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C Hap Ter Five r· .} .. ~' l.'i' ! C HAP TER FIVE Having worked at the City Engineering Departmen~ more than six months, I became better a~qualnted with its management. There was no doubt in the minds of anr employee who was the boss. That position was held by Mr. Wm. B. Fowler, without any pretence of challenge from anybody on the payroll, or anybody doing business with the Department. He had not reached the age of forty, and looked even younger. A nice looking well built man. His curley hair had a sandy color with a faint tent of red. His brown eyes were not prominant, because they were kind of squinted into a round face with a rugged outdoors complexion. His actions were aggressive, his retorts were slashing. When things in the big office wern't going to his satisfaction, he'd yell, "If you can't do any better, I'm gonna fire everybody here, and write my own check." One of those calm days, when everybody in the office was quietly concentrating on their work. Mr. Fowler came bursting in. He shouted, "Who sold that house number on Roper's Alley?" There was a City ordinance prohibiting the issue of a house Dumber on any throfare less than 30 feet wide. Mr Pitts, the permit clerk, answered with a quivering voice, "I thought it was all right." Mr. Fowler snapped back, "Thought Hell, you're not paid to think. If you don't know, ask somebody that does, or you won't be here' long." Chief clerk, Dusty Miller, a distant second in comand of office business, raised his head up from his roll-top desk, hopeing to rescue Pitts, said, "Bill, our map shows Roper's Alley to be 30 feet wide." l-lr Fowler took two quick steps in Dusty's direction, and yelled, "By God, if you're so smart, show me the map." Dusty rose to his feet, like a dizzy prize fighter getting off the floor, and when he got to the file cabinet, he couldn't find the map. Mr. Fowler stood for about two minutes, shouting hell-raising exclamations, then turned and walked out of the room. For a minute, the only noise to be heard was the wall-elock ticking. Garvie whispered a question to me, "Did you ever see an man, Dusty' size, ~ry to crawl into a cabinet drawer?" f Before Mr. Fowler became CityEngineer in September 1918, he was a private contractor with his partner, Frank Koehler. They constructed several of the existing sUbways under the tracks on Railroad Ave. r was told, Mr. Crump took a liking to Bill Fowler, and gave him the name, "doer". Shorty Ryan, chief draftsman, lived a quiet batchlor's life at the Catholic Club. He had never been in real good health, and in the last several months, his health became worse. After being confined to his ro~m, he became bed-ridden. His condition grew serious and the doctor sent him to the hospital, where he lingered a few weeks before he died. The drafting department was left with a limited amount of experience. There was only Garvie and Young who had degrees in engineering. Neither had been with the department long enough to be familiar with the many problems that had to be handled. Mr. Fowler. Dave Renfro, and Mr. Mattox made 8 very practical decision when they transferred Tom Maxson from chief of a survey party to chief' draftsman. Tom had an engineering degree from Texas A & M. Before coming to the City, July 2, 1924, he had worked in the engineering dept. at the Frisco R.R. Everybody liked Tom. He was a good mixer and enjoyed witt and humor. He was aware of the department problems, and knew the answers. As 24 c: I mentioned "before, Tom was a hard and conscientious worker. I felt sure he would enhance the respect for the drafting department. Walter Irvin, one of the fellows I worked with at the map Co., came by to visit me at the Rngineering Dept. He told me, he was in need of 8 job. I knew Walter was single, in his middle 208, and lived with mother on South Parkway. I told Walter the salaries for draftsmen in our department were nothing to\ 'twhoop and Holler about. II His respon·ce was, "All I need is enough money to support my social life." He was 8 fancy dresser, and I'd b~en tGld, he was quite a man about town.. I sug~ested, he go and talk to Mr. Fowler. I warned him that Mr. Fowler was a man of various moods. you might be lucky and catch him in a good humor. To my surprise, Walter got the job. After Walter Irvin started to work for the Engineering Dept., he told the folks there, I was related to the famous Scotch singer, Sir Harry Lauder. That information, although raIse, fixed the nick name of "Harry" on me. That nick name stuck with me during the 45 years I remained with the department. As Irvin was making his nightly social rounds, he ran across another draftsman who worked with us at the Hap Co. Irvin must have shared his secret of, how to cinvince Bill Fowler, because within 8 few days, in came Earl Rennick to work as 8 draftsman in our depArtment. Earl was a small fellow in his early 208, and looked younger. He was b~essed with the best disposition I had ever known. Everything that happened was runny to Earl. He would be at his table, quietly working, and suddenly he'd burst out laughing. When asked, "what's so funny?" he'd reply, "shucks, I thought of something that happened last night," When the field party chiefs came into the office , around one o~~clock, ~o~ th8i~ art8rROO~ assignments, they would wander bBCk into the drafting area. Sometimes we had questions about their surveys which they could answer'rAnd sometimes it was just idle conversation. On such visits, I got acquainted with Frank Tobey. Frank grew up in Memphis. He attended"college at Queen's University in Canada, where he received his engineering degree. After college, Frank went into the contracting business. In West Tennessee there were a lot of dredging contracts awarded by newly organized Drainage Districts. Frank bought modern equipment, including coal fired boilers. That gave him an advantage over his competitors. Everything was going fine untill World War I came along, and he couldn't get any coal. The fatal blow came when the DrainAge Districts were unable to sell their bonds on the market. The only way the Districts could pay the contractor was with bonds that couldn't be cashed. Under those circumstances, Toby went broke. On January 10, 1924, Tobey got a job at the City Engineering Dept. as survey party chief. His starting salary was $150 per month. At an early age, Frank's mother insisted he take voice lessons. By 1927 he had become very popular, singing in church choirs, and was elso able to pick up some extra money, singing at club meetings. One day Frank came into the office a little before noon. He told us he had an engagement to sing that day at 8 luncheon club. He was dressed nicely in a dark blue pin-stripped suit. As Frank turned to leave, somebody hollered, "Hey, Frank, you Fot a hole in the seat of your pants." Sure enough that thread-bare cloth had yielded to stress, and his white underware was showing. With a look of' distress, Frank pleaded, tIle/hat can I do, I've got to make that money?" Tom Maxson, in a soothing voice, said, "quiet down, back up to me and I'll fix you." Frank backed upto him, holding his coat-tail out of the way. Maxson shook a bottle of black India ink, took the stopper out, and painted Frank's white underware black with the quill. Away Frank went, his face still a little red. About 1:30 o'clock~ in came Frank smiling from ear to ear. in answer to the question, ttHow didger make out?" Frank said, "Fine, I walked on the stage sideways, with my butt to the back curtain, and I walked orf the same way. I don't think anybody knew the difference." Massey and Ethel, always willing to add another branch on the L8u~hter family tree, were blessed with their fifth child on June 5, 1927. They named her, Ruth Minnie Laughter. They also called the event, "Finis". It wasn't exactly an_ ordinary Sunday morning for Jessie and I, at our home on Lake Ave. Jessie's sister Margurette was in the hospital. She was not considered to be in a serious condition. We were told, she might be dismissed the next day. But when a member of our family was in the hospital, it was impossible to get it orf our minds. ,{ldu'1Jt About mid-morning, in walked Bill~augh, one of Jessie's nephews who lived on Southern Ave. Bill had a solem look on his face. Jessie took one look at him and asked, "Bill, is there anything the matter?" Bill hesitated before he answered, "I've got bad news for you. 1t He paused as if he was trying to think what to say. Then, with 8 quiver in his voice, he said, "Aunt Margurette is dead." When Jessie realized what Bill had said, she became limp. I saw her close her eyes, she leaned, and I instinctively caught her before she fell.
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