Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1915 — VETERAN OF THE RAIL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VETERAN OF THE RAIL

UTICA CLAIMS OLDEST MEMBER OF ORGANIZATION. Charter Member of Order That Was Formed in 1863 Is M. J. Carroll —Now Has Retired From Active Service. Utica’s position as an important railroad center makes it especially fortunate in being able to number many of these skillful and daring drivers of the iron horse among its citizens. Utica division, No. 14, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, is one of the most popular and progressive in the state and among its members are . many who have made records that stand unsurpassed in the history of railroading in this country, says the Utica Globe. /Added distinction is also due the Utica division in the fact that it claims to have the oldest member of the organization lir the United States, Canada or Mexico. This veteran of the rails is M. J. Carroll of 312 South street. When division No. 14 was formed, September 14, 1863, Mr. Carroll was one of its charter

members and through all the years his interest in the welfare of the order has been second to none. When in a reminiscent mood Mr. Carroll can tell stories of railroading that are a revelation to the engineers of modern days. He was born in Manheim, Herkimer county, in 1837, and came of a family of railroad men, his father and his four brothers following that occupation. In 1852, when he was fifteen years old, he went to Little Falls and obtained employment as water boy tor a gang of trackmen under William A. Everts, where he remained for one summer. The following year he worked on the section under his father, who was track boss at East Creek. Under the consolidation of divisions, in 1854, when he was seventeen years old, Mr. Carroll secured a position as fireman on a work train which covered the territory between Albany and Syracuse. The work was hard for a boy, but he went at it with a will and promotion soon came, when, after six months, he was called to Utica and given the position as fireman on a freight train running between this city and Syracuse. He was too good a fireman to remain long in that position and within a few months he was firing on a passenger train on the Syracuse division, with Isaac Vrooman as engineer. By this time he was getting used to being promoted, so he was not surprised when, on September 1, 1857, he was given a position as freight engi-i neer. He continued to hold this for nine years and was then advanced to passenger engineer and had a run from Utica to Syracuse, until the extension of the division to Albany. At this time double crews were put on passenger engines and Mr. Carroll was mated with M. Rickard and they ran passenger trains between Albany and Syracuse for 12 years. Mr. Rickard was then elected railroad commissioner and for the next five years Mr. Carroll had Anthony Myers as. his running mate. At the expiration of that time the rule was adopted requiring engineers to undergo a physical examination, the men going in pairs to New York, as they could be spared. As a result Mr. Carroll was taken off the road and given a position as driver of an engine in the Utica yards, where he -continued until he reached the age limit of seventy years, when he retired. During all his railroad career Mr. Carroll had but one serious accident and that was at Verona, when his en* gine ran into a switch that had been blocked with ties, supposedly by persons desiring to wreck and rob the train. The engine was derailed and Mr. Carroll’s brother, Charles B. Carroll, now a resident of John street, who was firing, was slightly injured. Mr. Carroll has represented division No. 14, B. of L. E., at conventions at Atlanta, Ga., and at Chicago and for 26 years he had charge of the insurance of the local division and of the first assistant engineers. For many years he was secretary of his division and filled the office with honor to himself and to the organization. One of his choicest possessions is the badge of the order, which is in the form of a scroll, inclosing a locomotive, with a shield pendant, and bearing the following Inscription: “Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Honorary Member. G. L D.”

M. J. Carroll.