The Abusive Conductor

In this day of the friendly skies, we have difficulty understanding how dominant, bossy, and plain contrary the train conductors of about the turn of the century could be. They really mistreated people. At times they made up the rules as they went. One such conductor got his comeuppance.

While my father, Charley James Watson, was a young man; he caught the train from a point in the country into a town where a depot was located. In those days you could flag a train at any point along the track. The train would stop and you could pay the conductor the amount of the ticket from the train’s last stop before you boarded to your destination.

When Dad got on the train the conductor asked him where he was going. He told him. The conductor quoted the amount of the fare. Dad offered him a bill. The conductor demanded the exact change. Dad told him he didn’t have the exact change. The conductor claimed that he could not accept the bill. Dad replied that he had offered legal tender. The conductor told Dad that he would stop the train and put him off.

Dad’s answer was that he could stop the train, but that he himself better be prepared to be put off. Then Dad told him that he knew what the rules said and that they provided for the collection of the fare on board the train at any point and that there was no rule regarding the collection of the fare such as the customer having the proper change in hand.

The conductor took a good look at Dad’s physical size and considered his surprising knowledge and decided to not stop the train. Dad had worked at the Stewart, Mississippi Depot under his brother-in-law John Pearson for a year or so where he had access to and studied the rules.

The conductor sat down and pouted until they reached the next stop. At the stop the conductor went to the ticket counter with Dad and waited for him to purchase a ticket. Dad claimed that from then on the conductor treated him like a gentleman, and collected his money when they could find the change.

This was written by Roy C. Watson at Jackson, Mississippi on August 8, 1986.