, but I'm not proud.
You'll all be wearing them in a month.
It'll be the fashion' then.'
"'It was the fashion two years ago,'
says Quinn.
"Then I went and bought a straw.
"1 got good after a few days. I just
revised myself from the skin out. I
was looking just as good as any, of
them as I was standing out in front
of the Hoffman house one evening,
picking my teeth. A long row of us
used to stand in front of the hotel
every evening about that time and
watch the streets arsas go by. I had on
yellow shoes and a pair of red silk
stockings. Quinn had told me that silk
colored stockings were the thing lust
then, so I bought two dozen of the
loudest I could find. I had on a pair
of white trousers, and I roiled them up
an inch or two. I had to do that to
show the red silk stockings. I had on
a blue and white shirt and a collar to
match that come up pretty high. But
it isn't true that it came up to
the top of my ears. I had on the new
straw and a cane. I also had a nr·ck
tie-hbut never mind about that necktie.
'Well, I was standing there with the
rest of them. picking my teeth. .A
sort of a seedy individual came along
and looked us over. Pretty soon lihe
come un to me and says he:
"'Excuse me, sir, but would you
kindly loan me 10 cents?'
"I looks at him a minute and then
1 says:
''I'll give you a quarter, pardner. If
youll'll tell me why you picked me out
off all -this crowd to strike me!'
"Well, you see', says the duck. ' I
kind of sized you up and you looked to
me like a good-natured sort of a sport
who might haye been 1broke yourself
once in a while.'
"Then the w-ise guys in the row all
laughed. I gave up the quarter and
went and bought myself a gin ricka."
S"How do you like New York as cora
Sparecd with thie West.- Mr. Flanigan.?"
"Now just drop that '1Mr. Flanigan.'
Jerry, just plain Jerry, suits me. That's
my name. When you have no ticket
and no pass and strike me somewhere
down the line, you can call me 'mis
ter.' But now I'm plain Jerry.
"As for New York, it's all right. But
the fellow that tells you that New
York is a moral town, just pass him up.
And the fellow that tells you that there
is no gambling in New York, just pass
him up harder. There may be morality
in New York, but-I don't know. The
lobsters, however, are all right. I
mean the broiled live lobsters. I ate
three of them in one day. Whole ones,
mind you. I wish now that I had
eaten a fourth one at midnight after
the show, but I took a couple dozen on
the half shell instead.
"As I have paid before, do your regu
lar eating at Shanley's. It is only three
or four blocks up the street from the
Hoffman house. In the morning eat'
a blue fish. New York is all right on
blue fish. That is where it shines. At
lunch eat a few raw oysters or clams
and a broiled live lobster. Don't take
chops or steaks: you can get just as
good out here. When you are in New
York eat sea food and fish. Then you
feel as though you were getting some
thing you can't have every day out in
the mountains.
"In the evening go to the upper
Shanley's. It's the came people, only
a few blocks farther up. You get an
orchestra to eat by, and flowers and
finely dressed people. Take a claim
chowder or a- green turtle soup, made
to order, to start off with. You miglt
swallow a dozen oysters before that, if
you feel like it. Then take a broiled
live lobster or a few reed birds, or
game of some kind, or stewed terrapin,
or anything that you feel like going
up against. There isn't a thing on
earth you can't find on Shanley's menu
except wienerwursts and sauerkraut.
Then go to the theater, and after the
show have them open a few dozen
oysters or clams or make you a Welsh
rarebit.
"If a fellow happens to get hungry
between meals he can get all kinds of
good eating at any place he may be.
Of course you don't go to any coyote
places. When you go to New York be
high-toned if it takes your last dolllr.
About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, if you
happen to be in the neigh
hood, stroll down to the
Fifth Avenue hotel. It is only a
few doors below the Hoffman house.
They have a custom down -there they
have kept up for a score of years. At
4 o'clock every afternoon they set out
a fine ham beiled in Manderia wine. ft's
a cuckoo! For a free lunch it beats
anything I ever saw. And you ought
to see the old codgers that gather
around at that hour to get a taste of
the ham and a cooling drink. They
are as fine, sleek, well-groomed a lot
of old fellows as you ever laid your
eyes on. Most all of them are pretty
well along in years. They look like
New Yorkers, every one of them. And
maybe they don't enjoy it! Well, I
was paying for everything I was get
ting, but when I ran up against that
ham, boiled in Maderia, it seemed to
me -that I was breaking in and ought
to apologize. There were so many of
those sleek, finely dressed old fellows
who seemed to have been doing it for
years. But Haldorn told me it was all
rizht.
"The trouble is they always spot a
western man in New York. At that
Quinn tells me that the westerners a:e
away ahead of the provincial New
Yorkers. He says thlat the New York
ers are in a class by themselves. You
can put on any clothes you are a
mind to and put on all the airs you
can think of, but they will catch onto
you until you have had a year or two
or seasoning. But he says that the
Montana people who come to the big
town come the nearest to being like
New Yorkers of any of them. They .re
away head of the ducks from Albany
and Syracuse or Philadelphia or Chi
cago or any of them places. There is
one way, though, they always caught
me, even after I got my New York
clothes on. I never could quit from
putting my money down on the bar.
You see, in New York, and in most of
the East at that time, you
take your drink and they
ring up the amount, a check
falls out. you take the check to the
cashier and he takes your mun. It Is
so everywhere, and the bartender can't
get no action. I got pretty well ac
quainted with the bartenders at the
Hoffman. They are all good fellows
at that. I kind of felt liberal like and
once in a while I wouldslide up to the
farthest corner of the circular bar,
call for a drink quietly, ask the bar.
keep to join me and lay down some
small change. But it was no go. I
felt kind of mellow and wanted to have
somebody else feel happy and rake off
a quarter or a half, but I couldn't get
action on them. I think the trouble
was I was too familiar with old Cadi
gan. You see, Cadigan and me was
raised together. He is manager of the
hotel. He and I would sit down and
have many a drink together. The bar
keeps saw us pretty familiar. So when
I opened the door for them and gave
them a chance, they passed me up for
a spotter.
"The fellow that takes in the cash at
the Hoffman is an old guy who
wouldn't breathe until helookedaround
to see if anybody was watching him.
There was nobody in New York that I
didn't jolly up to, if I got the chance.
So I got to kidding him and let himn
know I was from Montana. He asked
me if I knew Aleck Tarbet.
" 'Yes.' says I.
"He said nothing.
" 'Why?' says I.
Nothing,' says he. 'Only last
Christmas he handed me a $50-bill for
a Christmas present. and I have often
wanted to see him again and ask him
what he did it for. Where is Mon
tana?' "
"Did you attend the races?"
"Oh, did 1? Oh.' we used to run )over
to Shee)shead just to pass the time.
Manhattan Beach is all right,too, You
tI
"If they want to give me any Heaven, just let them put me in that car and keep
traveling forever and ever." '
can see the races at Sheepshead, go over
to the Beach, see Pain's fireworks, hear
Sousa's band and enjoy Frank Daniel's
and his company. Then you get a
broiled live lobster and go to bed where
you can hear the waves rolling up'c.n
the beach. It's all right. They may
tie it, but 'they can't beat it. Then in
the morning you put down a bluefish,
read the morning papers and .et
around. Then you take a bite of
lunch-a few oysters or a pompano or a
half a spring chicken or maybe a broil
ed live lobster. Then you take it easy
over to Sheepshead and have an early
talk with Ferguson or Tipton or Billy
Randall or Hennessy, the old Montana
jockey, and size up the bunch. Then
you go up to the betting iing and lose
your money. If a man can give you
good tips in Montana. don't size it up
that he knows it all in New York. At
that they are all good fellows.
"But that betting! Talk about hy
pocrisy! Why should a man pretend
to be good when he isnt? Why should
a city pretend that it is too good to'
permit gambling and yet allow it on
the wholesale? I am not a moralist. I
don't have time. Time is too valuable
for me to spend time in that game. If
you are gambling, why try to hide it?
If you permit betting on horse races,
why ,try to make out that you don't?
Why not own up and be a good fellow?
Then you will be respected and make
nearly as much money. As a moral
city, New York is a dead, hard failure."
"How did you make out on the
stock?"
stock?"
"Stocks give me no worry. You can
notice that I am not looking at the pa
pers to see whether they are up or
down. I am not worrying about stocks..
They said that I had bought a string
of race horses, but I didn't bring back
any in my grip. At the same time I
didn't go hungry while I was in New
York. My broker is taking care of my
interests and whether the htocks go up
or down, it doesn't phase me."
When Jerry Flanigan landed in Ana
conda a fern days ago, his grip was the
subject of much comment on the part
of those who saw it in the porter's
quarters before it was sent up to J'r
ry's room. It was plastered all over t
with foreign labels. There was "Cher
bourg" and "Hamburg" and "Paris."
The labels didn't mean that Jerry had
been across the water. They simply
meant that, as is his invariable way, he
made himself a good fellow with the
head baggageman in a New York depot,
as he does with everybody ecse. He has
a way of making more friends in less
time than any other man East or West.
The baggageman stuck on the labels
until Jerry scarcely knew whether it
was his grip or somebody's else's.
"But the trunk was worse," said
Jerry. "You ought to see that; you'd
think I had been around the world.
But maybe you think the tags on the
grip count nothing. When you go into
the Pullman with your grip all plas
tered over with them foreign labels,
Mr. Nigger gives you all he's got and
all he can get. He thinks you are some
body. and he loses no time. At that
I got cheated on the grip. I paid $15
for it at Twenty-third street, and had
it soent to the Hoffman. Then I walked
down town to meet Haldorn and Frank
Maguire. At Third street I saw the
same grip offered for $14.98."
"How about the railroad business?
D~ you think you'll ever go back?"
"flow can I help it? The best thing
on earth is traveling in a private car
and visiting the big towns, where there
is smething to see. But next to that is
the railroad business. I couldn't leave
it if 1 would, and I wouldn't if I could.
There is something so fascinating about
the railroad business that I would be
lost at anything else. If I am out of
it a month or so, I long to get back
in again. I am lost at anything else.
And then, what makes it so mulch
pleasanter, I have always been treated
so well by the Great Northern people.
If a man's half white with the Great
Northern railroad, it is the best rail
road a man ever worked for, and :J've
had lots of experience, too. .Mind fpu.
,I say 'half white.' If a young r10an
wants to start out and go into the
railroad business, my advice to him is
to tie up to the Great Northern road.
If he wants to do what is right his
chances are better with that road than
any I ever had anything to do with."
A Glacier Full
of Grasshopp es.
There are many remarkable glaciers
in that part of the Rocky mountains
that crosses the southern border of
Montaha. A part of this region has
hitherto been unmapped, and t's more
elevated portions were unvisited and
unnamed until last summer, wheq a
geological party piloted ,the way up the
mountains and discovered some of the
largest' glaciers in the temperate.-re
gions of the wegterri world. Heredrise
Granite peak, which, according to 'lr.
Gannett, is the culminating point of
Montana, 12.824 feet high.
Among the glaciers found in these
mountains and recently described by
James P. Kimball is Grasshopper gla
cier, which derives its name from the
enormous quantity of grasshopper re
mains that are found on and in the
glacier. Periodically the grasshoppers
that thrive in the prairie to the north
take their flight southward and must
needs cross the mountains. Their fav
orite route seems to be across this wide
glacier, and in the passage scores' of
thousands of them succumb to the
rigor bf cold and wind, fall helpless
upon the snow and are finally entqrhb
ed in the ice. In the cotftse of time
billions of them have been the victims
of this glacier. They are, of course,
carried by -the ice river down into the
valley and deposited at the melting
edge of the ice, and Mr. Kimball say B
that thousands of tons of grasshopper 4i
remains are the principal material'
the lower edge of the glacier. We hear
very often of rocks and sand as form
ing the terminal moraine of glacle,.
but here is a glacier whose princlp t
moralinal material is grasshoppers.
These insect remains are washed out
of the ice in furrows wherever the
sun's heat has grooved the surface in
to rivulets of descending water. Th'
grasshoppers permeate the glacier from
top 4t bottom. No fragment of ice can
b* broken so small as not to contain
remains. Most of the insects have
been reduced to a coarse powder, and
the furrows of them washed out "by
the rivulets and naturally disposed in
parallel lines are very dark in color.
Who Is Father
of the Railway.
From the London Chronicle.
Who is the "father of railwayS?"
Books of reference give the distinction
to George Stephenson and Dr. Smiles
has enshrined the claim in his "'IA've
of the Engineers." But an effort is"plow
being made to sellure recognition of the
.claim of William James, a Warwick
shire contemporary of Stephensot:' it
appears that in 1799-when George Ste
phenson was a lad of 18-William James
was engaged in laying out plans for
railroads. In 1802 he journeyed into
Lancashire for railway survey pur
poses and conceived the idea of estab
lishing railroads between Liverpool
and Manchester, Bolton and other
towns for the carriage of cotton and
general goods.
Between 1819 and 1820 James project
ed a line called the central Junctl' n
railroad, a portion of which, between
Stratford-on-Avon and Moreton-in-the
Marsh. with a branch line to Skipton,
was actually laid. In 1821-22 Mr. James
formed the first railway company in
England. the Liverpool & Manchester.
and in the family papers it is alleged
that Stephenson in surveying its line
merely followed in his footsteps. Sir
Edward WVatkin and other leaditng
railway men are strongly impressed
by the claim of the Warwickshire man
to be the pioneer of our railway sys
tem, and a committee has been formed
for the purpose of getting his service
recognized.