The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-05
MAN HELPED YOUNG
WOMAN OUT OF DIFFICULTY.
SHE HAD TAKEN WRONG TRAIN
Employe Of the Company, However,
Was Particular When It Came
to Collecting Any Extra
Cash.


effect that a train on one Of the eastern
railroads was held several minutes in
| order to give a young woman an oppor-
tunity to catch it," observed John Arms
Of San Francisco at the Finlen this
morning to a friend, as they walked out
of the dining room. "The story remind
ed me of a little scene witnessed a few
years ago when I was on train in
central Indiana. It was along about
noon that we left Indianapolis on a train
that was west bound.
ION the line we were travelling on there
was a station called Danville, and as it
turned out q young woman on the train
who wanted to go to another place called
Danvers had gotten aboard our train.
1t was not until the conductor came
around and discovered that her ticket
read Danvers that she knew that she
had made a mistake.
"Of course. the young lady was great
~ perturbed over her error for it
seemed she was particularly anxious to
reach Danvers that evening. 1t SO hap
pened that We were to meet the train
east bound that being THE train which
she should have taken. Usually the east
bound train simply pulled in on a siding
at a small town. and the west bound
flyer whizzed by it without stopping, but
our train stopped at the switch that
day. The conductor took a chance on
dtSObeying orders TO accommodate the
young woman, and when the time came
for her to make the change from our
train to the other one there was no dan
ger OF another mistake. The conductor
escorted her on one side and the brake
man was at her arm on the other. The
porter was on hand with a movable step,
SO that she could get out Of the car all
right. The members of the train crew
on the train We're about as attentive to
her as were our men, neither train start
ing until the young woman was comfort
ably seated in her right train.
II was especially Impressed with the
action of the conductor, in view of things
that I afterwards saw and heard. 1t
seemed that the fellow had been laid
off for two months because of alleged ir-
Irregularities of his In making returns to
the company, and that he was making
his first run after his furlough. That
he was pretty particular about most
things that pertained to his duties was
evidenced by his demand for an extra
had "a rule that when a passenger paid
cash fare he must be charged 10 cents
more than the price of the ticket for the
same distance that he was paying. Our
conductor ran across a man who had no
ticket only about an hour after he had
found the young woman with the wrong
ticket. He told the gentleman what his
fare would be, the figure he gave being,
Of course, dime in excess of what the
ticket would have cost The passenger
offered the price of ticket but refused
point blank to give up the extra 10 cents.
THE conductor explained to him fully
the rule Of that company and declared
he had no authority to vary from 1t,
but the passenger said that as a matter
of principle he would not surrender the
extra dime. The conductor declared
that he would not yield. He said he had
just been laid off for not making proper
returns and that he would take no more
chances. AS he said this he pulled the
bellcord and the train came to a stand
still. The brakeman and the porter were
again called, but this time to perform
quite different service from that which
had fallen to them when the young wom-
an left the train. They were told to take
hold of the contrary passenger on whom
the conductor already had a good grip.
The three men surged on the fellow and
his hands were loosened from his seat.
Then he was hustled down the aisle and.
though fighting all the time, was pushed
out on the platform and thrown to the
ground. To say he was angry would be
putting it mildly. He threatened to have
the conductor and the members of his
crew discharged and declared he would
sue the road for damages, but these
things had not the slightest effect on the
man who had charge of the train. The
big conductor simply told him If he
wanted to put up that extra 10 cents he
would let him back on the train and if
he did not want to pay 1t he would leave
him where he stood. The prospect of
being left alone away out in the country
changed the mans ideas of what he had
pleased to call principle. and ne came
through with the extra dime. He was
allowed to resume his seat in the train,
and that was the last I ever saw or
heard about him.
what has made the incidents of that
ride stick to my memory is the fact
that the conductor, who was seemingly
honestly afraid to allow passenger to
ride without putting up an extra 10 cents
on his fare, did not hesitate to stop his
train without orders to let a young lady
change cars. 1t seemed to me that his
actions were pretty good evidence that
railroad officials are pretty gallant sort
of people. The man who had been laid
off for alleged Irregularities and who
would not take any chances on having
his superiors find out that he had failed
to collect a dime, was perfectly willing
to take chances on having the manage
ment learn that he had lost five minutes
time to help a young woman out of
difficulty for which he, was in no way re-
sponsible. 1t is said that corporation
has no soul, but it seems to me that there
are some of them who, through their
agents, are pretty gallant to the ladies'"