The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-08-23
IS he HACK OR STAGE?


trio vehicle passenger service in the anan-
cial district. Yesterday he came into coll
lision with Deputy City Marshal Brown at
the city hall. and. the question Of MI.
Walkers status as transporter of pas
sengers was wrestled with for two hours.
Mr.. Walker maintained that the hack
drivers fees of IS which he paid for his
three wagonettes which run from the Wall
street ferry to the Cortland street ferry
for Decent fare. gave him the right to
carry passengers anywhere in e city. Me.
Brown demands another S for a vehicis
license. and says that even then Mr..
Walker may be violating the franchise
law in running his vehicles over a specified
route. At the height of the colloquy, Mr..
Brown. who is a lawyer as we1 as a city
official, said:
"Mr. Walker. youn have to stop running
those vehicles at once. You stand here
naked-without the vestige of a right to
run them. You are utterly outside the law
You are either a hack of an omnibus under
the city ordinances You contend you are
a hack. I say that you are an omnibus"
-"
II am'-broke in Mr.. Walker.
"You are either stage or a hack" in
terrupted Mr.. Brown once more, land
notify you here and now. if you are the
proprietor of that new Wall street line,
that you can't run those vehicles without
a license" i.
Il have made an agreement wirh the
Western Express company to start a line
of these automobiles from the Grand Gen.
trail station to run to the Waldorf-Astoria
in Fifth avenue. Does any feature of the
city ordinances conflict with me tne1e?"
MY opinion is" said Mr.. Brown. that
as soon as you lay out a. specified route
for your automobiles you exceed the plivi-
leges of a single hackman. But / don't
care about that. AS your wagons carry
more than two persons. you've got to get
license for special hack coach. as we'll
as fnr ri hat
you violate the law in any way Your men
will be arrested and then test case can
be made
There are people ready to subscribe
$100. 900 to fight this thing to the end, said
Mr.. Walker. People have right to cheap
transportation. and I'm determined to run
the automobiles. as planned. I'll be down
here at $50 o'clock tomorrow morning to
take out special hack licenses. On Monday
morning 1 want to put on four extra auto
mobiles"
| Before leaving the city hall Mr.. Walker.
who was accompanied by his son RAN
| dolph. who is manager of the Moblie Rapid
Transit company. operating the vehicles In
Wall street, said to a Tribune reporter:
There was no intention on our part Ia
| evade the payment of the license tax. We
| thought that after paying the regular s
hackman's license fee we were all right
We shall cheerfuly pay the vehicle tax
| ana IL necessary also pay D per cent Oh OuI
gross receipts to the city. We have made
only beginning in starting automobile
lines in this borough Ex-Mayor Grant
who spends the summer at Long Branch
suggested to me few days ago that there
| were no means of tran5pct tation between
the Cortlandt street ferry and lower Wal
| street, and that automobiles would be lib
orally patronized. We started them on Fri
day of last week with a fare of 10 cents
! They have been well patronized. We ex
pect to run them from Fulton ferry II
| Wall street, and across to Cortlandt street
| Then we expect to run a line from tn,
Grand Central station to the Waldorf-As
toria. and another line from Hotel Majesti'
to Washington park, all with cheap fares
! II am confident l4.tAt we lave a right t.
operate these new carriages. me section
of the city ordinance bearing on the Ques
ton. says: Amy carriage .Aept for hir
shall be deemed a public hack and s.
forth. The point Is raised that we shal
need a charter or franchise If we run
stage over a specified route. Our driver
have been instructed to ask the first per
son who gets into the automobile where h
wants to go. If he says Chambers street
instead of Cortlandt street. all right Z
Chambers street he will be carried, tn
other passengers getting of at Cortland
street. That in my Judgment. constitute
regular hack service in the eyes Of tn
tiles from the ferries to various importar
points throughout the city, and we !nten
; to fill that want."-New York Tribune.