Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-11-20

THE FIRST PULLMAN CAR.
Lighted With Candles and Heated
With Coal Stoves.

| Barnes, of Chanute, KaS., was q con-
ducter on the first Pullman car ever
run in this country. He made the trip
| between Bloomington, Ill. and Chicago
on the night of September /. 1861. and
| one Of his passengers was George NJ.
Pullman, inventor of the sleeping car.
| Looking back through sc years last
! week, iii Barnes recalled that Mr..
Pullman arose on the morning of
| September with rather tired feel
| ing and somewhat doubtful as to the
ultimate success of his invention.
| Three other passengers who slept that
night in the first crude sleeper restrain
| ed any inclination they might have
| felt 20 tender NJ. Pullman an ovation.
| In fact, it was rather a weary COM
pany when it reached Chicago, and
after conference it was decided by
| the passengers that nothing would be
gained by presenting Mr.. Pullman with
a gold headed cane in recognition of
his marvellous ingenuity.
| Mr. Barnes is IS years old today and
| il probably would be unfair 10 visit
| him with the punishment to which he
| is clearly entitled, but he told last
week how he stood idly by and per-
| mitted the first Pullman porter in his
tory 10 maltreat a passenger with a
whisk broom and collect the original
Pullman tip. He was a husky lad of
| % summers at that time and his mus
eles We're in a good state of preser-
walton, but he did not interfere. All,
wasted youth.
The first Pullman car in America
was run over the c. and a. Railroad
and vas built in the shops of the COM
pany in bloomington. H., under the
direction of Mr.. Pullman himself. The
ear was remodeled coach, and there
were hut four compartments, eight
berths, four upper and four lower.
Then, as now, the lower berth enjoy
| ed a monopoly of public popularity,
and the upper berths were vacant on
that first memorable night. All the
| passengers were from Bloomington and
! there were no women on the sleeping
ear The people of Bloomington, lit
tie reckoning that history was being
made in their midst. did not come
| down to the station to see the Pull
man cars premier. There was no
crowd, and the car. lighted by cam
dies, moved away in solitary gran
deur. if such it might be called
Mr.. Barnes described the first crude
J car III MS OitiCt Ill AidIuiC iciSb NNSN'
/ He retired as Division Superintendent
of the Atchison. Topeka and Santa Fe
Railway in 1910, after a railroad serv-
| ice covering IS years, beginning as the
| first Pullman conductor in 1857. Among
| his other distinctions he was conductor
of the first train that left Kansas City
over what is now the Frisco Railroad.
'The first Pullman car Mr.. Barnes
l fhinu Resides
being lighted by candles, it was heated
| by coal stoves in each end OF the car;
there were no carpets on the floor. The
interior of the car was rearranged IN
this way: The backs of the seats were
hinged, and to make up the lower
berth the porter merely dropped the
back of the seat until it was level with
the seat itself. Upon this he placed
mattress and a blanket. There were
no sheets on the first Pullman cars.
The upper berth was suspended from
the ceiling of the car by ropes and
nullevs. rope attached to each of
the four corners of the berth, and dur
ING the day the berth was pulled up
until it Rugged the ceiling, While at
night It was suspended about half way
between the ceiling of the car and the
/
ped with four wheeler trucks. There
were nc siy-wheeler trucks of any kind
| in these days.
"There has been little, if any, change
| in the best of Pullman berths in the last
| Sc years The passengers who occupied
berths between Bloomington and Chica-
go on that first night paid sl.5o for them.
which is, | believe, about the Pullman
| tariff today But in those days OF the
first sleeping cars the berth fare was
st5O regardless of the distance. our
system of bookkeeping was very crude
too. I simply collected the fare from the
| passengers, and before | turned the
money in to the company | collected my
own salary from the revenues. NO re-
ceipts were given, no records kept L
received 81 day for my work.
.J remember on the first night ! had
| to compel the passengers to take their
boots off before they got into the oerths
They wanted to keep them oni seemed
| afraid to take them off.
| "After the first car had made few
| trips Mr. Pullman, who then was in the
mining business in Colorado, and also
| was contractor in Chicago, decided TO
! build another car. He had vision despite
the discouraging outlook. 1t was much
more elaborate than the first car in use
today. 1t was higher and the interior
finish was better He made his plans,
and the construction of the car was in
the hands of a nan named Field III the
Chicago and Alton shops at Blooming
ton. I was conductor on this car also,'
which made it's first trip from Alton ILL.,,
to Chicago At that time there was no
bridge at St Louis, and the passengers
were ferried across to Alton Mr. Pull
man made the first trip on this car also.
1t took nearly a year to build it, and Mr..
Pullman did not see it until it was nm
ished, when he came to Alton to make
the initial trip. After this the Pullman
Company began to build cars as rapidly
as they could, and / think the Pullman
Company was organized at about this
time Before the Pullman Company got
really started he had several cars built
in the East.
''when Mr.. Pullman reached Alton to