The disabled Wyder didn’t want to lose his job, so he decided to let his pet, a baboon named Jack, to assist him in the operation of the railway signal lights. When going to work, Wade asked Jack to help him push the wheelchair and supervise whether it was operating the railway signal lights correctly. Surprisingly, Jack can not only assist Wilder in his daily signal work, but he has never made a single mistake.
In the beginning, few people noticed them, and Huaide was purely self-assertive and did not ask anyone for instructions. Gradually, someone discovered that a baboon was operating a railway signal light, and reported the incident to the local railway bureau.
After receiving the report, the railway bureau decided to let the competent department test whether Jack could independently complete the work assigned to it. For the first test, they sent Jack to look after the keys to the coal yard alone. After a month of trial, Jack’s key to managing the coal yard has never gone wrong. Practice has proved that Jack is an excellent employee. The railway bureau believed that Jack was fully qualified to take on more important tasks, so he assigned Jack to be responsible for the gardening work of the railway station. It also accomplished its task very well.
After much deliberation, the railway bureau decided to hire Jack as the official signalman, with a daily salary of 20 cents and a half-bottle of beer every week. As Jack became more and more proficient at work, Wade tried to let him operate the signal lights of the railway station alone. Like Wilder, Jack is familiar with the name of each lever. There seems to be a sophisticated instrument running in his head. When the train arrives at the station, it can accurately push the lever to the right position. Although Jack’s work is carried out under the supervision of Huaide, he has long been familiar with every aspect of signal work, and he is a good employee who loves his work.
In this way, Jack has been working at the train station for 9 years without any mistakes. Because of this unusual ability, Jack has been welcomed by everyone and shocked all those who have witnessed its precise operation of railway signal lights. The local people trust Jack’s ability to work very much, and they think that it deserves his own salary.
Later, an out-of-town lady passed by by train and accidentally discovered that it was a baboon managing the railway signal lights. Outraged, she immediately lodged a complaint with the higher railway department and asked for a strict investigation of the matter. As a result, the higher-level railway department notified the local railway bureau to immediately fire Wade and Jack. After losing his job, Huaide quickly became unable to make ends meet. He began to write letters to the higher railway department, begging them to test Jack’s work ability again.
Initially, the staff of the railway department ignored Huaide’s complaint. In their opinion, it was impossible for a baboon to complete the job of a signalman. Huaide, who could not wait for news, had to take Jack to the higher railway department to petition. There, the system manager personally tested and verified Jack’s accuracy in operating the signal lights, and had to admit that Jack is indeed capable of completing the signal operation alone, and is a baboon with strict execution.
After some twists and turns, Jack’s work ability was fully recognized by everyone, and Jack and White were re-employed by the railway bureau. From that day on, this baboon was affectionately called the signalman “Jack”, and received his own salary every month on time.
In 1890, Jack died of tuberculosis, and his skull was collected in the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. Jack also became the only baboon in history to work in the railway department.
