The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-23

lone, principal of the high school at
Salt Lake city. was summarily elected
from a Southern Pacific passenger
train Wednesday last near Los An
geles The train was on its way to
this city at the time. With very little
ceremony, Conductor Grafton put Ma
lone off during the night at San Fer
nando.
Mr.. Malone, who is of high repute in
educational circles, is very indignant
at the treatment he has received from
the railroad people. He declares that
the humiliation to which he was sub
jected in being put off the train was a
wanton outrage and without the shad-
ow af a reason. His friends are equally
as angry. On their advice he has de-
cided to bring an action for damages
against the railroad. Attorney Null
ford, Of Los Angeles, is now preparing
the necessary papers FOR the law suit.
1t appears that when the national
convention of teachers met several
months ago in Denver, Mr.. Malone
bought a round trip ticket from Salt
Lake to Denver, and from the latter
place to San Diego, and thence back
home. He had some business to at
tend to at San Diego. which was the
reason why he purchased the kind of
ticket just mentioned. When the con-
vention at Denver was over, he re-
turned to Salt Lake and a few weeks
later came on west and went to San
Diego.
Business matters detained him in
southern California for some time, but
when he had finished his work he took
the Santa Fe train from San Diego to
Los Angeles and made close connec-
ton with the Southern Pacific night
train for the north On the Santa Fe
train his ticket was accepted without
question, and, as a matter of fact,
from the time he purchased it until he
was elected by Conductor Grafton,
there had been no question as to his
being the original holder and pur-
chaser Of the ticket.
AS may be known to most people, a
round-trip ticket bought by any per-
son at Salt Lake or any eastern place
TO California and return has printed
on it contract to the effect that if
presented for passage by anybody
other than the original purchaser of
the same, the railroad company will
have the right to lift it and demand
fuI fare. The purchaser has to sign
ms name just below this printed con-
tract when he buys the ticket.
Additional printing on the ticket also
stlpulates that the purchaser must.
whenever requested by a conductor.
sign his name so that the conductor
can compare the handwriting with the
signature on the ticket. The passen-
ger must give any other reasonable
means of identifying himself when the
conductor is in doubt about his being
ticket. ''-e
Of such a character was Mr. Ma
lone, ticket, and his name was signed
to it. For some unaccountable rea-
son Grafton, the conductor. thought
the ticket had been sold to NIr. Malone
at Los Angeles by a scalper, and that
ne, IN TACT, was not the w. R. Ma
lone whose signature was on the tick
ct. He requested the gentleman to
write his name on a piece of blank pa
per, which he handed to him. When
this was done the conductor compared
II closely with the signature on the
ticket. He was not satisfied and made
second request for the Salt Lake
mans signature. When this had been
given him Grafton informed the gen
tleman that as his two specimens of
chlrography were not similar to that
he was not w. R. Malone, but had got
the ticket from a scalper.
Grafton then put the ticket in his
pocket and demanded cash fare from
the teacher as the alternative of being
put off the train. Mr.. Malone resen-
ted the conduct and language of Graf
ton very vigorously, and had the sym
pathy of all other passengers in the
Pullman car. He insisted that he was
the man whose name was signed on
the ticket, and pulled from his pocket
letters addressed to him under the
same name.
His arguments and documents had
no effect, however, on Grafton, who,
in a very dictatorial manner, de-
manded a cash fare. The teacher re-
fused to pay cash, and resented the
efforts of Grafton to put him off the
car when the train arrived at San
Fernando. A stalwart brakeman came
to the conductors assistance, and the
two easily landed Mr.. Malone on the
station platform with all his baggage.
As they were taking the teacher from
the sleeping car several of the passen-
gers Kissed the trainmen.
The next day the company found
that its conductor had made a great
mistake and strenuous efforts were put
forth to effect some small settlement
with Mr.. Malone, but he angrily re-
fused all these overtures for peace.
The railroad officials are still trying to
get Mr.. Malone to drop his contempla-
ted suit.
This is probably the eighth serious
blunder the company's conductors
have made in the past two months in
its warfare against the use of scalped
tickets. The suits brought by these
people for having been wrongfully
elected from trains already amount to
several hundred thousand dollars, and
the general belief is that the Southern
Pacific will soon find it's present policy
of fighting the scaIpers so expensive
that it will be forced to do like other
roads and let people use tickets, no
matter who were the original pur-
chasers.