e city
is apt to prove stale and uninteresting. It was that way with me, and
after passing up several jobs offered to me I thought I would try
railroading for awhile, probably for the same reason that prompted me to
leave home twenty years before; I still wanted to see the world. With
that idea in mind, I went to the Pullman offices in Denver, and after
making some inquiries I was directed to the office of Superintendent
Rummels who was at that time superintendent of the Pullman service.

A Mr. Wright was his assistant. I found Superintendent Rummels in his
office, and I asked him if he wanted to hire any more porters. He asked
me if I had ever worked for the Pullman company. I told him no that I
had been a cowboy ever since I was 16 years old. He then asked me if I
had money enough to buy my pullman uniform. I asked him how much it
would cost and he said $22.00. I told him yes, I had the price. He asked
me if I knew any one in Denver. I told him yes and gave him the name of
Mr. Sprangler who had my money in his bank. Supt. Rummels told me to get
a letter from Mr. Sprangler and he would put me on. So I went and got
the letter and with it the money to pay for my uniform, after having my
measure taken and sending for my suit. I borrowed a uniform from one of
the other porters and the second day after I called on the
superintendent I was sent on the run between Denver and Salida. One of
the old men put me on to my duties and showed me how to make up my car
and the general run of things.

On my first trip I found a kind friend in the Pullman conductor, a Mr.
Keely, who helped me in many ways and I suppose I made many blunders as
the difference between a Pullman car and the back of a Texas mustang is
very great. However I managed to get around among the passengers in my
car, and attend to their needs in some sort of a way.

My first trouble commenced when I succeeded in getting the shoes of
passengers which had been given to me to polish, badly mixed up. The
shoes of a portly red faced man whose berth was in the forward end of
the car, I placed by the berth of a tall and slim western yankee at the
other end of the car, while a number 7 and a number 9 shoe were placed
decorously by the berth of a sour spinster from New York. This naturally
caused a good sized rumpus the next morning. And sundry blessings were
heaped on the head of yours truly. Nearly all the passengers were mad
and the tips were conspicuous by their absence