Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 310, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1919 — OLDEST CONDUCTOR IN WORLD WITH THE MONON. [ARTICLE]

OLDEST CONDUCTOR IN WORLD WITH THE MONON.

Orleans, Ind., Dec. 26.-—ls Dr. Olser were to come to Indiana with . a side trip on the Monon railroad he probably would receive a shock. Not so much from the rumble of the train but— John Bills, age eighty-nine, alert and active is a conductor. Bills makes the round, trip three times each day between Orleans and French Lick, a distance of eighteen miles. He has been in the Monon service approximately forty yeafe, having been a railroad man prior to that time in the west during the pioneer days. J Bills is married, he and his wife having made their home here for many years. He hot only performs the usual duties of a passenger conductor, but at times when it becomes necessary to turn the accommodation into a mixed train, Bills helps out as a brakeman. As the slow moving engine picks its way through the southern Indiana hills John Bills frequently may be seen sealing a box car and riding atop -his train. He .is the oldest active railroad conductor in the world.