we had got the engine out of the shop and turned round on the street 

 one of the hand holes blew out and let all the water out of the boiler, 

 which detained us a great while yet in spite of all delays by way [?] of 

 hard work, and no delay at noon for I worked the men all noon time, 

 we had the engine and tender on the track by 5:00 o'clock p.m. 



Eight days later he remarked "moved the engine 'Clarke' to the 

 Miami Road in the unprecedented short time of one ^2 day." 



On February 16, 1853, Coleman noted that he had been tempo- 

 rarily made foreman of the locomotive shop but was expected to 

 handle his bookkeeping work as well. This proved a heavy burden, 

 but Jonathan Niles, who managed the business while James spent 

 most of his time on selling trips, put Coleman off with the advice 

 that he must prove himself worthy of a permanent promotion. 

 Sellers continued his dual role for another two months but became 

 so weary of giving the Niles "two days of work for one of pay" 

 that he was ready to quit. On April 20, 1853, he was made foreman, 

 relieved of his accounting duties, given an annual salary of Si, 200, 

 and instructed to be at the shop for the usual business day of 7:00 

 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. While Coleman's diary and letters do not 

 record a direct opinion of his employers, one gets the general 

 impression that it was not an entirely warm or congenial relation- 

 ship. The Niles brothers appear to have been preoccupied with 

 business aflfairs, haunted by the ever-present possibility of failure, 

 bankruptcy, and the other calamities which daily threatened to 

 ruin them and their competitors in the free-market economy of 

 the times. This is not to say that they were necessarily unfeeling 

 men, driven by the compulsion of gain alone; yet nowhere does 

 either Coleman or George Sellers speak warmly of their daily 

 associates and employers. 



It is interesting to note that one of the rare surviving comments 

 on the personality of James Niles, which appeared in his obituary, 

 states that he was a ". . . gentleman of genial and pleasing man- 

 ners,""5 while Coleman Sellers described him as quiet and retiring 

 when at the shop or around business associates, lest he let slip some 

 detail of their affairs to a rival. 



The Niles were so satisfied with the prohts and prospects of loco- 

 motive work that by June 1853 they were contemplating disposing 



1^5 Hartford Daily Courant, August 8, 1881. 



96 



