Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-30
DUD MARTIN.
The Elgin UIl) Folks Are With the
E1preSsman Against the RafIroads.

The Elgin OIl) Folks Are With the
Expressman Against the Railroads.
From the Chicago Tribune.
1t Is not often that the people Of Elgin
ILL.,, go on the warpath, but when they do
they are stayers. Just now they are doing
battle royal with the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul railroad and the express COM
panies that do business over that line.
The trouble began when the road and The
express companies tried to freeze OUT an
express messenger service conducted by a
local celebrity by the name of "Dud"
Martin. "Dud" is local product. He be-
gan his business career the day after Pres
ident Garfield was shot On that day he
came to Chicago and bought lot of pic
lures of the President, which he sold to the
citizens of his town. His business pros
pered and he was forced to make several
more trips. On this occasion he incidentally
did some errands for Eigin merchants His
service was so much more satisfactory than
that of the regular express companies that
he was urged to make trips every day. So
Ii came about that every morning, Sund avs
excepted, a thin young man dressed in a
suit as roomy as an auctioneer's conscience
boarded the early suburban train for Chi
cago. Every evening he returned on the last
train. Those who saw him in the morning
would hardly have known him at night
He would be as well covered with humps
and depresslons as relief map of the
racine slope. IL required as much filing
and backing for him to get through the car
door as 1t does to dock an Atlantic liner His
endeavors to get into a set were strongly
suggestive of woman during the height of
the crinofine regime. When he sat down
he worked like a camel, in sections.
At first passengers on the train looked and
wondered; later, when they found out ell
about 1t, they were amused. As "Dud''
waXSd and grew great the railroad officials
began to think that he was getting more
from the road than his ticket entitled him
to. The conductor sarcasticaly suggested
that he hire freight train and offered him
schedule of freight rates. The express
companies, too, had noticed that their re-
cepits at Elgin were falling off At first
they thought II was due to the hard times
but later they discovered the truth Then
they combined with the railroad to make
"Duds' life a burden. Unaided "Dud''
would have given up the fight. The towns
people of Egin. however. rallied to his sup
port. They told the express people to keep
their hands off under penalty of losing all
their Elgin business. The railroad was not
handled easily. The officials fatty re-
fused to allow any one passenger to carry
so many bundles. When the Eighties heard
! this they decided on a flank movement
come TO Chicago every day. They told
! "Dud' they would meet him at the station
| and help him with portion of his load.
Thus it came about that the most staid
and solid citizens of the watch city are seen
| boarding the train at Chicago with large
| loads of bundles. The unmarried men are
| caught often with millinery and Infants
belongings. When the train reaches Elgin
! the packages are returned to "Dud" The
| railroad people are trying now to figure out
a scheme to beat the game, but at present
| the people are on top.