Emil had a quick mind, and while his older brother, Frank, had finished high school, Emil felt he could not wait that long to begin making his mark on the world. He quit school after the tenth grade. With the help of the parish priest (Fr Becavac) he was employed at the bridge works in Rankin. The priest conveniently erred in providing Emil’s birth year as 1908 rather than 1910. Emil later said he was tempted to leave school by the jingle in the pockets of his classmates who had left before him. He later said he wondered if that jingle wasn’t a handful of washers used to impress the gullible, like him.
His first job was as a rivet catcher and bucker-up. When sections were assembled for bridges they were held together using rivets. Much of this was done on the job site, but much was also done by prefabricating sections before they left the mill. The catcher and bucker-up did just that. With a little bucket, he caught the rivet, which after being heated in a small furnace, was tossed to him. The rivet was inserted in the proper hole. He then bucked-up the head of the rivet while the riveter hammered the other end flat to make the rivet tight. The job required little in the way of intelligence, and little opportunity for advancement.
In 1926, one year after Emil left school, his father, Nikola, died.
Emil became further disenchanted with the bridge works. His father had spent his working life in the mills and his final reward was an early death. Fortunately Nikola had left his family in a situation which allowed them to keep the house, which was now quieter without the boisterous Nikola.
Emil’s brother, Frank, had gotten a clerical job in the mill, with the potential for advancement to a salaried position. Frank was a very good baseball player, and the mill had a team in a very competitive industrial league. Good players seemed to have a way of getting clerical jobs, that enabled them to be fresh for games. As is the case with every group trying to rise in society, any avenue available was used to secure advancement.
Emil’s oldest sister, Helen, knew of an opening for an office boy in a local machine factory. This factory manufactured machinery used in the making of glasses (drinking glasses). The idea of an office job appealed to Emil, and to anyone who wanted to escape the mill. He jumped at the chance.
The work at the machine shop was not challenging. Emil was an errand boy and sweeper upper. The sweeping up never ended. The pattern making portion of the operation intrigued him. He was impressed with the level of craftsmanship of the carpenters. Each cast piece was first made in wood. The woodmodel was used to make a mold for the final product.
Emil also worked around the machinists who finished the parts on various machines. His natural talent for working with mechanical things stood him well and he began to see the advancement he desired. He now had real jingle in his pocket, and it wasn’t from washers. He developed a strut to his walk that would remain for the rest of his life. He felt like the “cock of the walk” and acted like it too.
He had an ability to see the individual steps necessary to complete a complex project or task. In the late 1920s America was booming and his lack of a high school diploma was not a major disadvantage. Theowner of the machine shop took a liking to this energetic young man and took him under his wing. Emil found himself more and more involved with more and more of the operation of the machine shop.
Emil Begg visited his sister Mary Begg Yurich on occasion. With passing time she seemed to become his favorite sister, and his visits were more frequent and of longer duration. Was it to see his sister or the kind hearted young girl living with his sister's family?
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