" THE SUNDAY OKEGOSIAX. TjORTLAXD, MARCH 10, 1915. ; ,
TfainSikgiTni Of The Ifcflki
The Cop Who Built fr '
Now IforR's. Greatest Brid ' "Tjlll
v?l ' ' tH. Wfli l Jill 1 I IWif
iii
BEHIND every big undertaking
there Is a aury. lomelimtl of
tragiHiy. iumtlmi of humor,
lomttlmci of romance, sometimes of
til three. Kw of these aiorlra aver
bcomi public. They are locked la
:he minds of those who are a party
:o them. You wouldn't expect much
of romance In each and every one of
New York's bridges. The Brooklyn
BrMsre, the first of the (Treat susten
tion structures to span the East Hirer.
:s famed the world over for Its beauty,
ret how many persons know the story
at Washington Hoebling. Its builder.
He contracted that frightful disease,
low known aa the "bends, while
working In the bridge caissons, and all
the time thereafter he directed his men
nd watched the progress of the work
from his bed In building that over
looked the river. Never In all tha
years that bridge was building was
ne upon the structure, and It Is said
he never has crossed tha bridge ha
tullt.
There Is a (trance parallel between
:he case of Roeulinic and that of Pat
rick I'.yan. the policeman who built
;he Manhattan Bridge. Ryan broke
tn arm and a leg and was laid ur for
4 time whan his bridge was building.
Prom start to finish Hyan watched tha
oroKrces of work on tha structure
from aa office way up near the top
5f the maminuth lark How building.
With powerful glasses held to his eyes
he swept tha structure from end to
r.d. and as one place of steel after
mother was put Into place be recorded
the fact on a chart be kept by his aids.
He has crossed the bridge ones, and
nl- once, and that after it was com
pleted and turned over to the city.
Kvan Is a queer genius. lie was
born In Buffalo In llil, but US
Youngstown. .. that claims hint. Ha
went to Youncstown when he was
only a year old. and he grew up In
the classic section of that city that
I known locally as Kilkenny. His
father had a bit of a farm, but hi
I Terse Tales From
A ItESOVRt EKl X WOJ.W.
Miss Mary Donnelly, cashier of Mrs.
O. H. P. Belmont's new "suffrage
lunch-room" in New York, was praising
suring the afternoon lull the resource
fulness of her sex.
"Let the antl-suf fraglats beware."
he said. "Woman Is bound to get the
vote everrwhere. She is too resource
ful to lose.
How roseurceful woman Is! A
gtrl sat In the train one dar with an
uncut magazine In her hand. She
wasn't reading; she couldn't. She was
Just lifting apart the edgea of the un
cut leaves and nearly atandlng on her
head to peer at the test and pictures
within. So an old gntlemn across
the aisle took out his knife shyly.
But the girl d.dn t look at him. She
kept on peering between her uncut
pases. And finally the old gentleman
opened Ms knife and reached across tha
als'e. but
-The girl drew a hairpin from her
pretty coiffure and proceeded to cut
the leaves briskly.
The old gentleman drew back and
his oeichhors smiled, thereupon he said,
aotto voice:
' Tve heard that woman can do any
thing with a hairpin, but. at any rata,
she cant sharpen a rencll without a
p nknlfe.
-At that moment tha girl, still In
tently resding. took a pencil from her
I ochetbook. bit three or four splinters
of wood off the end of It. and rslmly
mad a note on the margin of lb
magazine."
COERU SHERWOOD'S ADV1CK.
General Sherwood, who represents
the Toledo district tn the House, and
who la the leading advocate of birer
tnalon appropriations, worked for
nearly a year getting a pension for
an Ohio woman, according to th
plttaburg Dispatch. Her husband, aa
ex-soldier, had been away from bom
for years, and nobody actus?!? saw hint
die, but th arldenc ail Indicated that
- ' i m
largest crop was children. lis naa
nine daughter and this one son, Pat
rick. The boy had to do his share
toward supporting tha family. Ha
was only 1 when ha started aa a
teamster hauling coal and pig Iron for
the furnaces about Youngstown. Ha
was a lad of tremendous strength; ha
could load and unload In half the time
of the ordinary teamster, and usually
be drew bigger loads than the other
men. He wasn't afraid of work, and
he always wanted to do lust as much
of It as he could. He waa not always
looking at the clock or asking the time
to ascertain how near It was to the
hour of Quitting. What ha did. ha did
heartily, honestly, with spirit. He
waa auuh a good teamster that ha at
tracted attention. When he was M
year old there wa a Job of excavet
lng lo be awarded in Youngstown. Tha
teamster bid on it. His bid nil tha
loweat of any submitted. It wa so
low that the other bidder scoffed and
declared If ha got tha contract be
never cauld fulfill It; that his men
never would ba paid. There was a
man in Youngstowo who had so much
confidence tn the teamster that he
stood sponsor for him. The ma a wa
C. 11. Audrswa. The teamster got the
contract. 11a did that Job In a way to
surprise the natives. Jle completed it
ahead of time, and aa an answer to
those who said bis men would not be
paid h made every day a payday while
the work wa under way. and ha made
some money for himself beside.
After that Hyan weut on the police
force. Youngstown has not a very big
police establishment ten or 11 men
comprising the whole organisation,
iiysn was a member of tha force six
years, lis started a a patrolman and
wound up a chief. Incidentally he
carried on hia business as a contractor
while he still was a policeman.
Youngstown was not big enough to
hold h.ru and b sought new fields. He
got the contrsct for building a railroad
from New Cll to Akron. Ohio, and
made quit a lot of money out of It-
There waa
one peculiar happening in
with this undertaking.
connection
ni
Humorous Pens
ha was dead, and th pension wa
granted. Just about the urn th
woman received her flrat payment,
Sherwood got a letter from her, say
ing: "My husband ha Just returned hem.
What shall I doT"
Sherwood returned her letter with
these words scrawled al th bottom:
'Kill him."
fWEET LlTTXa BARRY.
"Ma." aald little Harry, according to
the Chicago Record-Herald, Til tell
you what you ought to do."
"What, dear?" hi mother asked.
"Tou ought to go over to Ilv la
some country wher the people are
Mohammedans."
"What on earth ever put such a
thought as that Into your dear head,
darling?"
- 'Cause over ther they think all fat
women are beautiful."
"Harry! If you dar. to open your
.nouth again tht evening you will be
ent to bed with nothing to eat."
A FIZZLE FOR THE EXPERT.
A case concerning motor driving wa
oa hand, aaya Th Montreal Star, when
the chauffeur declared that whan driv
ing at 40 miles an hour ha could. If
necessary, rull up In 19 or 12 feat.
"I'm!" aald the Judge.
An expert waa tha next weeupant of
the box.
Said hi lordship: "If a motor car
were traveling at 40 m!l an hour, and
th breaks could b put on In such a
manner as to stop It within 1 or 11
feet, where would the driver go?"
"Pepends very much on tha sort of
life he d been living." said th expert,
A MEDICAL TIUIMPH.
rr Simon O. Ruthvan. the distin
guished ophthalmologist of Little
p.ock. wa ."ked by a Journalist at a
luncheon la York, ay Th Bun,
1 I
Ryan and his men were at work near
Kent. Ohio, on the day that President
Uarfield died. The railroad track was
to follow the course of the tow-pulh
of the Cuyahoga. In clearing y
some stulf they came upon a rock upon
which was carved:
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
As a barefoot boy Garfield had driven
a mule along the tow-path, and at the
Falls of the Cuyahoga had carved his
name upon that bowlder, which was to
be uncovered only on tha day of his
death.
Hyan might have remained In Ohio
for tha rent of his life, and had but a
Ideal reputation. He saw, or thought
he saw, more opportunity In New York,
and he came here. Tens of thousands
of persona ought to know him by the
Inconvenience he has caused them, but
they do not. As a rlppor he is a won
der. He has torn up more miles of
New York streets than probably any
other half dozen men. In Manhattan
alone he has laid 17s miles of pipes,
and every one of those mlies of plpa,
means a mile of street. There Is hardly
au avenue that he has not performed
a master operation on. Broadway he
has torn up from end to end. Inci
dentally he has built some structures
of con.idsrable size. He built Klver
side Iirive from 135th street to H6th
street. The great Riverside power
house of the IUllsun Company was put
up by him. So was the main power
houne of the Interborough Rapid Tran
sit Company. So were tha foundations
for the yucensboro Bridge and tha
Williamsburg Bridge. In fact, the big
gest masonry and concrete work any
where In this part of the country came
within his range.
All this was ordinary and common
place, and Mr. Ryan would have passed
along as a successful contractor and
nothing more if It had not been for the
aplrlt of adventure that came to him
with hie Irish blood. It was while ha
was under contract to build tha founda
tions for the Williamsburg Bridge that
the adventure that brousht him lo hia
present prominence started. There
had been some delay in his work, and
Ryan got restless. He does not like
Idleness. He has the same energy to
day that he had when he wa team
ing out In Ohio. If he cannot keep busy
mm
about a certain sensational medical
discovery.
"It all seems about as likely to me,"
said rr. Ruthven. "as the case of tha,
t ennsylvanla student.
"A Pennsylvania student burrylnsi
out Powelton avenue was stopped by a
friend.
'What's your burryr ssked the
friend: "A good cater
"A good case? Rather!" said th
student. 'We've got In the ophthalmo
loglcal ward a woman so cross-eyed
that the tears run down her back.'
"'Dear me!" said the other. "You
can't do anything for ber. can your
"Of course, we can.' the student an
swered. 'Wa are treating her for bac
teria.' "
Judge "Ar you guilty er not
guilty T"
Prlsonsr "I'll let you .know as soon
as my lawyer gets through dickering
with the District Attorney over my
probabl eutance,"
Jl W "Tit
on on Job he will hunt up another.
Just then the City of New York wa
In something of a mess over a mighty
bridge that was to be built- The bridge
was to be known as the Manhattan, and
waa to be the greatest of all the' struc
tures that span the East River. It-was
to have mora than twice the capacity of
tite Brooklyn bridge. The Pennsylvania
Steel Company had the contract for it
at a very handsome figure, but some
enterprising citizen, who thought there
was a look of jobbery to the affair,
brought action to upset the award. The
court sustained him, holding that tha
term under which the uecitlcatlon
were drawn were unlawful, as they pre
vented competition. New specification
had to be prepared and nw bid re
quested. Mr. Ryan made up hi mind
not only to bid but to build that bridge.
The l'ennsylvanla company econd
bid was 00.600 less than its first bid.
But Ryan' bid wa 1103,90 lower than
the Pennsylvania'.
Mr. Hyan did not realli at the time
that he had committed a criminal of
fense In the eyes of soma of the gentle
men who art great in the ateel Industry.
The bridge people had it all cicely ar
ranged among themsolve bow the work
on tue Manhattan bridge was to ba dis
tributed how much this company wa
to have and how muoh that. It was
against all the rules of decency that a
common, ordinary contractor should
"butt lu'' and spoil tha garni, espe
cially a many million of dollar were
involved. Mr. Ryan wa informed qui
etly that it would ba good for him to
back' out while the backing wa good,
but ha was not that kind. Instead he
laughed at those who approached him.
He did not have any doubt of hi own
ability. and ha had assurance of any
financial support required.
In addition to tha Influential connec
tions he had mad in his business h
had met a gentleman who had an idea
that he was on Intimate terms with the
Gucgenheiins, Charles M. Schwab, J.
Ple.po.it Morgan and numerous other
financial glanta. This gentleman said
he was related to one of tha most pow
erful forces In Tammany Hall. Through
Mr. Schwab and other steel magnates
he could buy steel less the commission.
This wuuld be a great saving on the
thousands and thousands of tons that
would go into the construction of the
Manhattan bridge. Through Mr. Mor
gan and through hi Tammany relative
Quips and Flings
"My daughter Is so pretty that I
can t Interest ber In th serious thing
of life."
"She may Jos har good look om
day."
So I tell her. And then h'll b
sorry that she didn't learn to play
bridge." Washington Herald.
"That etory of th building of the
Tower of Babel should b modernized."
"Hut how would you account for th
confusion of tongues?"
"Why, I suppose they had tb tower
pretty nearly up and then omebody
yelled 'Graft!' and everybody accused
everybody els and th Job wa bald
up.
Th horny-handed on of toll, who
had Just Inherited a fortune, want to
see a ntanluure.
"Can you do anything with these,
ma am?" ha asked, exhibiting hi hands.
"Yes. lr." ah said, "after you'v
gone to a surgeon and had those crack
sewed up. I don't meddle with Job
that belong to th regular practltlon
era." Chicago- Tribune-
e
Elijah wa being fed by raven.
"Th remarkable fact 1 that they
return when they haven't bean, tipped!"
he cried. New York Gun.
see
Griggs So Smart la going t marry
hi divorced wife?
Briggs Y'ea, the mercenary cuss 1
after the alimony he pay her. New
York Times.
Wife George, before we married
you told me that you would go through
fire and water for me.
Hubby And o I would, dearie, wil
lingly. Wife Then go and discharge the
cook Judge.
e
Hub (antrrily) What! More money?
When I'm dead you'll probably have to
beg for all the money yon get,
wife .(calmy) Well, I'll bs better
TT - T T Ti
he could arrange fof- all the bond Bee
denary and could get these bonds at a
figure no other man could approach.
Only contractors know-how burdensome
these bonds are. One little illustration
will serve, perhaps, to enlighten the
public.
There is a contractor building a dam
at Kenalco. The bond on his work is
$40,000 a year. Before he gets through
he will have paid 1400,000 to the surety
company that furnished the bond.
Mr. Ryan was not very long in dis
covering that the people who told him
to back out or he would have serious
trouble knew what they were talking
about. He had his flrst trouble over his
bond. Effort was made to upset the
contract because he did not have surety
companies as his guarantors. There
was a good reason why he did not have
them. None of them would go on bis
bond for love or money. The gentle
man who bad such intimate relation
with the Guggenheim, Schwab, Pler
pont Morgan and others, including tha
Tammany official, proved a broken
reed la this emergency. Ryan would
hava been In a mens at this time had It
not been for hi lawyer, who dug up
securities valued at J3.000.000 and
turned them over to two men he en
gaged to qualify as bondsmen. Soon,
however, the opposition saw that these
bondsmen were only dummies and the
attack wa renewed. By this time, how
ever, Ryan was better prepared. In
cash and city bonds 1550,000 wa de
posited with the Controller and two
bondsmen of ample wealth qualified for
the remainder of the bond. With the
matter of surety straightened out Ry
an' path seemed clear. But tha fight
wa only beginning.
First proposition were mad to him
to resign his contract for a consider
ation. He declined, although he could
step out then and there with a profit
of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Seeing that he was determined, tha
ooDosltion told him to proceed. Mr.
Ryan tried to but did not make much
I headway. When he wrote to steel and
bridge companies requesting them to
give him figures on some of his work
he rot no resDonse to his letters. He
wrote again and tha result was the
same. Then ha wrote to other steel and
bridge companies. Again there was
no response. He wrote to nearly every
steel concern, of consequence In Amer
ica and was Ignored. Then Mr. Ryan
off than om poor woman who never
had any practlce.-Boston Transcript.
Mr. Flubdub--Tgu women are mighty
low. During th tim it took you to
seleot that hat I went out and made
two hundred dollar.
Mr. Flubdub I'm glad, dr.
You'll need ! Puck.
"What dirty hand you have, John
nie!" said hi teacher. "What would
you aay If I came to. school that way?'
"I wouldn't ay nothln'," replied
Johnnie. "I'd be too polite." Delin
eator. She Say, are those poems In th pa
per signed Oedipus yours?
He Yes.
Bhe Well, the girl persisted that
they were and I alway spoke up for
youFlignde laetter.
Btaylat (at 11:45 P, M.)-r-Th light
Is going out.
Mis Weary Are you) going to let
It beat you? Boton Transorlpt
Ann Tlque "I hate to think of my
thirtieth birthday."
Miss Nlpp "Why cry over pilled
milk.1"'
ti
realized what he was contending
against. Every steel and- bridge com
pany, in the United States had closed
its doors on him. The steel combina
tion and all its friends had determined
to ruin him, and through ruining him
to warn every other contractor from
invading sacretd territory.
Ryan had done work for some very
big men heads of big corporations. He
went to them, explained the situation
and asked their aid. They tried to use
their good offices in his behalf. They
were politely but distinctly told to keep
out. There were some millionaires out
in the Youngstown country. Mr. Ryan
sought their aid toward opening the
steel market to him. They did their
best In his behalf, but all their efforts
were in vain.
With a 6,483,00 contract on his hand
and a 13,000,000 bond up. Mr. Ryan was
having a real pleasant time. Being
Irish, however, and having graduated
with lull honor from the Kilkenny
patch of Youngstown, ha had no
thought of surrender. Unable to "swat"
his enemies with any weapon he could
dlsoover In these United States, he
sought one abroad. Just when the steel
combination here thought he was help
less ha laughed at them, and then told
them why ha laughed. He said that at
the first intimation of what ha was up
against he had sent to Belgium and had
obtained figures from the steel manu
facturer there that would enable htm
to land his-material here In New York
at a prlc lower than the steel combi
nation would quota under ordinary
conditions.
Ha bated, ha told tha steel people, to
spend so much good money on the for
eigners, but the rapaclousness and ras
cality of the American steel men had
forced him to act as he had, and they
would lose tha whole thing. Besides,
It would teach a very useful lesson t
them.
This information was most unpleas
ant and salutary. A little while after
Mr. Ryan made the announcement the
Phenix Company of Philadelphia took
tha contract for the tower and trusses
of the suspension structure. This did
not settle the matter by aay means.
Fully as Important as tha structural
steel Itself was the making; of tha wire
to go into the cables. There are near
ly 8000 strands of wire In each cable.
Mr. Ryan negotiated with one of the
foremost wire-making concerns, but
Umond the Poeta of the Daily Press
arnw rllKiil THE) TIME.
Now come tha gladsome time whan all
Th quiet of the dell
I shattered Into fragment mali
By politician' yell: -Now
come the gladsome time when
men,
In talking Schedule K,
Upon the streetcar argu then
rjraw blood in hameles way.
Now came the time when one can hear
From ''San Fran" to New York,
The ''A" note sounded loud and clear
Upon the tuning fork;
Tor now the quartet studies deep
O'er tariff right and wrongs,
And soon will put the world to sleep
With undry comic songs-
Now come th time when Pullman plat
Form sag with genius great,
When a man will leave a comfy flat
To hear hi choice orate;
Now come th time when through the
land
vn aw wood nv make hay;
Alack! year fly to beat the band,
Aa Will Shakespeare wou.q say.
Denver Republican.
THE GHOST.
I hava wondered, a have most.
Why w often say: "The ghost
Walk today," when payday' here.
And I must admit I ne'er -Took
the pains to ferret out
How the saying cafm about.
But to hazard Just a guess
At what seem so meaningless
I will venture this urmil
Thn H 1 our pirlta rise.
GOI.S" PARTOUT.
Whene'er I talk my walk abroad.
I see the golfer delve the sod;
No matter to what clime I book,
That's boomed by Baedeker and Cook,
From fair Dieppe to Southern Pau,
De Jeu de golf e'est comme il faut;
In Switzerland, or sunny Spain,
I strive to fly from golf In vain.
And e'en Italia' aoil haa felt
the price quoted was prohibitive and
the time within which the company
would supply the material was too
long. He negotiated with the New
Haven Steel & Wire Company to buy
their plant and manufacture his own
wire. He would have closed' the deal,
too, but for the fact that he broke one
of his arms and one of his legs Just
then, and was so incapacitated he was
afraid he could not give personal at
tention to that work.
The Carbon Steel Company took the
contract for the wire, but Ryan could
not get any concern in the country to
supply the cable bands. He never had
been a machinist, but he rigged up a
plant on Crotch Island, off the coast of
Maine, where he was quarrying stone,
and on that barren spot he made the
cable bands successfully.
The steel combination never knew
until it was too late that all Ryan's talk
about that deal with the Belgium mills
was bluff. What he would have done it
the bluff had not worked Is a ques
tion, but what he did when the blufi
did work is a matter of record. He beat
all records in the construction of great
bridges. Hardly were the foundations
ready than the steel for the piers was
there to be set. Ryan Is a good organ
izer. He established a storage place al
Bayonne for all the material for the
bridge, and there never was delay after
the work really began. . The estimated
time for the building of the structure
was seven years, but the policeman
from Youngstown built It in 23 months,
and when be finished he got a testimo
nial from the city such as no other
bridge builder of recent day has re
ceived. In addition to the bridge proper, he
got the contract for the building of the
approaohes. This add-ed 13,168.000 to
the price for the wprk and brought
Ryan's total pay up to $8,668,000.
For a man who started hi business
career a teamster, who has ripped
Manhattan wide open, who has been
handling thousands of men and millions
of dollars, Mr. Ryan has one record
that probably I unique. He never took
whisky but once. That was the day he
broke hi arm and his leg. He probably
would not have taken it then but for
the Insistence of the doctors. He did not
like the taste of the stuff, and It would
take a regiment of doctors tq make him
take another drink.
(Copyright, 1912, by Richard Splllane.)
The golf stroke of th conquering Celt,
ins m.it ui uwo 1 - - -
They've made them even By me
Sphinx
On wonder what the image thinks.
With ' Pharaoh' dust, wlti Caesar's
clay.
The caddie make your te today.
Golf Illustrated.
TUB VOTER.
Oh. happy la the voter's lot
And halcyon hi days.
For statesmen of renown now vl
His qualities to praise.
The tributes to his acumen.
Are heard on every side,
And, all in all, he may be said
To feel Just like a bride.
Oh, sad will be the voter's lot
When dies election day.
He won't be indispensable.
No word will cheer his way.
A mighty come-down it will be
When bursts his fleeting boom,
And doubtless he then will feel
Exactly like the groom.
Oh, costry Is the voter's lot
While four years roll away,
" For tariffs, rivers, pensions, ships,
He will be taxed to pay.
And when he digs into his Jean.
With grim and bankrupt air
He then will feel exactly like
The father of the pair.
New York Sun.
STARTED AT THE BOTTOM.
His rise was very rapid, aa
His neighbors all declare;
He was once a chlropldlst.
But now he's clipping hair.
Birmingham Age-Herald.
WARSIXO.
If you live too fast, now, mind you.
Folks will soon walk slow behind you.
For too much of rush and hustle
Speeds the time of bush and rustle.