I’ve
had some off-List responses to my Miss Management story, including comments on
the competence of the individuals, so I thought I’d say a bit more about
the two main characters.
As I mentioned, Potter went to Union Pacific in May 1887 as vice-president but
didn’t live long to enjoy his promotion. He had been sick for some time, probably
from exhaustion and over-work, and he died in the following January. He was
acclaimed in the trade magazines as “probably the most distinguished
railroad manager of his age in the country.” The Engineers and Firemen at Burlington referred to Potter as
“our friend” in resolutions extending their condolences to the
family, even though he had left the company. His funeral was attended by many prominent railway officials from all parts of
the country, many of whom travelled on the special train of seven coaches that
the Burlington ran from Chicago.
A Potter Memorial
Committee was established in Burlington to finance a memorial to him, and the
initial proposal was to have a bronze statue sculptured. Over $3,00 was
collected, the equivalent of about $75,000 today, to erect a monument. However,
Potter’s wife suggested that the money should instead be given to
Burlington Public Library to buy books that related to railroad history. There
are also memorials in the Aspen Grove Cemetery where Potter was buried.
Stone, on the other hand, was not mourned by workers when he was killed trying
to relight a 4th July firework in 1897. He had left the Burlington in 1890,
after the Burlington strike was settled, and became President of the Chicago Union Telephone Co. The Brotherhoods accused him of
being confrontational and keen on a conflict in
order to destroy the Brotherhood. They blamed
him for the strike taking so long to be resolved and, four years after his death, the animosity felt by the Brotherhood
had hardly dissipated. The editor of the Loco Fireman’s Magazine, in
December 1901, commented “H. B. Stone defeated the engineers and firemen
and, by God’s will, blew himself up with a cannon fire cracker”.
Not the greatest of epitaphs!
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ