Evening star., 1960-04-18
The
Rambler
-. Meets Veteran
Of Elegant Age
BY GEORGE KENNEDY


saloon or fishhouse atmos-
phere of the place. And we'll
1t might; this affable broad
Shouldered, Negro servator of
medium height and of the
old school of Difference due.
is treating you like a million
aire.
That is, he treats every-
one the same and few men
have seated more Million
aires. For most of his 40
years with the Pullman COM
pany was spent as captain of
private cars.
1t all started in 1898 when
he was 1O-year-old boy in
Bristol, Tenn. and word came
that his father, who was
serving in the 10th Cavalry
under Col. S. L. H. Slocum
had been killed in action in
Cuba.
THE orphans of the war
were educated at government
expense" he said. They sent
the Negro and the Indian
boys to Hampton Institute
near Norfolk"
That experience convinced
him that Indians can't sing.
He could. He Joined the
school chorus, which took a
trip to New England summer
resorts. At Lake Winnipesau-
kee he came to the attention
Of George S. Jones.
Mr.. Jones was of the family
that originally owned the
New York Times. He took
the lad into service in his
house at 220 Madison avenue
just across from j. P. Morgan.
1t was arranged for the
new servant to take a course
in the preparation and serv-
ing of food in the kitchen Of
the old Waldorf Astoria. He
became the Jones butler.
When World War ended the
Joneses decided to revisit
Europe. They expected their
butler to accompany them
but he had read about the
Titanic and the water seemed
awfully cold.
That's how he happened
to go to work for the Pullman
company and you can see
how his personality caused
him to become one of the
company's chosen greeters.
In the fall of 1919 he had
charge Of a private car leased
by young Wall Street man
who wanted to take his
friends duck hunting near
his fathers old home at st.
Matthews, S. C.
That was Bernard
Baruch," Capt. Reid said,
land that trip was the max
ing of me. I taught him how
to make a game sauce"
The railroads had come to
consider private cars a nui-
sance. They got the ICC to
rule that the price of trans
porting a private car would
be the price of 25 first class
tickets. Capt Reid remem-
bered a trip from New York
to Chicago would cost 81, 100.
But not even that dis
couraged the millionaire
spenders of the 2Os. They
loved their private cars.
The Pullman company had
26 private cars to rent at
$3.50 a day (You still had to
buy 25 tickets If you wanted
to travel0 The $3.50 included
a staff Of four: captain, chef,
waiter and porter. Food and
liquor purchases were billed
with a Is per cent surcharge.
There came a time when
Capt. Reid's car was leased
by Col. s. L. H. Slocum, the
man who had commanded
his fathers regiment. The
colonel'S aunt, Mrs. Russell
Sage, had left him a portion
of that great fortune.
"The doctor had given him
only six months to live" :"
Capt. Reid said. He decided
to live it up. We went to
California in the car, stayed
there for a time and then
went to Northeastern Canada
where he fished for land
locked salmon. He kept the
car for six months and his
bill came to 100000"
Capt. Reid remembers a
trip of several weeks he made
with Mills B. Lanes of the
Savannah Ocean Steam Ship
Co., Mrs. Lanes and their
four sons. They got out to
Gallup, N. Mex, where they
watched the Indian rain
dance. If any of his school
mates were among the
feathered warriors, he did
not recognize them.
Their singing was weird"
he said.
Among his commands was
L..