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 J, ' J>, 
 
 Confessions 
 
 of a 
 
 Pullman Conductor 
 
 By Charles H. Walbourn 
 
 L.C.
 
 Index 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 Preface 3 
 
 I. The "Love Diplomat" 7 
 
 II. Billy's Wedding Ring 18 
 
 III. The Jew as an Offender 27 
 
 IV. Women Travelers as Flirts. . . 34 i 
 
 V. Pullman Company Working 
 
 Conditions 44 
 
 VI. Conductors in Stripes 52 
 
 VII. The "Bawlout Man" 58 ! 
 
 VIII. The Conductor's Expense. .. . 62 » 
 
 IX. Two Accidents 70 ! 
 
 I 
 
 X. Writing the "Statements" 84 .' 
 
 XI. Mother and Daughter 92 J 
 
 XII. Married Spotters 97 \\ 
 
 XIII. How the Spotter Works 104 ji 
 
 XIV. The Porter in Upper No. 1 . . . 114 |l 
 XV. The Graft 120 '* 
 
 XVI. The Remedy 125
 
 Confessions of a Pullman 
 Conductor 
 
 THE "LOVE DIPLOMAT." 
 
 EVERY one has read or heard about 
 the boasted independence of the 
 American girl, and how she is able 
 to travel in most any country alone, and 
 be safe in knowing that slie is capable of 
 taking care of herself under all conditions. 
 But this much talked of ability of the 
 American girl, in my estimation, should
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 be taken with a grain of salt, as from 
 my personal observation, for the past 
 seven years, as a Pullman conductor, I 
 have concluded that it is mere idle talk. 
 The American girl, particularly the girl 
 from the fairly well to do or middle class 
 family, is generally helpless or incapable 
 of taking care of herself among strangers. 
 But here let me say that this is not 
 entirely the girl's fault, only in so far 
 as she allows herself to be taken in by 
 some well-dressed man with a good line 
 of talk, who with his plausible manner 
 makes the girl feel that he is a perfect 
 gentleman ; that he is just the one to take 
 her in charge and show her to a nice 
 hotel or give her any other information 
 she desires. This man's intentions are 
 contemptible, and the welfare of the girl 
 he happens to be talking to is not giving 
 him the slightest concern. He is likely 
 some cheap traveling man with a wife
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 and half a dozen children at home and 
 wearing his wedding ring in his vest 
 pocket. 
 
 Speaking of wedding rings reminds 
 me of a little story of one that would not 
 be out of place here. This happened 
 some years ago, when I was a Pullman 
 conductor on a train that arrived in a 
 large city about 6:30 P. M. We will 
 call this city Boston (because that don't 
 happen to be its name). This was Sun- 
 day morning and this train was a very 
 popular train, especially for women going 
 into the city, and on Sunday the travel 
 of this class was always very heavy. 
 
 About 10 o'clock in the morning we 
 stopped at the station of a fair sized 
 town. We always were sure to get pas- 
 sengers here for the sleeping cars, as we 
 did on this morning. One of these was 
 a man — we will call him "Billy" for con- 
 venience. There were several of Billy's
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 friends down at the station to see him 
 safely started, including his wife and 
 little daughter of perhaps five years of 
 age. 
 
 Billy's wife (who was a very pretty 
 woman by the way) wanted him to be 
 careful of himself, not to take cold, and 
 to write every other day anyway, and to 
 come back as soon as he possibly could. 
 
 So, kissing his wife good-bye and 
 with a promise to the little girl, who was 
 crying for papa to bring her a nice pres- 
 ent from the city, with a handshake from 
 his friends and being wished the best of 
 luck by them all, Billy boarded the train, 
 and we were ofit* on what proved to be a 
 very exciting journey, both for Billy and 
 myself. 
 
 Billy had no sooner got aboard than 
 he went into the smoking-room, which is 
 also the wash-room of the sleeping car, 
 and began to wash his hands. It was a 
 
 10
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 mere accident that I saw what occurred, 
 as I had gone into the smoking-room to 
 get his ticket and saw him take down a 
 towel to dry his hands. But, before do- 
 ing so, he removed a ring from the 
 finger of his left hand and placed it in 
 his vest pocket. 
 
 I merely happened to notice this at 
 the time, but in what happened afterward 
 it came back to me with good results, 
 and incidentally was a cause of saving 
 me my job. 
 
 He quickly removed a diamond ring 
 he was wearing on the finger of his right 
 hand and placed this ring upon the finger 
 from which he had taken the other. Now 
 the ring he had just taken oil had been 
 a tight fit, necessitating his having to 
 wet his hands to get it ofif. And, as every- 
 one knows, a ring that fits a little tight 
 will leave a small, white circle around the 
 fiiio-er from which it has been removed. 
 
 11
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 As Billy was wiser than the average, 
 and also understood the advantage of a 
 diamond ring as an attraction over a plain 
 band ring, and especially on that finger, 
 he had not only taken the first ring ofif, 
 but had hid the evidence of having worn 
 it with the other ring. 
 
 After these details were arranged, 
 Billy straightway appointed himself 
 "Love Diplomat" of the train (this is the 
 right word, I think). Did you ever see 
 a "Love Diplomat" at work? They are 
 on every train. Just watch this one ma- 
 neuver with me. 
 
 Billy then proceeded to take a walk 
 up and down the cars in search of some 
 girl. But before he began this search, he 
 came back to where I was sitting in the 
 rear seat doing my work and sat down 
 facing me. Suddenly he remarked, "Cap, 
 Sunday is a good day to ride this train, 
 as you can always be sure there will be 
 
 12
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 a bunch of swell 'chickens' going to 
 Boston." 
 
 I gave him a cold stare, but he was of 
 the sort that a stare will hardly make an 
 impression on. He continued : 
 
 "Who is that little 'pigeon' sitting in 
 section six? Some class to her; eh, Cap? 
 Think I will take a chance and try and 
 cut in with her, for she certainly looks 
 good to me." 
 
 I remarked that I did not know who 
 the lady was in section six, and advised 
 him not to try to talk to her, as I did 
 not like the way he had spoken. But the 
 man of his caliber who travels — and there 
 are thousands of them — view all women 
 alone on the train as being there to take 
 advantage of, if possible. He went on 
 to say : 
 
 "You see, conductor, I have to spend 
 the night in Boston and I don't like to 
 
 13
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 spend my evenings alone if I can avoid 
 it." 
 
 Now the Pullman company doesn't 
 give its conductors any authority to for- 
 bid a man to talk to a woman on the car. 
 If it did, you can bet this crook would 
 never have had a chance to "cut in," as 
 he said, with this young woman, as he 
 finally did. 
 
 I have been approached before many 
 times in my length of servi<:e, and have 
 been offered money not to see too much, 
 but somehow this man's coarse manner 
 of speaking of women and allowing his 
 intentions to be so plainly seen, caused 
 me to feel thoroughly disgusted. I knew 
 that he was feeling me out, and he knew 
 and I knew that I was powerless to stop 
 him from speaking to the girl. I only felt 
 repulsion for him and sorrow for his wife 
 and little girl at home. 
 
 I said nothing more to him and got 
 
 14
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 up and left the car. Had I said anything 
 more, it would probably have resulted in 
 an argument that might have ended in 
 blows. 
 
 Upon coming back into the car, as I 
 did almost immediately, I was just in 
 time to see him offer the girl a magazine. 
 He was getting acquainted by what I 
 call "The Magazine Route." It is gen- 
 erally worked in this manner: 
 
 The man walks past the girl he wishes 
 to speak to several times and if she looks 
 too forbidding for him to deliberately 
 address, he will finally come up to her 
 seat with a magazine and offer it to her 
 with the remark: 
 
 "I saw you sitting here alone so I 
 brought you a book to read. There are 
 some very interesting stories in it, if 
 you care to read them." 
 
 Nine out of ten women will fall for 
 this line of talk, and, as generally hap- 
 
 15
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 pens, this one took the magazine. He 
 then went and sat down in his own seat. 
 
 Restless to pursue his quarry, he 
 couldn't sit still. After about 20 minutes 
 he got up and leisurely strolled over to 
 her section, and leaning carelessly on the 
 back of the seat, remarked, "This is a 
 pretty good book, isn't it?" 
 
 They then drifted into a conversation. 
 He was quick to take advantage of this 
 and was soon sitting down in tlie seat 
 with her. 
 
 It is easy to see how this works out. 
 The girl thinks, "Well, he was very cour- 
 teous to allow me to read his book and 
 I can't be impolite after he has been so 
 gentlemanly." And now he has all the 
 advantage and, believe me, these "Love 
 Diplomats" don't let any grass grow 
 under their feet after they have wormed 
 their way into a conversation. 
 
 16
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 In this case I don't know what devel- 
 oped until lunch time. Then I do know 
 he took her into the dining car to have 
 luncheon, and the dining-car conductor 
 later told me that after much coaxing on 
 his part, she let him buy and they drank 
 a bottle of wine together — he insisting, 
 until she finally drank the extra glass. 
 
 That night when we arrived in Boston, 
 they did not have dinner on the dining 
 car, for Billy knew the advantage of a 
 Hungarian orchestra, and palms with sub- 
 dued lights, a table for two set in the 
 niche of a window; no one to see, and 
 plenty of time to talk and maybe a bribe 
 to the waiter to drop something in the 
 wine. 
 
 I say Billy knew all this, for he was 
 of that dangerous world-wise type whose 
 lack of morals is easily discernible to the 
 experienced student of human nature. 
 
 17
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 11. 
 
 BILLY'S WEDDING RING. 
 
 AFTER we had stopped at the sta- 
 tion in Boston, and all the passen- 
 gers were off the car except Billy — 
 I had not seen him get off — I went back 
 into the car. Then it was that I saw 
 him frantically searching around his seat. 
 The girl whom he had cleverly enmeshed 
 was waiting for him on the station plat- 
 form. As I approached him (he had his 
 back toward me) I heard him mutter, 
 "It fit tight, too, so I can't say I lost it." 
 
 I asked him what he had lost, pre- 
 tending not to have heard his remark. 
 
 "A ring," he replied. 
 
 I told him then that we only stopped 
 there a few minutes ; that they would 
 
 18
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 take the train out to the yards at once, 
 and that if he would give me his address, 
 I would search the car, and if I found 
 the ring to have it sent to him. 
 
 "You got on at ," I said, giving 
 
 the point he had boarded the train. 
 
 He then gave me a street and number, 
 apparently his home address in this town. 
 I then asked him to describe the ring. 
 
 "Oh, it was just a plain band ring — in 
 fact, my wedding ring," he said with a 
 smile. 
 
 I remarked that if it was just his wed- 
 ding ring he probably did not mind losing 
 it, as it meant nothing to him. 
 
 He realized that I was giving him a 
 rub, for he got on his dignity at once; 
 his face became red and distorted, and he 
 looked more like an animal than a man. 
 He yelled at me: 
 
 "What do you mean by making a 
 
 19
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 remark of that kind to me? I give you 
 to understand there is nothing I value 
 more than my wedding ring. I will make 
 it a point to report you to your superin- 
 tendent for this insult and I will also 
 see that you are discharged. You are 
 not fit to be a conductor and the Pullman 
 company does not want men of your 
 kind in its service. I have a notion to 
 make it a personal matter and wipe up 
 this car with you myself." 
 
 As he finished speaking, I took off 
 my uniform coat and cap and throwing 
 them on the seat — as I was boiling mad 
 and anxious to get my hands on him — ■ 
 said : 
 
 "Now, this is a personal matter, and as 
 man to man and not as conductor and 
 passenger, if you feel like cleaning this 
 car and you think you are equal to clean- 
 ing it with me, just say the word." 
 
 20
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 He immediately came "back to earth" 
 and sizing- me up (I don't happen to be 
 stunted in any way) he asked me in a 
 more moderate tone, "Conductor, why did 
 you make such a peculiar remark as that 
 to me?" 
 
 "Well," I answered, "first, let me say 
 it is the truth, that you have insulted your 
 wife and little girl in everything you have 
 done and said all day and you are not 
 going to report me, and I am not going 
 to lose my job on your account. 
 
 "One of the reasons is that the woman 
 you have been talking to all day is wait- 
 ing for you now; another is, that no 
 sooner had you boarded the train and 
 knew that your wife was safely left be- 
 hind than you took off your wedding ring, 
 and as I heard you say to yourself a min- 
 ute ago when your back was toward me, 
 that it fit tight and you could not say you 
 
 21
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 had lost it. You even had to wet your 
 hands before you could get the ring off. 
 Then, as it was a tight fit and left its 
 mark on your finger, you even hid that 
 by wearing the diamond ring on the same 
 finger, 
 
 "I did not take particular pains to see 
 all of this, for you were so raw about it 
 that everybody on the train saw it. Do 
 you know you belong to a class of men 
 whom I despise. You are the worst type 
 of criminal, either in or out of the peni- 
 tentiary. 
 
 "Talk about safe blowers, hold-up 
 men, or political bribers and grafters of 
 every description — you, and your kind, 
 are the kingpins of them all. More crime 
 is committed by your kind, and it is 
 directed against one of the most vital 
 parts of society, than by all the others 
 combined. 
 
 22
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 "What is the crime of murder and the 
 loss of a single life by some thug in com- 
 parison to the ruination of a hundred 
 women by one of you? You destroy 
 homes! You cause two-thirds of the 
 divorces! You, who try to take advan- 
 tage of every woman you see alone, no 
 matter to you if it be the wife of your 
 best friend or the daughter of your busi- 
 ness partner. 
 
 "The more respectable you find your 
 victims, the harder you try and the more 
 you will scheme to accomplish their ruin. 
 Bah ! And you have the nerve to say that 
 I am not fit to be on these cars. 
 
 "What right has a man of your kind 
 to say of another that he is not fit? But, 
 I regret to say, that if I had not caught 
 you with the goods that you — yes, even 
 you— could have got my job, for the Pull- 
 man company will not take an employe's 
 
 23
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 word, whether he is right or wrong, when 
 he is reported by some passenger. 
 
 "I am glad of this opportunity to tell 
 you just what I think of your class." 
 
 He turned around and left the car 
 without answering. Incidentally, he had 
 found the ring in his other pocket under 
 his watch. 
 
 I should like to know what was in his 
 mind, but it probably did not strike very 
 deep, as he and the girl walked away 
 together, and I heard him say to her, "It's 
 funny how I should misplace my scarf 
 pin." 
 
 (Needless to add, this man made no 
 report to the company.) 
 
 This is a typical case and shows to 
 just what extent these men will go to 
 accomplish their purposes, and I give it 
 as a warning to the mothers who are 
 allowing their daughters to go back and 
 
 24
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 forth to school or make trips alone of 
 any kind on trains, and to the fathers, 
 brothers and men who have wives and 
 sisters. Particularly is there danger on 
 the Pullman cars. After a parent has 
 placed his daughter or wife on the sleep- 
 ing car and paid for first-class accommo- 
 dations, thinking she will be protected 
 and looked after, he overlooks the fact 
 that the selling rights for the privilege 
 of some man to insult her are held by the 
 negro porter. 
 
 Think of it! A black man who takes 
 a bribe to let some man on the train try 
 to take advantage of and steal the repu- 
 tation and good name of your wife or 
 daughter and guarantees he will not be 
 molested ! 
 
 You did not think it was possible 
 that conditions like that could exist, did 
 you? Well, they do, for I have seen so 
 
 25
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 much crookedness between men and 
 women on sleeping-cars in the past few 
 years that I have almost lost faith in 
 humanity. The ruination of thousands of 
 women and girls is either accomplished 
 or begun on the train. 
 
 The only thing that will change this 
 condition of affairs is to place it before 
 the public and arouse the sentiment of all 
 good people for its correction. 
 
 26
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 III. 
 
 THE JEW AS AN OFFENDER. 
 
 HERE let me bring in the Jew who, 
 of all the different kinds of men, 
 is the greatest offender among 
 this class who travel ; and now remember, 
 you girls who happen to read it, that a 
 Jew will not insult a girl of his own race 
 or religion. Let a Jewess get on a train 
 and he will treat her like a queen ; he 
 would no more think of intruding on her 
 or trying to insult her than jumping off 
 the train, or giving away a $20 gold piece, 
 which would be much more painful to 
 him. 
 
 But let an unaccompanied American 
 girl, or one not of the Jewish race, get 
 on the train or accidentally meet him, 
 
 27
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 and he will scheme and talk, buy her 
 dinners and really spend money. (That 
 is the only instance where a Jew will 
 take a chance and separate himself from 
 his money and not be absolutely sure he 
 will get something in return for it.) But 
 just think of the motive he has! 
 
 The fact that he won't try it on the 
 women of his own race convicts him on 
 the spot. A woman that allows herself 
 to be taken in by a Jew must undoubt- 
 edly be mentally weak, and ought in some 
 way to be protected. 
 
 Nine out of ten of these men are mar- 
 ried. (I will call them men here as it is 
 against the law to print what I think they 
 should be called.) 
 
 I have seen their despicable opera- 
 tions time after time. They try to get 
 acquainted with some unsuspecting 
 woman on the car, and I regret to say 
 
 28
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 that in many cases they succeed. But 
 just watch one of them as a train draws 
 near his destination. He will then shake 
 the girl, slipping off the train generally at 
 the opposite end from where she gets 
 off. He does this for two reasons : One 
 is to avoid the porter ; the other is, that 
 if this happens to be his home town he 
 knows that Rachel and little Ikey and a 
 whole regiment of Jews will be down to 
 see Abie come in ; and he knows it would 
 be hard to explain to Rachel why he said 
 good-bye to that Gentile girl. But if this 
 is not his home town, he generally per- 
 suades the girl and succeeds in getting 
 her to go uptown with him. 
 
 I know of nothing more sorrowful 
 than a respectable American girl who is 
 alone and finds herself entirely sur- 
 rounded by Jews. There is almost no 
 chance of escape for her, and the more 
 
 29
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 respectable and better looking she is the 
 less chance she will have. If she is not 
 wise to their contemptible motives, or, 
 if she has the vanity bee in her bonnet 
 and thinks she is so pretty that she 
 attracts all the men around her, then her 
 case is hopeless. 
 
 In my years of service with the Pull- 
 man company I have been up against 
 "panhandle" men, crooked land salesmen 
 and smooth talking grafters of all kinds, 
 but for the smoothest talker of them all 
 I take my hat ofT to the Jew. He has got 
 a line of soft soap that makes the fake 
 gold mine stock salesman look like a 
 canned sardine, so far as smooth talking 
 is concerned. 
 
 I am not surprised from what I have 
 seen to know that the Jews control the 
 commercial world today. What surprises 
 
 30
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 me is that there is any one besides them 
 left in the field at all. 
 
 I don't want to leave the impression 
 that Jews are the only ofTenders of this 
 kind who try to take advantage of women 
 when they find them alone. Other men 
 are just as bad, but the reason more Jews 
 are noted as belonging to this vile class 
 is because there are comparatively more 
 of them traveling. 
 
 When we see these things happen — • 
 see some man of this kind meet a girl on 
 the train and see them leave together, it 
 makes one stop and wonder what's the 
 use of schools and churches, of education, 
 or society — when some creature of this 
 kind can in a day or two of accidental 
 contact, literally tear down all the teach- 
 ings of some good mother and the loving 
 advice and counsel of friends. More pit- 
 iable is it when one is forced to stand 
 
 31
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOli 
 
 aside and allow a cur of this description to 
 persuade and poison a girl's thoughts and 
 in the end ruin her life and future by 
 stealing her good name, and then for this 
 man to be allowed to go on seeking other 
 women to ruin and never thinking of 
 what he has done, nor give the girl a 
 second thought. 
 
 I believe that almost all women are 
 good at heart and want to live straight, 
 and would too if given half a chance. 
 They want to be true to themselves and 
 to their mothers and fathers, and when 
 they are married they want to be loved 
 and trusted by their husbands and friends 
 above all things. 
 
 Let a woman walk through the lobby 
 of a hotel or down the aisle of a car, or 
 up the street, and nearly every man you 
 see that is not totally blind will be watch- 
 ing her, and if given a chance, if she is 
 
 32
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A P ULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 alone and stops or sits down for a minute, 
 you will see the men begin to mill around 
 her like cattle around a feed trough, or 
 I might say vultures around their prey, 
 to use a worse form of expression. 
 
 No woman voluntarily goes wrong; 
 some man is back at the beginning of 
 every woman's fall, and this contemptible 
 element I speak of, with the whole coun- 
 try to operate in, seems to increase year 
 after year. God only knows how many 
 ruined lives they will have to answer for 
 in the hereafter. 
 
 33
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A P ULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 IV. 
 
 WOMEN TRAVELERS AS FLIRTS. 
 
 IT'S BEEN said that woman first 
 tempted man in the Garden of Eden 
 
 by passing the apples, while it is 
 more likely that Eve never would have 
 been under this apple tree if she had not 
 been enticed there by Adam. 
 
 From what I have seen as a Pullman 
 car conductor women seem to get the 
 flirtation microbe in their system when 
 they get on the train, and they will flirt 
 with most anything that looks like a man 
 — that is why I say the American girl is 
 helpless to take care of herself and cannot 
 withstand the talk of these smooth look- 
 ing villains. 
 
 Of course, any one can check a trunk 
 
 34
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 or buy a ticket or find a street or number 
 in the city, but the things the girl should 
 shun the most in looking out for herself 
 are the ones she seems unable to with- 
 stand in the end. I have seen girls get on 
 a car and turn down half a dozen of these 
 would-be mashers, when finally one 
 comes along who is a little better looking 
 or a better talker than the rest who will 
 worm his way into her confidence ; but 
 not all women can be taken in by these 
 men — and it is a pleasure to see one of 
 these kind. 
 
 In a good many cases, a woman on a 
 train will stand a good deal of insult 
 before she will say anything to a stranger 
 about it, especially if she has sat and 
 talked to the masher all day and had din- 
 ner with him. When something is at- 
 tempted by him that is not quite proper, 
 she fears that if anything is said by her 
 
 35
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 to the conductor he would ask her how- 
 it was that she sat and talked with this 
 man or allowed him to talk to her, if he 
 were not a friend of hers. Did she not 
 think he might attempt something by 
 allowing herself to become so familiar 
 with him on such short notice? 
 
 But a woman should never hesitate to 
 speak about a thing of that kind, for 
 then the person in authority can take 
 some action that might save her further 
 insult or annoyance, even though she has 
 been indiscreet. Her appeal gives the 
 one in authority a chance to do some- 
 thing about it, though it's the conductor 
 as a man desiring to protect the helpless, 
 and not by reason of any rules of the 
 Pullman company. Although a con- 
 ductor knows in his own mind that the 
 man is crooked and is trying to frame 
 something up, it is not the trainman's 
 
 36
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 place to put a stop to it unless asked by 
 the woman. 
 
 The Pullman conductor is very likely 
 in charge of from one to seven cars and 
 can't watch or know everything that goes 
 on in each separate car. And, let me say 
 here, that in a good many cases the Pull- 
 man conductor himself belongs to this 
 very class of men. How easy it is for 
 one of these "Love Diplomats," a pas- 
 senger on the car, to go to the porter 
 and say, "Here is $5 for you. Now, don't 
 see too much," and this porter will in- 
 variably answer, "All right, boss," for a 
 a man who gets a salary of only $27.50 
 a month generally needs the money even 
 though he has sold the right for some 
 man to try and take advantage of some 
 innocent girl, and some conductors con- 
 done such conduct. 
 
 I might go on and cite a hundred cases 
 
 37
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 that have come under my personal notice 
 of this character where men have suc- 
 ceeded in enticing girls off of trains ; but 
 I will relate one more incident here that 
 is a good illustration of how the "Love 
 Diplomat" worked it. 
 
 I was in charge of the Pullman cars 
 on a train that carried one through sleeper 
 and an observation parlor car. The parlor 
 car was for the accommodation of seat 
 passengers between two large cities. We 
 left the first city in the morning and ar- 
 rived in the second one in the evening, 
 and here the parlor car was cut out, but 
 the sleeper went on through and was for 
 the accommodation of through berth pas- 
 sengers. 
 
 We had five or six through passengers 
 occupying berths in the sleeper. One of 
 these was a very pretty girl about 18 or 
 19 years old who was going to a small 
 
 38
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 town in one of the middle states. The 
 parlor car was full of seat passengers, 
 mostly going to the city, which was the 
 end of the parlor car's run. 
 
 One of the passengers in the parlor 
 car was a married man, so the car por- 
 ter informed me, as one of this porter's 
 friends was porter in the man's place of 
 business in the city, which was the start- 
 ing point of our journey. This man 
 turned out to be a "Love Diplomat" of 
 the most violent type. He soon singled 
 out this girl and it was not long after 
 we had started until he was seated in 
 her section talking with her. 
 J. A passenger who holds space in any 
 Pullman car on a train may, if there is 
 room, ride in any car he chooses, regard- 
 less of where his seat is located, and 
 this man, of course, wished to ride in the 
 same car with the girl as he did all day. 
 
 39
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 He and the girl, as is usual in this game, 
 had lunch together in the dining car. 
 
 When we arrived in the city of his 
 destination, and also where the parlor 
 car stopped, we had about 45 minutes' 
 time before the train was to proceed, 
 as the dining car was also cut out here 
 and two more sleepers added to the train 
 for other points of the road, and this took 
 some little time. 
 
 We left this particular city rather late 
 at night, between 10 and 11 P. M. to be 
 exact. When we arrived here the girl 
 and man got off the car, he saying to 
 her, "Come, you have some little time 
 here and you can take a walk around and 
 get a little fresh air." 
 
 The girl turned to me and asked "Con- 
 ductor, how much time have we here?" 
 
 "Forty minutes more," I replied, "and 
 we leave sharp on time, so don't go far." 
 
 40
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 With that they walked away, he say- 
 ing to her, "You can get your postcards 
 here." 
 
 The girl was without her coat or hat, 
 therefore she was the innocent victim of 
 the fiend, who took the girl far enough 
 away, or persuaded her, to miss the train ; 
 for that night about 12 o'clock we re- 
 ceived a telegram from her to put her 
 baggage off at a certain town in care of 
 the station agent, as she had missed the 
 train and would get her things next day. 
 
 Imagine if you can this girl in this 
 strange town, with no coat or hat, and 
 knowing no one besides the man who had 
 picked her up on the train. What better 
 chance would this man want than that? 
 
 This "Love Diplomat" was like any 
 other thief in so far as he had plotted 
 and schemed along the same lines as a 
 
 41
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 highwayman would do to rob a bank, 
 only his motives were much worse. 
 
 I might go on and relate any number 
 of these instances, but I am not writing 
 a story of fiction but facts, and I think I 
 have proved my point in the incidents 
 related that these conditions exist, and 
 I only hope this article will help to put 
 a stop to such practices by warning 
 women who travel. 
 
 Before I leave this subject, I want to 
 speak briefly of the intermingling of men 
 and women of theatrical troupes while 
 traveling on the road. In some cases 
 these travelers will not even allow the 
 berth curtains to be hung. The repulsive 
 actions, the vice and lack of any shred of 
 modesty on the woman's part, is terrible 
 to behold, and would make even the most 
 dissipated turn away in horror. 
 
 Some way should be forced by law to 
 
 42
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 make the Pullman company and sleeping 
 car companies in general arrange their 
 cars so that women passengers would 
 have a part of the car all to themselves 
 and would have something besides a 
 Mohair curtain between themselves and 
 the gaze of curious men. Whether they 
 themselves are willing or not, it should 
 be done on account of the bad example it 
 sets before innocent girls and for the pro- 
 tection of the modest and clean women 
 who are forced to travel. 
 
 43
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 V. 
 
 PULLMAN COMPANY WORKING 
 CONDITIONS. 
 
 I AM now going into the cause and 
 show what are the working condi- 
 tions and salaries of the conductors 
 and porters of the Pullman company, and 
 will show that on some runs the men are 
 worked for 36 hours without rest, until 
 they are physically worn out, and then if 
 they are caught asleep they are given 15 
 demerit marks. 
 
 Talk about an eight-hour day, or a 
 sixteen-hour law, the Pullman company 
 doesn't even observe a 24-hour day, and 
 certainly cares nothing for the break- 
 ing down of the employes' health or the 
 driving out of its services all the men 
 
 44
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 who are not willing to be life slaves to 
 the greatest corporation and trust out- 
 side of the Standard Oil Company; (and 
 one thing I will say for the Standard Oil 
 Company is that it treats its employes 
 fair and pays good wages). 
 
 We will take as an example one of the 
 limited trains that operate between Chi- 
 cago and San Francisco. This train 
 leaves Chicago, we will say at nine in the 
 morning, and the employes must report 
 at least two hours before leaving time, 
 which means that they must get up by 
 6 o'clock. The conductor is then on 
 duty from 8 o'clock in the morning — 
 not counting the two hours when he is 
 going out to the yards and making out 
 his leaving slip — when the porters are 
 preparing the cars for the reception of 
 passengers. 
 
 This train must be in the station at 
 
 45
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 least one hour before leaving time to 
 receive passengers, and the conductor and 
 porters must be there and have every- 
 thing in readiness. Then the conductor 
 is on duty from 8 A. M. until 3 A. M. 
 the following morning, which makes 19 
 hours on duty. He then goes to bed, 
 but must be up and dressed by 7 A. M., 
 which makes him get about three hours' 
 sleep. He is then on duty again from 7 
 A. M. until 3 A. M. the following morn- 
 ing, which is again 20 hours at a stretch, 
 and it is a three-night trip to San Fran- 
 cisco, or 68 hours, the shortest possible 
 time in which the run can be made. It 
 will be seen that out of 68 hours he gets 
 nine hours sleep, divided into three short 
 periods of three hours a night, and, if I 
 am not mistaken, the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission's 16-hour law reads 
 that after a railroad man has worked 16 
 
 46
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 hours continuously he is entitled to and 
 must have eight hours rest. 
 
 Now we will say this train is com- 
 posed of five cars, which makes also five 
 porters to be relieved for rest, and there 
 is only one man to relieve them and that 
 is the conductor; or, first I will explain 
 that a porter is supposed to sleep in the 
 smoking-room and is to be off duty from 
 10:30 or 11 o'clock in the evening until 
 3 o'clock the next morning, which makes 
 four hours. Now, ordinarily, only one 
 porter is allowed to go to bed at a time, 
 but on some trains two are permitted to 
 be off duty at once, and the conductor 
 does guard in both of these cars and 
 looks out for the wants of the passen- 
 gers while the porters are asleep. 
 
 A conductor also helps off any pas- 
 sengers that have reached their destina- 
 tion during this time, and checks up and 
 
 47
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 gives any one boarding the train during 
 the night accommodations. He might be 
 away from these two cars when the 
 porters are in bed for from 15 minutes to 
 half an hour while he is attending to his 
 other duties. Just suppose a gas lamp 
 should explode or one of these cars should 
 catch on fire during his absence! The 
 fact that these things don't happen often, 
 does not mean that they have never hap- 
 pened or are not apt to occur at any 
 time. 
 
 Or suppose a "Love Diplomat" is on 
 the job. What chance has the conductor 
 to know what happens when he has 
 picked up several passengers and is in 
 some other car checking them up? 
 
 But to get back to the porters : Three 
 porters are on duty all of that first night. 
 You ask yourself when do they get any 
 rest? Now listen; these three men are 
 
 48
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 on duty from 9 o'clock the first morning 
 until 11 o'clock the second night, 38 hours 
 — count 'em. And then only two go to 
 bed unless the conductor is of a generous 
 turn and lets the others sneak ofif in some 
 corner and go to sleep. 
 
 (The Society for the Prevention of 
 Cruelty to Animals should drop the ani- 
 mal end of their society and take up the 
 human side.) 
 
 What condition are these men in by 
 the third night to attend to business and 
 protect the passengers? Why, common 
 sense would tell you it's impossible. Just 
 try working all day until 3 o'clock in the: 
 morning, then get up at 7 and work un- 
 til 3 the next morning. 
 
 If you are peevish and can't sleep and 
 have a spite at yourself and want to get 
 back at yourself good and strong, I advise 
 this treatment, and you will find that you 
 
 49
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 have got self-punishment down to a fine 
 art. 
 
 These men are wrecks and walk 
 through the cars like Hamlet's ghost, for 
 there is no one thing that will put a 
 man out of the running so quickly as to 
 continuously miss his sleep and rest. It 
 will undermine the strongest constitution 
 and leave the victim a fit subject for any 
 ordinary disease. 
 
 Now for this sacrifice of health the 
 Pullman company shows its appreciation 
 by paying the porter the enormous salary 
 of $27.50 per month and makes the travel- 
 ing public pay the balance, if there is any. 
 The company stands for the negro porter 
 working his petty graft on the patrons, 
 but if its managers think some one is 
 grafting on them they raise their hands 
 in Puritan horror to think that any one, 
 and especially an employe, should show 
 
 SO
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 such an utter lack of appreciation of the 
 liberaHty and good treatment that is ac- 
 corded him as to try to beat his inno- 
 cent, law abiding (?) employers. 
 
 A conductor is paid $70 for the first 
 six months he is employed; $75 for the 
 second six months ; $80 the second year, 
 and $85 from two years until he is in the 
 service five years. Then he gets $90 for 
 the next five years, and after ten years 
 he gets to the pinnacle of his slow ad- 
 vance in salary, $95. He also gets two 
 
 uniforms a year free after ten years' ser- 
 vice. 
 
 51
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 VI. 
 
 CONDUCTORS IN STRIPES. 
 
 ASIDE from this the conductor is 
 decorated with two stripes on his 
 free uniform. 
 
 In Europe the rich have a system of 
 dressing their servants in livery, with 
 a Httle "coat of arms" stamped over their 
 right eye, or in some other conspicuous 
 spot, which indicates the master to whom 
 they belong. So the Pullman company 
 has adopted that system and makes its 
 servants wear its little badge. Also every 
 five years they get a stripe. 
 
 In certain places of confinement in 
 this country one gets his stripes before 
 he serves his time, but with the Pullman 
 
 52
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 company he serves his time before he 
 gets his stripes. 
 
 But the stripes that the state hands 
 its victims are woven round a canvas 
 suit, while the ones the Pullman com- 
 pany give are sewn around the left arm. 
 Both kinds denote serving time and mean 
 slavery. 
 
 After a conductor gets three stripes or 
 more, the company knows it has got him 
 for life. Nothing in my opinion shows 
 plainer that you are an utter failure than 
 to have three or four stripes on your arm 
 that you have received for collecting divi- 
 dends for the Pullman company. 
 
 About the only thing you could qualify 
 for after fifteen years' service with the 
 Pullman company is a coachman or 
 butler, with a possible chance of getting 
 in the waiters' class, if you were not so 
 feeble that you were too slow. 
 
 With these several stripes tacked on 
 
 53
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 the conductor's arm the company knows 
 that it can keep rubbing it in until he 
 dies of exhaustion from loss of sleep and 
 rest. After twenty years service the 
 worm never turns. 
 
 With this combination of brass but- 
 tons, gold braid, and badge, topped ofif 
 with a bellboy's uniform, "Solomon in 
 all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
 these." The wearing of uniforms has de- 
 scended from the monarchies of Europe. 
 At least a man ought not to have to 
 wear stripes to show him up before the 
 traveling public as never having earned 
 more than $95 a month for the past 
 twenty years. If you want to see a sad 
 specimen of a man just take a look at 
 most any of these old Pullman con- 
 ductors. 
 
 Ninety-five dollars per month is the 
 highest regular salary paid by the com- 
 pany to its conductors. It takes you ten 
 
 54
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 years to get an advance of $25 over your 
 starting salary, but you must stay con- 
 tinuously in the service to draw $95 ; 
 thereby hangs the tale of my salary of 
 $70 a month after seven years service. 
 
 I have left and re-entered the service 
 since the new rule went into efifect, but 
 my object was otherwise than just to 
 work for the salary or to get the job 
 back. I would no more think of staying 
 in the Pullman company's employ for 
 life than jumping off Brooklyn bridge. 
 
 Let me explain here that the Pullman 
 company has had up to the past year a 
 rule which, by the way, was the only good 
 rule it ever had, and that rule has been 
 abolished. The rule was that if a man 
 left the service, he was allowed to re- 
 enter it at any time, and if his record was 
 good he would be given his old pay back, 
 the same as he had received when he 
 left the service. 
 
 55
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 Now it will employ him, but he must 
 start as a new man. 
 
 Let me say that the average is very 
 small of all the men employed by the 
 company who attain the $95 mark. The 
 small starting salary, the high expense 
 the man on the road is under and the 
 length of time it takes to reach an even 
 half-way decent salary, cause most of the 
 competent men, who do enter the service, 
 to leave it as soon as possible, and the 
 ones who do stay are none too efficient, 
 and probably could not make good in any 
 other line of work. 
 
 There is practically no chance for 
 promotion in the Pullman service, except 
 for the men who are willing to advance 
 at the sacrifice of other men. It requires 
 a certain amount of questionable methods, 
 and reporting of other men to get in line 
 for promotion. The man who would 
 report another to advance himself, it is 
 
 56
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 not reasonable to suppose, would be a 
 first-class man. Speaking for myself, I 
 say where it becomes necessary for me 
 to cause the downfall of other men in 
 order to advance, I should prefer always 
 to remain on the bottom round of the 
 ladder. 
 
 If one should advance as high as he 
 can go in the service, to the position of a 
 district superintendent, the pay is very 
 small and the place carries practically no 
 authority. 
 
 I have heard that some of the officials 
 of the company are in on the graft of 
 owning stock in the laundries that do the 
 company's work. One man whom I know 
 of used to have his name upon the win- 
 dow of the office of a large laundry which 
 did the work for the company. None but 
 the favored few get in on this graft, so I 
 presume these officials who are in on it 
 make some money. 
 
 57
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE "BAWLOUT MAN." 
 
 THE best name I can think of for 
 a Pullman superintendent is the 
 "Bawlout Man." He can take no 
 decisive action without his orders from 
 Chicago, but he can recommend, sign 
 papers and put over the "rough stulT." 
 But the final yes or no always comes 
 from Chicago. He generally has to 
 qualify as a good bulldozer before he 
 gets the job. 
 
 I know one superintendent who would 
 get $10,000 a year for handling the same 
 territory and same number of men under 
 him if he was working for some contract- 
 ing firm or commercial house, and his 
 salary, from what I have been able tc 
 learn, is only about one-third this amount 
 and generally less. 
 
 58
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 The superintendents of the Pullman 
 company have a way, when an employe 
 is called before them, of putting him on 
 the defensive, before he can say a word. 
 They seem to think that if they can bluflf 
 him on the jump and put him in a bad 
 light it will make him give better service 
 in the future. They themselves are 
 strong on language, but some of them are 
 rather weak in ability. 
 
 To my way of thinking, a man who 
 believes he can impress one with his im- 
 portance and get results by using a loud 
 tone of voice and trying to blufif be- 
 cause he is one's superior, has a great 
 deal to learn about human nature. 
 
 If a man is called before the superin- 
 tendent, who tries to blufif him, even 
 though the man is in the right, and he 
 lets the superintendent impose on him, 
 the man himself is no good, or else he 
 
 69
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 bides his time and for his daily motto he 
 says, "Revenge is sweet." 
 
 I have known a man to work through 
 the year with a good record and then be 
 the victim of a report that caused him to 
 be given five demerit marks. This cost 
 him his extra month's pay, which caused 
 him to continue work with no other ob- 
 ject than to get revenge on the company 
 for taking advantage of him in this 
 manner. 
 
 A man was called before the superin- 
 tendent once for promotion and when he 
 arrived in Chicago the superintendent 
 said to him: 
 
 *T have called you here to reward you 
 for the good service you have rendered 
 the company, as you have handled the 
 company's business in a straightforward, 
 honest and efficient manner, but in look- 
 ing over your record I find one thing 
 wrong." 
 
 60
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN ..CONDUCTOR 
 
 ) ) > ' 
 
 "What's that?" said the man, startled. 
 
 "I find," said the superintendent, "that 
 you have never reported any one con- 
 nected with the company. You have 
 never even 'turned in' a porter." 
 
 The superintendent meant that the 
 conductor had never sought the good will 
 of his superintendent or the company by 
 making reports about other men. 
 
 "So," continued the superintendent, 
 "I have reconsidered the matter and can- 
 not give you any promotion." 
 
 The fact that this man had had the 
 ability to settle all his difficulties himself 
 and give good service caused him to lose 
 a much deserved promotion. They 
 wanted him to "turn men in," and make 
 bad reports about other men to his super- 
 intendent. That's why I say the only 
 way to advance in the Pullman service 
 is to push other men down. Therefore 
 any advancement the employe gets is 
 not worth the loss of self-respect. 
 
 61
 
 ■CON'FK? SIGNS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE CONDUCTOR'S EXPENSE. 
 
 1KEPT an account once for three 
 months of what I spent as a Pull- 
 man conductor on the road. When 
 I was drawing $90 per month, my ex- 
 penses on the road ran from $28 to ^37 
 each month. 
 
 Now I am a married man, as all good 
 citizens should be, and my total expenses 
 amounted to just $87 a month, and then 
 my brother-in-law was boarding with us, 
 which helped out considerably. I had the 
 enormous surplus of $3 a month to save 
 against sickness or an accident. My wife 
 and I were living along the most eco- 
 nomical lines and spending no money 
 foolishly. 
 
 62
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 One of the greatest assets of the Pull- 
 man company in the past has been the 
 fact that the best hotels all over the 
 country would gladly give a Pullman 
 conductor a room and his meals free for 
 the patronage he might send their way. 
 Also the railroads were courteous enough 
 to make a 25-cent rate for meals in their 
 dining cars and eating houses. I might 
 say that only one road still maintains this 
 25-cent rate; all others charge one-half 
 rates to Pullman employes. 
 
 As an illustration: Jf a steak costs a 
 passenger 60c, we get it for 30c. I should 
 have said the passenger pays 90c, and we 
 pay 45c, as that is nearer the average 
 now. The company used to point out 
 to employes that it would cost practically 
 nothing to live on the road, and the pay 
 was good under the circumstances, but 
 the time is past when hotels at any point 
 
 63
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 of the country will give conductors a 
 room free. The most common meal costs 
 from 40c to 55c even with the cut rate. 
 Just figure a conductor drawing $70 or 
 $75 a month, or $2.33 a day ! An ordinary 
 laborer is paid from $2.50 to $3 for an 
 eight-hour day, and this laborer is not 
 taking in hundreds of dollars for his 
 employer. 
 
 I despise the man, and a good many 
 conductors are of this kind, who poses 
 as a model of honesty. There is a whole 
 lot of people who think they are too good 
 to live; pretend they have a clear con- 
 science and high principles, while really 
 what they have is a yellow streak, and 
 cold feet. They are so honest it hurts 
 them. What they are really suffering 
 from is lack of nerve and fright — that is 
 why they are honest. I have known men 
 of this kind who mistreated their fam- 
 
 64
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 ilies and were crooked in petty things, 
 but still bragged about their honesty. 
 
 I have a certain amount of admiration 
 for a crook who will rob a bank or hold 
 up a train, but I don't think much of the 
 porch climber who will steal your Sunday 
 dinner out of your ice-box on Saturday 
 night or talk about you behind your back. 
 When you see a man going around with 
 a sanctified air and is so good that it 
 sticks out all over him and has a repu- 
 tation for honesty (when some one is 
 looking) — I say, watch that purified saint 
 or he will steal your wife. He is work- 
 ing under a false trademark, and hell is 
 full of his breed, and many of them were 
 produced by the Pullman Palace Car 
 Company. 
 
 The free rooms and meals of the past 
 are no more since the high cost of living 
 has got in its work. Do you get anything 
 for nothing now? No, not so you can 
 
 65
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 notice it. The Pullman company dislikes 
 to see this asset get away from it, so I 
 understand the managers took the matter 
 up with one of the great roads of the 
 west. To get a better rate in dining cars 
 and eating houses for the Pullman em- 
 ployes running over this system, the 
 answer of the president of this road to 
 the Pullman company was not flattering. 
 He said : "The fact that the Pullman 
 company did not pay its employes enough 
 so that they could buy their meals did 
 not cause him to see why his road should 
 board them at a loss. In fact, the road 
 has been considering taking away the 
 rates that they were getting, and extend- 
 ing the courtesies of rates in future only 
 to the actual employes of its own road," 
 or words to that general effect. 
 
 Now when a new conductor sees what 
 he is up against and that it costs him 
 $1.25 of his daily wage for his meals, with 
 
 G6
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 perhaps wife and family to keep (he may 
 have taken in $50 that day for the com- 
 pany), he scratches his head, or pulls his 
 hair if he has any. If he is long in the 
 service, he can only scratch and ask, 
 "Where do I get off at? I worked all 
 night last night and all day today, and it 
 looks to me as though I am almost pay- 
 ing the company for the privilege of 
 working for it." 
 
 And still there is a question of why 
 men are dishonest. The surprising part 
 is that there are any honest ones left. 
 
 Before I leave the subject of rates in 
 dining cars, I want to say that this thing 
 of being given a rate is one of the most 
 humiliating features of working for the 
 Pullman company. You can't go in the 
 car and eat any time you wish, like other 
 guests, but on account of getting this 
 rate you must either go in early or late 
 so as not to take up the room of some 
 
 G7
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 one who can afford to pay the full rate. 
 Some of the roads even specify when 
 employes shall be served and have a table 
 over in one corner of their eating houses 
 where the trainmen must eat; but the 
 unwritten law is that they mustn't go 
 into the dining car when there is a likeli- 
 hood of the chairs being needed by the 
 passengers. 
 
 There is not a commercial house in 
 existence, which if its managers thought 
 that one of its men on the road was 
 sneaking around looking for a second- 
 rate hotel and was trying to live cheap 
 and thus reflect on the concern, but 
 would be discharged on the spot. The 
 Pullman company is the only company 
 that I know of which has men on the 
 road who are not allowed an expense 
 account. Think of it! A company with 
 a capital of over a hundred million dol- 
 lars, with the largest earning caoacity, I 
 
 68
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PUL LMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 presume, of any concern of its size in 
 existence, and whose stock sells around 
 sixty per cent above par. 
 
 It not only does not pay fair salaries 
 or allow an expense account, but forces 
 its men to humiliate themselves by having 
 to accept charity in order to live. For 
 instance, if there is a small steak that is 
 not large enough to serve to a passenger, 
 or the first cut ofif the roast, it will be 
 served to him by the waiter with a whole 
 lot of condescension, who makes him feel 
 that he is lucky enough to get anything 
 to eat in the dining car at all. 
 
 It should be against the law to give 
 any class of men a cut rate. For one 
 thing it is not fair to the one who pays 
 full rates, and any firm that compels men 
 to be away from home should be forced 
 to pay their expenses or equivalent in 
 wages. 
 
 6d
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 IX. 
 
 TWO ACCIDENTS. 
 
 I AM going to relate here two inci- 
 dents that will illustrate better than 
 anything else just how the company- 
 treat the men whom it expects to serve 
 it faithfully. This treatment was ac- 
 corded myself on one occasion, and to 
 another conductor working out of the 
 same district, who was blufifed so badly 
 that the company would not even pay 
 him his salary when he was injured in 
 an accident, and was not able to work 
 for some time on account of it. I will 
 relate what they handed to me first, as 
 it is not so bad as the other. 
 
 The passenger train I was on at this 
 time collided head-on with a freight train. 
 
 70
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 This collision was caused by the attend- 
 ant at a junction point not throwing- the 
 switch properly where the road changed 
 from a single track to a double track sys- 
 tem. Our train was supposed to take the 
 southbound track, while the other train 
 was standing on the northbound track 
 waiting for our train to pass so it could 
 proceed on the single track we were 
 leaving. 
 
 The attendant of the switch tower 
 gave our engineer the board and signaled 
 "Everything All Right." We were mov- 
 ing along at about twenty miles an hour 
 when the engineer received the signal. 
 He pulled the throttle open and away we 
 went into the open switch, head-on, into 
 the waiting freight train — with a fright- 
 ful crash. (I am telling all this to show 
 that it was not my fault I was hurt in the 
 accident which followed. The Pullman 
 
 71
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 company and railroad company appar- 
 ently seemed to think it was from the 
 way they acted.) 
 
 In the mixup which followed I re- 
 ceived a badly cut forehead and had a 
 bone broken in my foot. After about two 
 hours' delay they got the cars untangled 
 and we finally reached the division point 
 a few miles away with what cars that 
 were not torn up or damaged so badly 
 they could not be moved. Upon our 
 arrival there, a company doctor boarded 
 the car and examined the ones who were 
 injured. This doctor told me he did not 
 have the proper instruments to work with 
 and could not tell how bad the bone in 
 my foot was broken. Also he did not 
 have any splints to set it with, but would 
 give temporary treatment and advised 
 me to go back to St. Louis at once, telling 
 me to go direct to the company hospital. 
 
 72
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 He insisted upon my going to the com- 
 pany hospital in preference to getting a 
 doctor of my own, going on to say that 
 I was entitled to it. After a good deal of 
 red tape I finally succeeded in getting a 
 pass by telegraph and returned to St. 
 Louis next day. 
 
 Immediately upon my arrival I re- 
 ported to the chief clerk of the hospital. 
 I was given treatment by one of the 
 doctors and told to call at a regular hour 
 each morning, which I did for several 
 days. Then upon going to the hospital 
 one day the doctor called me aside and 
 said: 
 
 "I am sorry, but I have orders not to 
 give you any further treatment." 
 
 Upon asking him what the trouble 
 was he said he did not know, only that it 
 was the chief clerk's orders. He asked 
 me to come with him to the office and 
 
 73
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 we would find out. The clerk explained 
 he had received orders to telephone to 
 the Pullman company and find out if they 
 would be responsible for my hospital bill. 
 The answer he received from the division 
 superintendent of the Pullman company 
 was to the effect that if the "conductor 
 wants a doctor or treatment at the hos- 
 pital let him pay for it himself, as we 
 will not pay any bills." 
 
 I could not find out from the clerk 
 who originally raised the question as to 
 who was going to pay for my treatment. 
 You would have thought from the way 
 they acted that my whole idea in being 
 hurt was to get free hospital attendance. 
 They could not see how it was their fault, 
 as of course it was not, for they were 
 only doing as they were ordered. The 
 fault was with the management who had 
 hired a cheap twenty dollar a month man 
 
 74
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 to guard a very important post instead 
 of paying decent wages so they could get 
 a man of intelligence and ability to look 
 out for the public safety. 
 
 I told the clerk that I would not think 
 of imposing on the Iron Mountain Rail- 
 road or the Pullman Company by making 
 them pay out money for me, with my 
 enormous salary of $85 a month and it 
 seemed it was apparently my fault any- 
 way. From the hospital I went direct to 
 the division superintendent's office and 
 when I stepped in the office force must 
 have seen something was wrong, for upon 
 my entering one of the clerks came over 
 and asked, "What is the matter?" 
 
 "I would like to see the man who 
 telephoned out to the hospital about my 
 case," I replied. 
 
 The clerk happended to be a good 
 friend of mine, as he had come up from 
 the district office. I explained to him 
 
 75
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 what kind of a message had been sent 
 out to the hospital. He said the rail- 
 road people had called up in reference to 
 me and that the division superintendent 
 had instructed them to deliver the mes- 
 sage that had been sent. The superin- 
 tendent was not in the office at the time 
 and I always regret that I did not get an 
 opportunity to tell him about the small- 
 ness of this trick. 
 
 Can you imagine anything smaller 
 than this? Two big corporations bandy- 
 ing words back and forth over a $10 
 hospital bill for an underpaid employe 
 who was hurt while on duty by their 
 own carelessness. Pretty small, don't you 
 think? 
 
 I told the clerk that I had had no 
 intention before of making a claim, but 
 now that I was going over to see the 
 claim agent of the railroad. It was about 
 ten minutes walk from this office to the 
 
 76
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 claim agent's ofifice, but as I was walk- 
 ing with a cane at the time it was prob- 
 ably twenty minutes before I reached the 
 office. I have a suspicion that some one 
 from the Pullman office telephoned over 
 to look out for me, as I was coming to 
 their office and was looking for trouble. 
 
 One of the glad-hand men met me at 
 the door, and calling me by name took 
 me by the hand, like I was a long lost 
 brother, then passed out a lot of bunk 
 about a mistake having been made and 
 for me not to bother about a bill from the 
 hospital as they had not known what 
 they were talking about. He wound up, 
 "You just go home and rest easy and do 
 not come back to work until you feel like 
 it, as you will not lose a thing or have 
 to pay any bills whatever." 
 
 There was nothing for me to do but 
 go home and rest easy as he said, which 
 I was very glad to do. When I arrived 
 
 77
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 home that day a very amusing thing 
 occurred. It had been a matter of ten 
 or twelve days since the wreck and up 
 to that time neither the Pullman com- 
 pany nor the railroad company had seen 
 fit to take enough interest in my case to 
 send a man out to my home, to see how 
 I was getting along. It was no concern 
 of theirs, it seemed, whether I lived or 
 died. On this day the Pullman com- 
 pany must have got busy, for when I 
 arrived home one of the men from the 
 office was waiting to see me. He said 
 he had come out to see how I was get- 
 ting along, that the superintendent had 
 said for me not to come back to work 
 until everything was all right and to 
 take my own time. It was very odd 
 how much interest they began to take in 
 my welfare all of a sudden. 
 
 I had been told by the chief clerk of 
 our office before this that I need not ex- 
 
 78
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 pect the company to pay me for the time 
 I was off, and unless I had accident in- 
 surance, I would have to lose my pay 
 for the time I was hurt. He explained 
 that I had signed a printed form when I 
 was employed by the company, whereby 
 I had agreed to waive all responsibility 
 against the company, as damages or pay 
 for the time lost as a result of accident. 
 This agreement the employe has to sign 
 before he goes to work for the company, 
 and is a great piece of ingenuity. Who- 
 ever the man was that arranged this 
 agreement was an artist, as it takes in 
 about everything from snakebite to 
 getting a cinder in your eye. 
 
 The chief clerk went on to say that 
 my accident insurance would cover the 
 case. From his argument it would seem 
 that the $18 a year I was paying out of 
 my own pocket for an accident policy 
 was not protecting me, but was protect-
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PtTLLMAN CONDL'CTOR 
 
 ing the company against myself. That 
 was a rather bad argument for me but a 
 good one for the company. Though I, 
 had realized the danger of my occupation 
 and had taken out an accident policy, 
 they took the position that they were re- 
 lieved of all risk, although in the end 
 they paid both for my time and the hos- 
 pital expenses. The funny part about 
 it was they asked me to sign a release 
 before they would give me the check, so 
 you see they knew the printed agreement 
 they had forced me to sign when I was 
 employed was a farce and would not hold 
 good in court. 
 
 I will now tell how the company used 
 these same methods in another case. 
 This conductor was not even paid his 
 salary. The accident that happened to 
 him occurred in this manner: The train 
 he was on was approaching some little 
 to\Vn and the conductor had stepped out 
 
 80
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A I'ULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 between the cars preparing to get out at 
 the station to receive passengers. One 
 of the porters was out between the sleep- 
 ing cars sweeping off the vestibule, also 
 in preparation for this town. This con- 
 ductor waited on the other platform until 
 the porter had finished sweeping. The 
 porter then started to open the door of 
 the car to put the broom away, when 
 the train gave a violent lurch and threw 
 the conductor back against the door, also 
 throwing the porter back towards the 
 conductor. The porter, in his wild 
 scramble to keep from falling, threw 
 the broom back over his shoulders and 
 plunged the small end of the handle into 
 the conductor's eye. 
 
 When this conductor arrived in St. 
 Louis he was taken home at once and a 
 doctor was called. Then for the next 
 two months it was a question whether 
 he would not lose his eyesight altogether. 
 
 81
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 It cost this man more than $100 and 
 the loss of three months' salary, aside 
 from all his expenses, when he was at 
 home sick. Besides his injury was of a 
 very painful nature and he suffered ter- 
 ribly during the first two months. 
 
 I understand that the railroad com- 
 pany, as well as the Pullman company, 
 did not take the trouble in either case 
 to send a man out to investigate this 
 man's condition. It showed an utter lack 
 of appreciation on the Pullman com- 
 pany's part, for I know for a positive 
 fact that this man gave good service and 
 was a first-class man. 
 
 Imagine being in a pitch dark room 
 under the care of a specialist trying to 
 save yourself from going blind, and then 
 to have the people who were indirectly 
 to blame for your condition treat you in 
 this manner. 
 
 When I last saw this conductor he 
 
 82
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 was Still having trouble with his eyes. 
 After about three months' time, when 
 he went back to work, he wrote several 
 very touching letters to the officials of 
 the company asking pay for the time he 
 had lost, explaining the position he was 
 in and what the accident had cost him 
 in the way of doctor bills, and loss of 
 time, with other extra expense, placing 
 him in a very bad position financially. 
 
 The company answered him by saying 
 it could not see how it was responsible 
 under the circumstances and therefore 
 could not allow anything on account of 
 this accident. The last time I saw this 
 conductor he told me he had not re- 
 ceived a penny from either company. 
 
 You will see by these two cases that 
 the Pullman company does not give its 
 employes the square deal that they ex- 
 pect, on entering the service, to receive. 
 
 83
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 X. 
 WRITING THE "STATEMENTS." 
 
 1WANT to say a few words here 
 about the writing of statements, as 
 that is one of the most amusing 
 things about working for the Pullman 
 company. If a passenger should expec- 
 torate out of the window and hit a car 
 cleaner or section hand in the eye, the 
 conductor and porter must write a state- 
 ment about the case. The fact that they 
 may not have seen it or know anything 
 about it makes no difiference. They must 
 state why this passenger preferred to ex- 
 pectorate in this man's eye in preference 
 to the cuspidor, with any other facts that 
 have a bearing on the case. This parti- 
 cular illustration is fiction, of course, but 
 in truth we have to write statements 
 
 84
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 about things more trivial than this. I 
 venture to say that if all the statements 
 that have been written by conductors 
 and porters, if placed side by side, would 
 cover the Pacific Ocean. Every time we 
 turn around we must write a statement. 
 Here is a little story that goes the rounds 
 among the employes of the company 
 about writing of statements. 
 
 A conductor was supposed, so the 
 story goes, to have had a dream, and in 
 this dream he thought he had gone to 
 heaven. It would be very interesting to 
 know just what this man had eaten for 
 dinner, as it must have been something 
 rich to cause a Pullman conductor to 
 dream he had gone to heaven. However, 
 he dreamed he and George Pullman ar- 
 rived at the gates of St. Peter together. 
 Both knocked at the same time and St. 
 Peter opened the gate about an inch and 
 asked, "Who's there?" 
 
 85
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 "George Pullman, the originator of 
 the palace on wheels," answered Pullman. 
 
 "What did you ever do for humanity?" 
 queried St. Peter. 
 
 "I invented the sleeping car so a pas- 
 senger could travel in comfort on a 
 train," said George, "and I build my cars 
 so well that the first sleeper constructed 
 is still running." 
 
 "Did you invent the upper berths?" 
 asked St. Peter. 
 
 "I did," said George. 
 
 "Well, in that case," said St. Peter, 
 "go down below to the hot air chamber 
 and write a statement." 
 
 "Going down," howled the elevator 
 imp. 
 
 Then, turning to the conductor, St. 
 Peter said, "And what did you do?" 
 
 "I was a conductor for the Pullman 
 company," said the man. 
 
 86
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 "Did you live up to the book of 
 rules?" said St. Peter. 
 
 "I did," said the conductor. 
 
 "Come on in, then, you have had hell 
 enough." 
 
 * * * 
 
 I don't say this is a fact, but it is 
 my opinion that the Pullman Company, 
 with its small pay, the expensive sur- 
 roundings the employes are forced to 
 face, and the rules under v^hich they are 
 forced to work, has caused more men to 
 become dishonest than any other one 
 thing in this country. The company has 
 plenty of good men in its employ, but 
 there are not very many of them who 
 stay ; they are forced out by the working 
 conditions and small pay. The company 
 claims it costs several hundred dollars to 
 break in a new man as a conductor. If 
 
 87
 
 CONFE.-5IO.VS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 some of this cost had been taken to pay 
 a little more salarj', they would have 
 made more money in the end, as there 
 are as many ex-Pullman conductors as 
 there are men in the standing army of 
 the United States. 
 
 I have heard that one official of the 
 company, in a brilliant burst of intelli- 
 gence, once said, "that he could get all 
 the Pullman conductors he wanted for 
 S50 per month," and I say, speaking 
 along these same lines, "You could get 
 all the men you wanted to be cashiers of 
 banks for S40 per month." But what 
 kind of men would they be? There's the 
 rub. 
 
 The company does not use cheap ma- 
 terial in its cars, so why should it not 
 use the same judgment in the choosing 
 of men? 
 
 There would be no reason for em- 
 88
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 ployers to pay high wages to good men 
 who stick if it could get men of the same 
 ability for small pay. As long as the 
 Pullman company figures that it can get 
 a man worth $150 a month for $70 a 
 month, it will be changing its organiza- 
 tion of conductors about every two years 
 until the United States is as old as Jeru- 
 salem. Intelligence, staying qualities and 
 also honesty must be paid for the same 
 as an all-wool suit of clothes. It makes 
 no difTference whether you get good ma- 
 terial wrapped up in a man's body or 
 in a pasteboard box; if it is a high class 
 article, and you expect it to stand the 
 wear and tear of hard usage, you won't 
 get it at a bargain sale. 
 
 About four years ago, a petition went 
 into the general offices of the company 
 signed by practically all of the conductors 
 in the service asking for more pay. 
 
 89
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 This first petition was ignored. Then a 
 few months later another was sent in 
 asking for the same thing. Then the of- 
 ficials began to sit up and take notice, but 
 they dodged the question and with a 
 blare of trumpets and a little hot air, 
 which came out in the papers, stated that 
 the Pullman company was going to show 
 its liberality and appreciation for its em- 
 ployes by giving each one who went 
 through the year, beginning on each 
 January, with a clear record, an extra 
 month's pay free. 
 
 The announcement said that this was 
 voluntary on the company's part and 
 showed how many thousands of dollars 
 this generosity would cost it. Of course, 
 if you take 20,000 men and give them $2 
 apiece, it will amount to a fortune, but 
 this $2 won't cause any one of these in- 
 dividuals to get gray-headed wondering 
 what he will do with all of this wealth. 
 
 90
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 I am now going into the means used 
 by the Pullman company to force honesty 
 and get good service out of cheap men. 
 Let me say here that ninety-five per cent 
 of the men hired by the company are 
 honest men whose intentions are good, 
 but the continual firing of conductors 
 and hiring of new men, caused by the 
 manner in which the men are treated, 
 with the small pay and being watched 
 at all times as though they were escaped 
 convicts, prevents many self-respecting 
 employes remaining long in the com- 
 pany's employ. 
 
 I heard a district superintendent of 
 the company once say to a conductor, 
 when he thought he had the goods on 
 him and the conductor cleared himself, 
 that he was either a fool for luck or was 
 smoother than the average. 
 
 91
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 XL 
 
 THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGH- 
 TER. 
 
 HERE is an experience that hap- 
 pened to me shortly after I en- 
 tered the service which made me 
 view the job as a joke; as nearly every 
 conductor in the service does view it 
 and causes them to adopt the attitude of 
 "Get by if you can, but if you can't, don't 
 worry, as you won't lose anything if you 
 are fired." 
 
 At the time this happened I was run- 
 ning on a road from the middle west 
 down south. This road had two through 
 trains running about an hour apart. I 
 was on the second train coming north on 
 this occasion. The first train did the 
 
 92
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 local work and we on the second train 
 handled the through business. On a 
 branch line of this road, off the main 
 line, about 20 miles away, was a hustling 
 little town in the oil regions. Two sec- 
 tions or two upper and two lower berths 
 were held to be sold by the ticket agent 
 in this town in one of the sleeping cars 
 on the first train going north. There was 
 a local train that ran between this town 
 and a junction point with the main line. 
 These passengers came over on this local 
 to the junction point and there made con- 
 nection with the train that carried the 
 sleeping car for which their berth tickets 
 called. 
 
 On this occasion, the two lower berths 
 were held by an old lady and her daugh- 
 ter, and as the local train had been late 
 they had missed their connection and the 
 first train carrying their car had gone, 
 
 93
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PU LLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 SO they waited for the second train. When 
 we arrived here, the ladies boarded the 
 train, holding tickets for two lower 
 berths. Now remember, it was not their 
 fault they had missed their connection, 
 but the fault was of course with the 
 train in arriving too late for the con- 
 necting train. On my train there was not 
 a lower berth left and the old lady was in 
 feeble health. It would have been almost 
 impossible for her to get into an upper 
 berth, and besides she needed attention 
 from her daughter during the night. 
 
 I thought the best thing to do was to 
 give them two lower berths in a drawing 
 room which was vacant, making a nota- 
 tion on the margin of the diagram of the 
 car the reason for my doing so. The 
 tickets held by these passengers were 
 worth $2 apiece and where a berth is 
 sold for $2 the drawing room between 
 the same points is sold for $7. 
 
 94
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 Next morning when I turned in my 
 reports the company showed its appre- 
 ciation for the way I had handled the 
 matter by making me pay $3, the differ- 
 ence in the value of the tickets and the 
 price of the drawing room. Now had I 
 put these two ladies in upper berths, they 
 would have had a clear case for a lawsuit 
 and damages against the company, as 
 they would have paid for something in 
 good faith and through no fault of their 
 own, had not received it. 
 
 I will add now that a couple of years 
 ago this rule was modified, so that 
 the very thing I did at that time is now 
 permitted. Perhaps this change was 
 caused by a lawsuit or two, or perhaps 
 some official looked over the rules who 
 happened to have a little horse sense, and 
 suggested the change. 
 
 Do you wonder that few men stick 
 with the job? They say Russia has the 
 
 95
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMA N CONDUCTOR 
 
 best spy system in the world, but in my 
 Opinion it could learn a whole lot from 
 the Pullman company. The company 
 calls its spies special agents, or private 
 detectives, if you wish — but what they 
 really are is spotters. So far as I have 
 been able to learn these spotters are not 
 in the direct employ of the company, but 
 this work is given out by contract with 
 various detective agencies. 
 
 One of the greatest presidents this 
 country ever had said, I believe, that "the 
 best way to clinch an argument was to 
 tell a story that would illustrate the point 
 of argument." 
 
 96
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 XII. 
 THE MARRIED SPOTTERS. 
 
 NOW listen to this little story. I 
 heard it pretty straight and be- 
 lieve that it is a fact. I will show 
 the methods that were used and tolerated 
 by the company to get one conductor's 
 job. This man was Pullman conductor 
 on a train which had on board, among 
 other passengers, a well-dressed and very 
 pretty woman and a gentleman (that at 
 least is what the conductor thought he 
 was). These two passengers of course 
 had different berths and apparently were 
 total strangers. This man made such a 
 good impression on the conductor and 
 appeared to be such a good fellow that 
 the conductor, upon being invited by him, 
 
 97
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 consented to have dinner with him in 
 the dining car. During the meal, the 
 man suggested ordering a couple of bot- 
 tles of beer, and as the conductor thought 
 he was all to the good, he agreed, where- 
 upon he ordered from the waiter, telling 
 him to serve the conductor's in a china 
 mug so it could not be seen what he 
 was drinking. He said to the conductor 
 afterwards, "I know it is against the rules 
 for you to drink on duty, but a bottle of 
 beer will do you no harm." 
 
 He then brought up the subject of the 
 woman, asking the conductor if he had 
 any objection if he tried to get acquainted 
 with her, as he believed there was "some- 
 thing in sight" there. 
 
 By this time the man had got entirely 
 into the confidence of the conductor who 
 answered him by telling him to go as 
 far as he liked. Thereafter the success 
 
 98
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 this man had with the lady was remark- 
 able, to say the least, and should have 
 caused the conductor to become suspi- 
 cious, he being allowed by the lady to 
 share her berth with her. Now! Now! 
 sh — h — but read the rest of the story. 
 The man had given the conductor his 
 supposed name and said he would stop 
 at a certain hotel and for the conductor 
 to call around next day and see him if 
 he could. 
 
 A prominent detective has said, "That 
 every criminal will do some little thing 
 that will give him away," as this one did, 
 for he actually stopped at the hotel where 
 he had told the conductor to call. 
 
 But listen! Next morning, after the 
 conductor had turned in his reports, he 
 was called in on the carpet and was dis- 
 charged. He was very likely surprised 
 by this jolt." 
 
 99
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 During the day he happened to think 
 about the man he had met the night be- 
 fore on the train and thought he would 
 call around and see him ; he was a pretty 
 good fellow and might use his influence 
 to help him get another job. As he en- 
 tered the lobby of the hotel, he saw his 
 man leaving the desk and was a little 
 surprised to see the lady of the night 
 before with him, they taking the elevator 
 to an upper floor together. 
 
 Going over to the clerk he asked, 
 "What room has Mr. Jones?" 
 
 The clerk informed him that no Mr. 
 Jones was stopping there. 
 
 "Why," said the conductor, very much 
 surprised, "he just went up in the elevator 
 with a lady." 
 
 "Oh," said the clerk, "that was Mr. 
 and Mrs. Smith." 
 
 The conductor then saw a sudden 
 
 300
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 light. So that was their game. This man 
 was a spotter, and was traveling around 
 the country with his wife, who was also 
 a spotter, and if any conductor allowed 
 him to pull this stunt ofif on the car, he 
 would report him and have him fired. 
 
 I don't know which is the most dis- 
 honest, the company which would use 
 these underhand means to catch a man 
 or the man who is caught in some 
 crooked act in this way. 
 
 If I had been this conductor, I would 
 have gone out and hunted up the biggest 
 Chicagoan I could find, with the prover- 
 bial big feet preferred, and had him kick 
 me the entire length of State street. But 
 the rest of this story is too good not 
 to tell. 
 
 That evening the conductor was sit- 
 ting down in the depot telling some of 
 his brother conductors about the way he 
 
 101
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 had been taken in by this pair, when who 
 popped in the door but the aforesaid Mrs. 
 Smith, and pretty soon the man came in 
 also ; but they never spoke and acted like 
 strangers to each other. There was only 
 one train they could take. At about this 
 time this conductor hunted up the man 
 who was going out on this train and told 
 him about the game. Sure enough, they 
 got on and the man started to work the 
 same thing again. He and the conductor 
 went to supper together at his invitation. 
 Only this conductor passed up the beer. 
 He was allowed to carry out everything 
 else he did the night before, until along 
 about 12 o'clock that night, when he had 
 got to sleep, the train conductor went to 
 the berth with the Pullman conductor, 
 and he was made to get up and was put 
 off the train despite his wife's tearful 
 pleading that he was her husband. He 
 
 102
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 had nothing on to speak of when he was 
 put off, and what he did have on should 
 not be spoken of. His wife left the train 
 at the next town and I presume the wires 
 were kept pretty hot until they got each 
 other located. This last conductor was 
 not fired, and heard nothing about the 
 matter further. 
 
 103
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 XIII. 
 
 HOW THE SPOTTER WORKS. 
 
 I AM going- to try and tell here some 
 of the ways a spotter works and 
 what kind of man he is. 
 
 On a good many occasions he comes 
 running down to the train at the last 
 minute and says, "Conductor, I did not 
 have time to buy a berth, can you fix me 
 up?" 
 
 As the conductor generally has space 
 left, he sells him a berth. He does this 
 to see if he is given a receipt, as he has 
 a chance to pay in cash. Perhaps he 
 asks for a berth near the end of the car. 
 Here he can get a better view of what 
 occurs. He then explains that he does 
 not sleep well and gets up several times 
 
 104
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 during the night — that is to put the con- 
 ductor off his guard so he won't get sus- 
 picious if he sees him prowling around 
 the car like some sneak thief. What he 
 really gets up for is to see if he can catch 
 the conductor or porter asleep. Perhaps 
 then when the conductor is alone with 
 him in the smoking-room, he will offer a 
 cigar, telling him to go ahead and enjoy 
 himself, and not mind him, as he has 
 worked for firms that did not allow 
 smoking, and knows how it is. He then 
 springs a bottle of whisky, saying, "This 
 is fine goods given me by a friend of 
 mine; won't you join me in a little drink? 
 Now, don't be afraid of me, as you are 
 just as safe to drink this before me as 
 in your own home." 
 
 A new conductor asked me how I 
 knew a spotter when I had one on the 
 car. Well, I replied, I keep myself famil- 
 ies
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 iar with how spotters look by making a 
 visit to the city workhouse about once a 
 month. You know the kind, the ones 
 that rob poor boxes and snatch an old 
 lady's purse. If you have a man you are 
 suspicious of, suddenly stop, and take a 
 sharp look in his eyes. If he is guilty, he 
 will dodge like you threw a brick at him. 
 Besides this, a crook will look like a 
 crook ; they may be able to look you in 
 the eyes a little too steady, or perhaps 
 they can't look you in the eye at all ; and 
 the best advice I can give you, is to watch 
 the man who looks crooked. 
 
 Dealing with this line of crooks 
 makes a conductor suspicious of every 
 one he meets, and when a real man offers 
 him a drink or a cigar, he cannot accept 
 it without being afraid he will be re- 
 ported. Now in the past few years the 
 company has broadened out a little and 
 
 106
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 has what they call a service inspector. 
 I will say here that there is very little 
 criticism by the men of these inspectors, 
 as they are open and above board, carry- 
 ing passes, saying who they are and don't 
 sneak, as a rule. The only suggestion 
 I would make about them is, that they 
 should make it a point to get on the 
 trains once in a while at some time be- 
 sides 2 o'clock in the morning and not 
 get on so often at some flag stop. 
 Some of these men have been nicknamed 
 "Watertank Inspectors." These make it 
 a point to know where the passenger 
 trains stop for water and board the train 
 there in the hope that they will find 
 something wrong. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Now, to go back for a moment to this 
 bonus of an extra month's pay to every 
 man who goes through the year with a 
 
 107
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDLTCTOR 
 
 clear record. That means that at the 
 end of the year the record must be clear 
 of the demerit marks; or, if you should 
 get a bad report after July 1st and get 
 five demerit marks as a result of it, that 
 would not allow you to participate in the 
 extra month's salary. 
 
 The Pullman company has a system 
 of book suspension, which works like 
 this: The company gives the conductor 
 five days, say, for a bad report, but in- 
 stead of taking him out of the service 
 without pay for five days, as in former 
 times, it is marked against his record, and 
 enough days or demerit marks in a given 
 time means discharge. 
 
 Now take the men on the long run 
 or the runs where they are two nights 
 going and two nights returning to their 
 starting point, which is four nights and 
 two full days on the road. This con- 
 
 108
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 ductor works 36 hours with six hours 
 sleep, three hours each night ; now the 
 second night he is worn out and if he is 
 caught asleep by some spotter on the 
 car, or if the service inspector gets on 
 at 2 in the morning and catches him 
 asleep, he gets 15 days and loses his extra 
 month's pay. That is generally about the 
 point in a conductor's life when friend- 
 ship ceases and he begins to figure on 
 how to "get his." 
 
 The company was wise to get up that 
 bonus system instead of a raise in salary, 
 as it knew only about half the men or 
 less would be able to go under the wire 
 with a clean l)ill. The prize box game is 
 for Sunday schools and kindergartens, 
 but it is not the way to deal with men. 
 When a man or a company of men are 
 dealing with other men, the fact should 
 never be lost sight of that they are men 
 
 109
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 themselves. If I had a man working for 
 me to whom I had to give a prize to get 
 him to do his work properly, I would 
 know that there was one of two things 
 the matter : that I was either not paying 
 that man what he was worth or he was 
 no good. 
 
 Don't think that I am opposed to a 
 firm giving its employes a bonus or hav- 
 ing a profit-sharing arrangement. There 
 is a large plumbing concern in the United 
 States that has accomplished wonderful 
 results by allowing the men to share in 
 the profits they have earned for the 
 company. 
 
 I should like to ask this hypothetical 
 question, as a layman speaking to ex- 
 perts : That if the board of directors of 
 the Pullman company decided that their 
 district superintendents all over the coun- 
 try were not being paid enough, whether 
 
 110
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 they would raise each one a few dollars 
 a month, or send out a notice that each 
 superintendent who came to his office 
 at 7 o'clock every morning and remained 
 there until 6 o'clock in the evening for 
 each consecutive day of the year, would 
 be given a bonus of a month's salary at 
 the end of the year? You would hear the 
 echo of the howl that would go up in 
 Africa, and you would hear them say, 
 "What do you think we are, a bunch of 
 school girls?" 
 
 It makes no difference how hard you 
 may drive a workhorse, he can't win in 
 a race of thoroughbreds. A man that is 
 paid cheap will do cheap work. If I was 
 a manufacturer, and one of my foremen 
 came to me and said, "I can reduce your 
 operating expenses by getting cheaper 
 men to do the work and forcing them 
 harder," I would fire him on the spot ; but 
 
 111
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 if he said we would get better results out 
 of the men by giving them more light and 
 air, and improving the working condi- 
 tions and be able to reduce expenses by 
 cutting down the force and paying the 
 expert workmen more, I would investi- 
 gate his plan. 
 
 I once worked at a place where we 
 had to leave the building to get a decent 
 drink of water. Now the wise employer 
 of men is putting in reading and smoking 
 rooms where the men can go and eat 
 their lunch and read and rest instead of 
 eating in the alley or going to saloons. 
 Fair treatment and a square deal to em- 
 ployes is the greatest asset any firm can 
 have. 
 
 I am going to say a few words about 
 the porter and his whiskbroom. First, let 
 us take the porters on tourist cars or 
 second-class sleeping cars. These cars 
 
 112
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDQCTOR 
 
 generally operate on long through runs, 
 like from St. Louis or Chicago to points 
 in California. Some run from Washing- 
 ton, D. C, to California via New Orleans ; 
 some run even from Boston. These cars, 
 as they are second-class, generally run on 
 slow trains, and are used mostly for col- 
 onists and homeseekers. A trip from St. 
 Louis or Chicago to California on these 
 trains requires from four to five nights on 
 the road. 
 
 113
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 XIV. 
 PORTER IN UPPER NUMBER ONE. 
 
 NE of the rules of the Pulhnan 
 company reads something like 
 this : 
 
 "Porters of tourist cars will be re- 
 lieved about four hours during the day 
 for rest." 
 
 The majority of the readers of this 
 article have never been in a tourist car, 
 let alone having ridden in one. The por- 
 ter is permitted to sleep in upper berth 
 No. 1 only. If you have ever laid on 
 a hard mattress with your face about 
 six inches from a tin roof in August, 
 with the sun boiling down on this roof, 
 you can get an idea of the form of tor- 
 ture I am going to explain. 
 
 114
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 The porter is supposed to turn into 
 this Turkish bath about 11 o'clock A. M., 
 generally the coolest part of the day, and 
 as the train skims merrily over the plains 
 of Kansas or the Panhandle of Texas or 
 over one of the delightful deserts of the 
 west, he lays up there enjoying the "scen- 
 ery." (This berth has no opening at top, 
 bottom or end. The only place he can 
 get out is where he got in and that must 
 be kept tightly closed with heavy berth 
 curtains.) He also listens to several old 
 maids talking over the chance of getting 
 a man in California "where women are 
 scarce," or the gentle wailing of some 
 two-year-old hero calling for the old 
 housecat that was left behind ; and, by 
 the way, that is generally the only thing 
 that is left behind by these tourist car 
 colonists. Everything else is usually sold 
 to buy a one-way ticket to what the pas- 
 
 115
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 seiiger agents have made them believe 
 is the Land of Opportunity. Nero may 
 have been a torture expert in his day, 
 but his most styHsh kind of torture com- 
 pared with this, proves him, according to 
 my idea, the rankest dub. 
 
 Speaking of being hog-tied and laid 
 on an ant hill and slowly bit into nine 
 million bites, or being tied to a wild 
 horse and dragged to death, why that's 
 pleasure compared to this. Sleep and 
 rest! You are lucky if you live. 
 
 Imagine, if you can, lying on your 
 back on this sticky mattress, being rolled 
 back and forth and at each outside turn 
 part of the skin rubbed ofif of your nose 
 against the roof, and lying in a puddle of 
 your own perspiration, with the ther- 
 mometer 110 in the shade, with forty-nine 
 different kinds of noises all around you ! 
 
 Instead of being able to woo Mor- 
 
 IIG
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 pheus into giving him peaceful sleep, the 
 porter is more likely, according to the 
 way he feels and looks when he gets up, 
 to have been flirting with death and the 
 devil. Now, when this man crawls into 
 this 2x4 oven, he has usually been on 
 duty from 20 to 24 hours ; then, after four 
 hours, if he lives and sticks it out that 
 long, he comes down and is on duty again 
 from 3 P. M. until 11 A. M. the next day 
 — twenty hours on duty and four hours 
 off, and so on for the five days and five 
 nights he is on the way, or longer. He 
 gives one hundred hours' work with 
 twenty hours' rest, or trying to rest. 
 
 Is it any wonder that these men don't 
 give good service and that they have a 
 perpetual grouch, but don't say anything, 
 as Upper 1 is likely on their minds? 
 
 The porters on second-class cars get 
 $5 more per month than men on first- 
 
 117
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 class cars, which makes their pay $32.50 
 per month. I cannot account for this 
 generosity on the company's part. Does 
 it seem strange that this man will do 
 anything to get money, or is it any won- 
 der he will take a bribe from a passenger 
 to let him do anything he wishes and 
 work together with the passenger to put 
 something over on the conductor by help- 
 ing him take advantage of some woman 
 on the car? 
 
 The company charges its patrons all 
 the traffic will bear and the services of 
 the porter and his shining of shoes should 
 and have been paid for when the passen- 
 ger pays for his berth. The Pullman 
 company does not even furnish the porter 
 with the brushes or shoe polish with 
 which he shines its patron's shoes ; but 
 one thing it does do is to hold a porter 
 responsible for the linen on the car, and 
 
 118
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 any shortage that occurs he has to 
 pay for. 
 
 I have had porters tell me that for a 
 year or two at a stretch they never drew 
 a full month's pay. It does not look fair 
 that the men drawing a salary of this 
 kind should be forced to keep up the 
 linen supply of a hundred million dollar 
 corporation. I venture to say that the 
 porters just about buy all the new linen 
 needed by the company. 
 
 119
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 XV. 
 THE GRAFT. 
 
 THE graft is this : The porter who 
 sHps the man who counts linen a 
 little change is never short, 
 while the poor sucker that won't stand 
 for this graft has to pay his shortage and 
 the other man's also. If a guest should 
 steal a towel from a hotel, should the 
 bellboy have to pay for it? When you 
 order a bill of goods from a firm to be 
 delivered to your home, you don't have 
 to give the delivery boy a half dollar to 
 bring it out to your house. The firm pays 
 him wages for delivering goods for them. 
 The traveling public should be pro- 
 tected by law and not have to stand this 
 petty graft in paying for the service they 
 have already bought. There should be 
 
 120
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 a national interstate law against tipping. 
 Is it strange a company of this kind can 
 pile up an enormous cash surplus when it 
 doesn't have to pay its own employes? 
 
 So when the porter comes to you in 
 the morning with his broom, don't be too 
 hard on him. Remember as you give him 
 his quarter that it is not so much his 
 imposition on you for this tip, as that is 
 the way he is forced to make his living, 
 but that of the company that has built up 
 this system to make you pay its employes. 
 
 We will leave the porter here and go 
 back to the conductor. It has got to be 
 the rule in a good many parts of this 
 country where the travel on certain trains 
 in thickly populated districts is heavy or 
 where the road has not much competition 
 and don't run enough trains to handle the 
 business properly. On these trains the 
 Pullman conductor does a good business 
 by giving the man that hands him a 
 
 121
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 dollar extra the preference for lower 
 berths. This is pretended not to be 
 known by the company, but as these runs 
 are so strongly sought after by con- 
 ductors that a blind man could tell the 
 reason, but of course the company appre- 
 ciates the fact that this helps them to 
 keep wages down, so they take what the 
 gods provide and don't put forth much 
 efifort to stop it. For when the public 
 pays, you hear nothing from the company 
 except large gobs of silence, but when it 
 has to pay we hear howls from all sides. 
 Before I leave the conductor and tips, I 
 am going to say, as much as I regret to 
 do so, that some conductors will, for the 
 feel of a five-dollar bill, allow some man 
 on the car to try and corrupt the morals 
 of some lady passenger, whom the con- 
 ductor by all means should protect. I 
 can think of nothing I would rather not 
 look back upon in my old age or have to 
 
 122
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 account for when I die, than that at some 
 time in my past I had taken money in 
 payment for permitting some man to im- 
 pose on some man's wife or daughter. I 
 am glad to say that a dollar of this kind 
 was never touched by me. 
 
 'p 'h T* 
 
 I am going to refer again on the spy 
 system in this way: When a spotter of 
 the company sends in a bad report about 
 a conductor, for instance, the report is 
 something like this : The spotter checks 
 up the number of passengers on the car 
 and finds out there are twenty passengers 
 on board. The report of the conductor for 
 this car, we will say, shows only fifteen 
 passengers, which means that this con- 
 ductor has collected cash fares from these 
 other five passengers who are on the car 
 and has kept the money. 
 
 Now you would think this conductor 
 would be discharged upon receipt of this 
 
 123
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 spotter's report, but if this happens to be 
 his first offense, he is only warned, or 
 perhaps made to pay this money back. 
 Do you think anything is wrong with a 
 system Hke that? 
 
 If a man works for you and you were 
 even suspicious that he was crooked you 
 would discharge him, of course, but not 
 so the Pullman company, for it doesn't 
 trust these spotters any too well them- 
 selves and know they are crooked and 
 would as soon write a lie as the truth. 
 Another reason is, the managers are 
 afraid the next man they hire, if they fire 
 this one, will be worse, and they would 
 rather take a chance on the one they 
 have, thinking that he might not take 
 very much, than to get another man that 
 might take it all. I don't believe there 
 is a business man in the world out of a 
 padded cell who believes he could get 
 results by operating under such a system. 
 
 124
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 XVI. 
 THE REMEDY. 
 
 IN ENDING, let me suggest a few 
 things that might help to defeat 
 these "Love Diplomats" and protect 
 ladies on the trains, cut out most of the 
 graft, and do general good all around and 
 improve the service. The first is a decent 
 living salary for porters and conductors, 
 and not more than a 16-hour working 
 day. 
 
 The run I am on at present — but 
 
 which I shall not be on when this book 
 is published — changes crews four times 
 between the time I get on and where I 
 get ofif, and every man of the crew gets 
 from $30 to $90 a month more salary 
 and gets as much rest for working on 
 
 125
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 an average of ten hours as I get for 
 working four nights and two days. 
 
 Another thing I would suggest is to 
 have a white man on duty at all times on 
 the cars, and if they are paid well, they 
 will take care of the job, can't be bought 
 so easily, and won't permit so much im- 
 moraHty among travelers. The abolish- 
 ment of the spotter and adding more 
 service inspectors, with the understand- 
 ing that when a new man is hired that 
 the first crooked move he makes he will 
 not be warned but discharged would be 
 an improvement, for if a good salary is 
 paid there need be no hesitation to dis- 
 charge a man and not be able to replace 
 him with a better one. The doing away 
 with the "third degree" that is used ex- 
 tensively by the Pullman company when 
 a man is called before the superintendent 
 would work wonders in the service. The 
 
 126
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 Chicago police should take note that the 
 Pullman company was using the "third 
 degree" when Chicago was a village. The 
 company should inject a few men of 
 broader intellect, and with modern ideas 
 under their hats, who would believe in 
 more co-operation with employes, fair 
 treatment and a square deal all around. 
 Then there would l)e more dividends, less 
 friction, pleasant association and good 
 service. 
 
 If this statement of facts accomplishes 
 nothing else but to serve as a warning to 
 women who travel to beware of the 
 "Love Diplomats" on the train, it v.'iil 
 have done a good work indeed. 
 
 I want to wind this up with a little 
 story about the Interstate Commerce 
 Commission. In an argument with the 
 Pullman company, the I. C. C. asked the 
 Pullman company representative what 
 
 127
 
 CONFESSIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 
 
 heading its employes came under. The 
 Pullman agent answered, "Railroad 
 men." The I. C. C. asked, "Well, in that 
 case why don't you observe the 16-hour 
 law?" 
 
 The agent answered again, "Our men 
 are not railroad men, they are hotel 
 employes." 
 
 The I. C. C. came back with the reply 
 that if such were the case the men would 
 have to have railroad tickets, as it was 
 against the interstate law for a man who 
 is not a railroad man to ride free on the 
 train. 
 
 The Pullman company representative 
 came back hot ofit the bat that their men 
 did not come under either one of these 
 ratings, but were carried by the Pullman 
 company as part of the equipment of the 
 cars. To the best of my knowledge the 
 I. C. C. has not whispered since. 
 
 128
 
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