Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-04-25
THE FAR WEST.
OnfOr CaIffOrnia-Omah8- Union
Pacific Railroad - The Travellers
Troubles, Trials and TKibulatiOns-
The Driving and COrraling OF Emil.
grants

The Driving and COrraIing Of EmI.
grants
To the Union and Americani
LARAMIE STATION, q. P. r. R., April
10, lS75.-Leaving Nashville Monday at
3:O5 P. NJ, on the st. Louis and Southeast
em Railroad, we were joined at Guthrie by
three gentlemen, one lady and boy from
Clarksville, making our party nine in all, |
bound for California. AT st. Louis We had |
ten more new recruits. At Kansas City |
more than hundred emigrants took pas
sage with Us via Omaha to San Francisco. !
AT Council Bluffs the four railroads center
ing there from the four quarters Of the |
Union poured hundreds Of passengers and |
emigants over the Missouri river iron |
bridge into the rival town of Omaha. At |
Omaha there was a scene enacted Wednes- |
day, April IA, 1875, which beggars descrip- |
tion, and were it not for the fact that it is |
said to be an everyday occurrence, would |
not attempt TO describe it. l have been
on most Of the railroads and in most
Of the towns Of the United States, but
at no other place, either in time of peace
OF war, have l seen men, women and chill
dren treated so much like beasts of the
lowest order as the officers and employees
Of the Union Pacific Railroad treat the EN-
igrants who buy their cheap tickets via
Omaha 20 San Francisco and the Western
towns.
All emigrant tickets from any point East
to any point West via Omaha have to be
given up at that place and exchanged for
Others from there on to destination Bag
gage Of all kinds, from fIst-elass to emf
grant, has to be rechecked there also to
destination. To do this for the
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
that pass through the Omaha depot daily
| for the West, necessitates a delay of six
hours or more for trains Of all classes at
that station. The emigrants are dumped
out on the platform of the grand arck of
the main depot building and hurried down
10 rough frame building prepared for
their reception. As they step to the ground
from the train several employees start out
at their head, shouting at the top Of their
voice, "Emigrants pass around the building
and keep on the platform; that will lead
you to the emigrant hOusew reminding one
Of the way callers precede a drove
Of mules from Kentucky or Tennessee |
to the South. The resemblance becomes |
more striking as the emigTants are follow |
ed up by other employees Of the Union
Pacific railroad, literally driving them down
TO the frame house aforesaid, where buckets
Of muddy water are taken (from a hydrant
standing in pile Of manure) and poured
into barrels for the use Of these human cat
tie. A long bench, with tin pans in il, but
no soap, no towels, combs, brushes, or mir
rOrs, form the entertainment furnished
them at this u. p. Hotel of a Christian
land in the 18th century, owned and con-
trOlled as it is by one Of the richest cOrpOr-
atiOns in America. Now we have the cat
tie in the corral, the beasts in the trap or
cage, let us see what is TO be done with
them. First the tickets have TO be changed
for others that the great Union Pacific is
pleased TO say are the only ones 10 be taken
from the emigrants passing over its line to
the Pacific, and they shall only be good for
nine days, contrary to allthe wise decisions |
Of all the courts Of this or any other cOun-
try who have considered the question Of
railroad tickets.
To change these tickets the emigrants have |
to be run through 2 regular cattle chute |
like loading beeyes on a train. As there |
are five hundred or a thousand emigrants |
daily this takes some time, and as the pro-
cess is simple and the tickets printed on
their face as void after nine days, we will |
leave them there for a while under the
kind protection Of the Union Pacific men.
ALL MINED UP
prOmiscuOusly with women, children, ser /
wants, railroad men, hotel runners, etc, |
and take a look at the new way Of treating
| first class paSse ngeTs while they are get
| ting their baggage recheCked. First, as each |
| long train steams in from the East, the
| baggage master Of that train turns over
| the baggage under his charge with the Gus
| tOmaIy list Of the same 10 the baggage
masters Of the depot. After all the trains
| from .he East Of that day have delivered
their baggage and list, in this manner, the
| Baggage, amounting to several thousand
pieces in all, is compared with lists and
| checked if right, or marked if damaged.
When that its done, the doors are thrown
open, the hrSt-class passengers crowd in, all
| the women at one end OF the counter,
| the men at the other. Emigrants are warn
ed to keep out until the first-clasS baggage
is rechecked, and if they don't keep out they
| try to put them out. About a dozen men
are employed in this rechecking room, some
| yelling at the passengers whatever orders
| they may be pleased TO dictate to them for
the minute, Others blackmailing them in
any way possible, mostly by taking bribes
of from twenty-five cents to a dollar for ac-
celebrating the checking of their baggage by
an hour or more in some unacOuntable
way. There is no class Of passengers that
can pass through this depot without under
| going this unnecessary abuse and delay of
rechecking. When he Cor she, for there is
no exemption on account Of sex or respect
for persons here,) has at last gotten his
new check safely in his pocket and out Of
the raging crowd with part of his clothing,
| he gets into his car, feeling more abused
nd
| life, there to wait until ten or
| twenty car loads of baggage
have been rechecked when he
again moves out on what with the
exception Of Omaha, is a splendid trip to
the Pacific; forever, as long as memory
lasts, to
CURSE OMAHA,
and the UniOn Pacific agents there for be-
| ing the worst managed station on any
road in America for the comfort of passen-
| gers, and the best for pocket picking. black
mailing and tbieving of all kinds. After
the hrst-class baggage is checked then
comes the emigrantS, again drives like
| cattle to and from the baggage rOOm.- The
resemblance TO the Texan way Of treating
cattle was so striking, heard several emi-
grants swearing at the railroad men and
asking why they did not brand them. chute
them into the cars and be done with the
trouble. After the baggage is re-checked,
| they are driven into the rOughest cars on
| the Union Pacific Railroad, not even being
allowed to choose or select what car they
will occupy. The rear and worst car of
the train has the front door locked, and the
young unmarried men of the party are
| driven in the back door until the car
is full; then the next car, and so OH until
| all cars are filled, the fronts locked to keep
them from going forward, to the better
cars that are rightly reserved for the women |
and children. Fifteen heavily laden cars |
of emigrants, loaded in this way,
AMIDST YELI.S, CURSES,
excitement and confusion, amounting every |
minute TO almost a bloody riot as the emi- !
grants would make a stand and turn with |
curses on the drivers. The drivers retired |
swearing if they did not get into those cans |
they might stay forever in Omaha, a threat |
that was enough 70 drive any one into any |
place.
Two baggage cars, two engines pulling |
sixteen cars, with nearly thousand emf |
grants, rolled out of Omaha for the West, |
on Wednesday evening about 6 P. NJ, April |
II, 1879, of whose many adventures on the |