Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1920 — Oldest Conductor in World Runs Southern Indiana Train [ARTICLE]

Oldest Conductor in World Runs Southern Indiana Train

If Doctor Osler were to visit Orleans. Ind., with a side trip on the Monon railroad, he probably would receive a shock —not so much from the rumble of the train but at John Bills, age eighty-nine, alert and active, its conductor, — Bills makes the round trip three times each day between Orleans and French Lick, a distance of 18 miles. He has been in the Monon service approximately forty years, having been a railroad man prior to that time in the West during the pioneer days. Bills is married, he and his wife having made -their home there for manv vears. He not only performs the usual ‘duties of 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 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.