Omaha daily bee., 1882-11-17
TIE CONDUCTORS ourt1T.
Gorgeous Designs In Lanterns and
Punches for the Chief OF the
Train Gang.
New York sun.

New York sun.
"Rsiiway conductors, SO n whole,
put on u good deal OF personal style"
the sh~opkeeper said, a5stractedly
punching in q pamphlet cover holes
chat looked like black comets; "not
so much as they used to before the
days of drawback checks aad spot.
ters,' and other unpleasant inven.
tions, but enough yet to render them
among the most ornamental members
of the community. They don't run
much to diamonds and pound weight
gold chains and fast horses, as was
said to be the thing twenty or thirty
years ago among them, but they keep
up their end pretty well on the things
they've got to have, euch rs responsi.
BILE watches, fancy lanterns and natty
punches. When a conductor is APP
pointed on q road he is given a punch
and a lantern by the compcny. The
punch Ia a plain one, merely differing
In the sort of hole it makes in n ticket
from those the other conductors on
the line are supplied with, and the
lantern is a plain tin thing, worth 90
or rs cents. If he has any taste or
within, for wanting a different sort Of
punch from that given him, he comes
to us and We make the change to suit
him. One wants his initial letter or
letters; another, a woman's shapely
foot; another, a heart; another, some
peculiar device that he has a notion is
lucky for him; aud another, some.
thing he has always carried and is
known by among conductors. IF he
gets a new punch he will record il at
the superintendent office. There is
an almost endless variety to the punch
devices. We make more than $50
sorts of dies, and get up new mes to
order nearly every day. The Penn
sylvania railroad alone has at least
200 styles, no two alike. A good
punch is worth $l.50.
U THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING
about a conductors outfit, next to his
uniform, is his lantern. OF course he
cannot preserve his self-respect and
maintain his dignity among first class
passengers carrying such a lantern as
the company gives him, SO he comes
to us and we get one up for him.
There is the sort of lantern carried by
a conductor who has any style about
him. Brass, nickel plated, heavy flint
glass globe, beautifully er graved, can't
leak, won't blow out, lasts for years,
and only costs So, or, with the en-
craving of a plain name or initials
with a surrounding wreath, 81. Con-
ductors rarely pay more than So Or 81
extra for engraving, but we do some
times have to get up very fancy LIANT
erns for presentation to conductors by
gentlemen travelling a good deal on
particular trains, and on those the en-
craving frequently mounts up to $40.
The conductors name with the regu-
lation wreath will be on one side,
and designs of various sorts on the
other side. Men have come in here
wanting to spend as much as $25 for a
lantern for a conductor, but that is
Just a little beyond the limit. You see
when you get q name, and a wreath,
an emblem, and q train of cars run
ming into a tunnel, and the locomo.
tive, with smoke from its funnel, COM
ing out of the other end of the tun-
mel, and perhaps a presentation date,
Or an eagle, or an owl, all on one lam
tern globe, you've got just about all
the space will hold. The owl is a
favorite emblem for conductors of
night trains" A prominent stationer
said: Conductors buy about the came
sort of pocketbooks, diaries. and wal
let's that gentlemen generally do,
rather better, I should say, than men
in receipt of equal incomes are in the
habit of carrying. The youngest con-
ductors generally have the most fancy
things. The old fellows 60 in for the
solidly practical, and lumber them.
selves up with as little pocket stufiug
as possible. I've noticed, too, that
the older a conductor is the more
he is to carry a big, solid, reli-
able silver watch, instead of a gold
one. 1 know of n who customarily
carries a cotton string to his silver
watch instead of a chain, but l would
bet that twenty years ago both watch
and chain were gold. We get sense as
we grow older"