The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-06-16
THE RAILROAD LIAR.

1t has ALWAYS been source of wonder to
me, says Burdette, what a railway corpora
ton expects 70 gain nv keeping the move
ments of IFS trains profound mysteries from
the travelling public especially during pari-
DDS Of sudden emergencies, accidents and
annoying delays. The passengers on the
trains, the waiting friends and exppctart
passengers at thu stations are alike snubhpd.
misled by evasve replies, or directly OF in
tentiOnally misinformed. All this makes
the DELAY doubly exasppratinr to the wait
ing people, and it doesn't move the DELAYED
train minute faster and doesn't add to the
popularity Of the road
When the recent furry Of snow and boreaI
winds and Arctic cold swept over the land I
waited at great city station Of one of the
greatest railroads in America for train due
! at O'Clock p. NJ. I suspected the train
would be late. BY diIigent inquiry man
I aged to find five men in the uniform of the
railroad companv's employees, who assured
me that they didn't know anything about
that train.
Well, as a general thing, railroad man is
not expecred to know ANYTHING about the
trains on his own road suppose. If that is
50. these five neatly uniformed men in the
handsomest station in America filed the bin
to perfection. That is what the brakeman
Melias and conductor Hanford knew. and
they have got into trouble and an indictment
for it.
But continued nv search and nnearthed
one or two more uniformed specimens of
colossal ignorance of all matters remotely
pertaining to the railroad, ore of the speci-
mems, the one with the bluest coat and
brightest buttons. expressing great sur
prise at learning that there were any trains
at all on the road that day. Presently I
found a liar, who deliberately told me the
express was only forty five minutes behind
time. / aftPrward learned that he was not
the regular liar, but was a supprnumerarv
who was jlst learning Ills business, and
only went on in star parts when the regular
liar was sick. But on this occasion there
were so many anxious people asking ques-
tiOns that the entire force Ct liars at the dis
posal of the company was on the stage at
once, assisted by the full strength of the en-
tire ballet / met most Of them. ] found a
| light comedy liar who when I asked him
I how much was ''22" behind, said it was all
behind the engine. The sarcastic liar fin
ishad telling nervous old woman that the
train would be in before morning, and then
when I asked him where it was now he said
! his watch had stopped, and went away to
tell another passenger it would he along in
! twenty minutes. At last found the premiere
liar, who is never sarcastic, never evaSive,
always polite, always direct, and never i'll
natured. He looked me straight in the eyes,
and in tones earnest with conviction told me
at 40 P. NJ the train was only an hour late.
! He told me the same thing again at O'Clock /;
quietly and earnestly he repeated this de-
caration at Q Is P. NJ. a, 10 20 he re-afirm-
ed it,; he stuck to it at II; when midnight
paused in the sky he called upon the stars
to witness that what he said was true; he
stuck 20 it att A. NJ and at last at 3 O'Clock
in the morning that train came in, ten hours
behind, and the premiere liar was still telling
the questioning people that it was an hour
behind schedule time.
Now what good did all this deceit ana
misrepresentation do the railraad company {?
1t cidn't make a pound of steam it didn't
clear away a snow drift; it didn't deceive
the public, who have come to disbelieve al
most ANYTHING station employe tells them
about DELAYED trains. It would be some
comfort to man waiting for train to know
how long he has to wait. If it is going to be
ten hours, he will go home and start next
day. And when a train is ten hours late
surely somebody in the employ of the com
paRy must know something about il. II is
true the employees are pestcred and bothered
by the endless questioning of the waiting,
impatient, restless crowd. but if they can't
stand questioning they should leave the rail
road and go to work in powder-mil, where
people will not crowd around them and ask
questions.