The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-03-14
THE BAGGAGEMAsrERs LAY.
One of Them Tells His I xperience-H
is Not Above MORALS.

One of Them Tells His xperience-He
is Not Above Mortals.
If it is possible for one railroad employee
to be more abused than another, that man
is the hard-run baggage master.
With hundreds of different kinds of
checks to look after, all sorts of worn-out
baggage to take care of, and every crank
that is able to buy a ticket or secure a pass.
to deal with, their total dislike for eithe.'
is not to be wondered at
The publics smiles are turned into snarls
when its dealings are with the baggage
master. 1t regards him as a machine and
its treatment of him is little different. The
baggagemaSterS see human nature mot to
advantage dressed" People are themselves
'unpolished'' when they are scoring the
baggageman for not checking their trunks
before their train leaves. They have No
time for smiles or good words.
"Nobody knows what it is but u.s." said
one of the baggagemen yesterday. "We
get the ill-humored side of them all. The
men who hear as much of the discOrd as we
do cannot have as much patience with
human nature as the preachers, who see
only the smiles and sweet content of the
world
Fumbling about in a bundle of dusty
checks on the counter, the baggageman
stripped off a brass plate and threw
it out, remarking: That is an old
woman's. 1t calls for her trunk
She is a sanity old thirg until she enters
that door, then she prefaces her remarks to
me by saying that it is a sorry set of men
who cannot keep one little trunk straight.
She had only one and it was so small that
any child could handle il, and certainly
these big 'stroppin' baggagemastsrs
should. Poor old soul She didn't
stop to think that hers was the
500th part OF the baggage that we have to
handle. Yes, have found it for her, and
where do you suppose it was! Why, it was
chucked away in one of the pigeon holes in
the baggage car. The fellow mistook it for
supplies. 1t was little handbag. Two
young men who were on their visit
to the city, and had nothing
to do but stand around with their
hands in their pockets and watch every
body aud everything, sauntered into the
office last night just before train time. !
was rushed to death, but l thought to do
were decidedly away from home, and
when they came up and curiogsly handed
me their tickets, looked at them and hur-
riedly made out two special checks for
them and started out the door to find the
luggage Show me, quick, which it is |
said to them. which it isP one Of them
ventured finally. Yes, which 1t is | said
as lue ITdln Dell DeRdi W ring oHOW me
which it is, or l cannot check your trunks
and you will be left oh, we haven't
got any trunk Your valise, then.
we haven't got valise.' 'What in the
name of common sense have you got then
l asked them. Nothing. We amt got no
baggage they both chimed in. What in
the name Of - chen did you have me to
make out these two checks forF | asked
them. we saw the other people handin'
yo' their tickets, and we thought we'd do
the same, one of them drolled out as they
clambered ON the steps as the train pulled
out of the shed.
"Women are our worst tormentors,
though" the baggage man added You
cannot reason with them, and they accept
no explanations. IL their trunk or their
valise is missing, they are at outs with the
railroadsand everybody that belongs to 1t,
and their errand to the baggage room is to
abuse the baggageman, not to get any in
telligence of their baggage. The men will
listen to us, and if the fault happens to be
their own, they acknowledge 1t and await
results.
"When is our busy seasonl We'll,
think 1t begins when the people start for
the springs. You see, they generally take
with them more than twice as much
luggage as they need. However, a large
number of Savannahiaps go off during the
summer months, and il they take only
what amount Of baggage is necessary
for them, it will be very
heavy. Yes, it is good idea
TO put the name on a piece of baggage, but
it is not absolutely necessary. 1t prevents
the baggage from being claimed by party
who has baggage like il. OF course afteS
it it is checked, the check distinguishes it.
Summer business strikes terror to the heart
of the baggagemaster all over the country"