Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-30
The Experience Of a Railroad Man
Out Of q Job.
TRAVELLING FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN
Everywhere He Met With a Dis.
couraging Reception.
WILL RETURN TO THE WEST

for the city editor. Finding that individual
he asked II special or space articles
were accepted. Being informed that they
were. he asked the privilege OF doing q
little work for the paper in order. as he
termed II, to make a stake" on which to
get out OF the city. He was apparently
intelligent and well-informed. and little
talk with him developed the fact that he
was a practical railroad man of many years
experience. with Recommendations crediting
him with n crit in his line Of work. But he
was out OF q Job, without money, and with
no chance to get employment on any Of the
railroads In this city. His story was inter
esting In that 1t deals with a condition not
very familiar to the public generally; that
Of the impoverished railroad man. who,
when by chance he loses a position on one
road, travels sometimes thousands of miles
in search Of another job. often with no mon
ey. and generally with no baggage.
The unprecedented business depression Of
the past year had thrown him out Of work.
and since the loss or his job he had travelled
nearly all over the continent looking for the
job that. 50 far, had failed to materialize
Hustler that he was. he was not by any
means discouraged or blue over his want Of
success 30 far. but intended to keep on until
as he termed It. he found an office"
StOry FROM Lie.
His story Is given in his own words:
i had been working in East St. Louis for
about four months when the railroad busi-
ness in that section began to drop of at
the commencement Of the present hard
to reduce the force, and before they got
through, in fact, almost as soon as they
started. got it where the chicken go the
ak, and. with thirty dollars in my pocket
started to look for another job. tried all
the roads In st. Louis and as the condition
1, OF course. got nothing, and on the morn
Ing OF April 10. 1898, I started on what has
turned out to be the longest trip on record,
think, ever made by man who was willing
to work looking for job.
II came east over the Ohio and Missis-
slppi road. got to Cincinnati all right but
there was no work, l kept on to Co.
lumbus. Ohio. The farther east i went the
worse II got. so. in order not to 60 back
over the same route / struck out north
west from Columbus, over the Columbus,
Hooking Valley and Toledo for Toledo.
reached there the 30th of April Just in
time to get the full benefit Of a coal miners
strike that Knocked the bottom out of what
little business the reads were doing then.
l only stopped over one day. and on the
morning of the I'd went to Mr. Galloway,
the general manager Of the Clover Leaf
Toledo. st. Louis and Kansas City rail-
way. showed him my letters. and asked
Aoi q pass odck 10 81 Louis, which ne gave
me. and that night I started for the west.
81. Louis was worse than when I left it.
Men who had worked In the yards there
for years were pulled off. and. with fami-
the city. Hundreds of them were showing
up At the yards morning and evening
only to get the same answer to their in
quiries for work: No vacancy
Down in Texas.
II did not tarry long there. but struck
n,,f
Southern for Texas. visited Denison. Fl.
Worth. Dallas. Waco. Houston. Galveston.
Yoacum and San Antonio. but all to no
purpose The spring stock business was
over. and the roads were housing their
engines and storing their cars So far
travelling had been easy. but at San An
tonic the conditions changed. Hundreds of
railroad men were travelling, and the con-
ductors were getting chilly. and then, too,
my money had given out I got a little
assignment from the San Antonio Express
that relieved the financial embarra ssment
for few days, and eventually succeeded
In getting ride out of town. 1 was max
ing for the west coast and unless 1 found
work l didn't propose to make any long
stops. / stopped one day in Ell Paso, and
one In Mojave, but the yards were full in
both places and plenty of extra men wait
ing for any vacancies that might occur
Il arrived in San Francisco on the morn
Ing OF July 20. without a SOU in my pocket,
and. go far as knew, no friends in town.
l hustled the roads and then the papers,
but with no good results, and was lust
trembling on the ragged edge Of starvation
when a good-natured switchman 1 had
been talking to invited me to supper with
him. OF course. I accepted. and. in the
evening. he told me the Central Pacific out
in the mountain districts was always good
for a job. He volunteered to square me
out of town. and that night left the Gold
en- Gate for the east.
Back East Again.
II stopped at every division headquarters
from San Francisco to Ogden. and from
Ogden to Omaha, over the Union Pacific.
but in every town found lots Of railroad
men on the same errand as myself. From
Omaha I went to Chicago. and after a few
days in the Windy City, during which 1
thoroughly canvassed 1t for work, I started
on q trip through northern Illinois. Indiana
and Michigan 1t was the same every
where. No business on the roads. and an
northern Michigan, crossed the Sault Ste
Marie into perinsular Michigan, and went
down through northern Wisconsin to Mil
waukee. The iron mines had shut down.
and business was at standstill
From Milwaukee ! went to Minneapolis
and st. Paul. In the latter place I met Mr.
Arthur Law. general superintendent Of the
through to Portland. Ore. On the way
west I stopped at all the principal points.
only to find everything full. Boise CITY.
Spokane Falls, Tacoma and Seattle, nearly
always good for work, were crowded with
miners, railroad men and mechanics out of
work, who were getting a precarious living
out Of the few Of their fellow laborers
who were lucky enough to have a Job. /
went down through California to Sacra-
mento. and from there to San Francisco.
1t was worse. il anything. than when 1 was
there before, and left the same day ar
rived, over the Southern Pacific for New
Orleans. A conductor I had known In the
east, who was In q good job In Frisco
gave me $40. and with this for q starter I
hardly left the train until 1t had covered
the twenty-five hundred miles between San
Francisco and New Orleans. There wasn't
much Of the ten left when arrived in the
in the French market, and after the meal
walked up through the yards. looking for
that office had hunted for so long.
No Better Luck South.
Business was good. Cotton. sugar and
tropical fruit was coming in in great guam
titles. but the men from the east, north and
west had focked In In such numbers that
half Of them were literally starving.
found lots Of old friends in the yards, but
neither their influence nor my own ability
could get me q job. Disguised with the
outlook, I started for the north over the
valley route IL. N. o. and To for Memphis
I got along all right until / got to Vicks-
burg. and from there / could only get over
the road by taking a 'side-door Pullman
(box carr In Memphis one of the boys laid
off fifteen days. and gave me a chance to
get on my feet My clothes were gone up
and I was nearly barefooted. His Kindness
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