The Hours of Service are Barbarously Long: Pullman Porters vs Santa Fe Railroad

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by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Aarchivist/Curator

On July 28, 2001, Ed Rawlins, a man thought to be the oldest porter in Newton, Ks, died. His death marked the end of an era in Newton’s railroad history. For forty years, 1934-1974, he worked for the Santa Fe Railroad as a porter. A job that he quietly did day after day, along with many other black men, with no hope of advancement. Rawlins was also part of a landmark Civil Rights case to fight this discrimination.

The Hours of Service are Barbarously Long”

Railroad porter was a profession of status in the black community and a ubiquitous part of traveling on the railroad for about 100 years. Following the Civil War, traveling on the railroad gained in popularity and people began to demand services. Like Fred Harvey with his Harvey Girls and Harvey Houses, where excellence was demanded, George Pullman pioneered excellent service in the luxurious sleeper cars. These “palace cars” included everything one could find in a good hotel – comfortable beds, air conditioning, and even chandeliers. Gourmet meals were served and travelers were pampered. Pullman needed one more thing, people willing to provide the service and do sometimes menial work without complaint.

Pullman discovered the perfect work force to maintain this elegance – ex-slaves.  Although the job was held in high regard in the black community, in reality the Pullman porter was one of the most exploited jobs in the country in the mid-20th century.  Porters worked very long hours for low pay and performed tasks that most unskilled white workers would not.

Porters were expected to be at the beck and call of the passengers. They often worked 20-hour shifts with only three to four hours of sleep in between. There was also a certain amount of unpaid prep work they were expected to complete. One observer noted that “the hours of service are barbarously long.” (Berman) In addition, they paid for their own food and supplied their own uniforms.

A survey conducted March 1934-February 1935, illustrated the poor pay. Those conducting the study discovered that the annual income of all porters in the survey was $880. The weekly income was $16.02. In comparison, the average weekly wage of all workers in manufacturing industries in the US in 1934 was $19.12, with wages reaching $23.19 in New York. (Berman)

In a particularly demeaning twist, porters were often addressed as “George,” and not their real names, reflecting their employers first name. A practice begun during slavery when slaves were known by the first name of their owner. (5 Things)

There were positives to the job. Porters traveled all over the U.S. They learned to know wealthy, influential people and what was going on in the larger world. They brought this information home with them to share in their churches and communities.

At its peak, the Pullman Company was the largest single employer of black men in the United States — employing 20,000. (5 things)

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

In 1925, with the help of a prominent labor rights advocate, A. Philip Randolph, the porters were able to begin the process of unionizing. There was resistance from the Pullman Company and even black community members, but they persisted. After a decade, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was established becoming “the first African-American labor union to successfully broker a collective bargaining agreement with a major corporation.” (5 Things)

The Pullman porters in the 1920s laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement by forming the first black labor union. In the 1960s, the union gave leadership, money and venues to the civil rights movement and the struggle of the porters for equal opportunities. (Seeking)

By the 1960s one thing was glaringly evident, even though they were qualified, black porters were never promoted to better positions.

“I was qualified to do the work. They just didn’t let me do it.”

Joe Sears was a quiet, mild-mannered man who faithfully and diligently worked for the Santa Fe. He had started his career with the Santa Fe in 1936 at the lowest level of employment – the chair-car attendant. He was promoted to porter. He took the necessary classes and passed tests required for a promotion to brakeman in 1936 hoping to move to a better paying position. Over the years, Sears learned every job on the train and often trained those who became porters, brakemen, firemen, conductors and engineers. He applied for promotions to brakeman over the years but was always refused. He was told “You can’t become a brakeman until your skin changes color.” (Roe)

In August 1965, Sears returned home from his normal Chicago-to-Kansas City run and was watching TV when news of the Watts Riots broke. Sears later recalled that he “knew those people on that TV screen. He shared their years of being invisible and beaten down. He shared their anger.” He continued, “I leaped up otta my chair – I’ll never forget it – I said, ‘If I was there, I’d burn some of ’em too!'” Sears recalled his frustration at never getting a promotion, noting “his bosses refused to promote him, ‘They never argued about the fact that I was qualified to do the work. They just didn’t let me do it, that’s all.'” (Roe)

“Charging racial discrimination”

The next morning, he again applied for the brakeman’s job and was denied. The age limit was 35, he was 53. Sears also had learned about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that made discrimination against the law and people were encouraged to report it. On March 8, 1966, Joe Sears drove to Topeka to the Commission on Civil Rights and filed a complaint against Santa Fe and the United Transportation Union and began a 27 yearlong battle for compensation. (Roe)

October 7, 1972, Sears was notified by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that he was entitled to sue the railroad and the union under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. On November 1, 1972, lawyer Terry Paup filed suit in the US District Court Wichita to stop AT&SF and the United Transportation Union from discriminating against blacks and to collect damages. A class action lawsuit on behalf of Sears and 72 other black porters employed by Santa Fe Railroad was filed.

On August 25, 1975, Joe Sears, the last Santa Fe porter, retired. Sears had worked for the Santa Fe for 39 years. He never received a promotion. His fight with the Santa Fe was not over.

On December 1, 1982, Sears and “all other persons similarly situated” won their case. The decision was then appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in March 1984.

Finally, in December 1993, 27 years after the first filing, the Sears and 273 other men received their money. The court awarded $24.5 million to 273 current and former railroad employees. Seventy-three were former train porters and 200 former chair-car attendants.  They successfully sued their employer, Santa Fe Railway and the United Transportation Union, “charging racial discrimination and seeking damages commensurate with the wages they lost by being barred from white-only jobs.” (Roe)

Among the seventy-three porters were three men from Newton, Ed Rawlins, Baylon Thaw, Sr, and Ray Wagner.

Newton Men

 

Edward W. “Ed” Rawlins

Ed Rawlins was born in Hutchinson on April 16, 1909, and attended grade school at Sterling. After graduating from Sterling High School in 1929, he attended Pittsburg State University studying business. He also learned the craft of upholstery and refinishing furniture. He married Mary M. Landrum in February 1935.  They were married for 66 years. In his adult life, he attended Halls Chapel AME Church in Newton, Ks and at the time of his death, he was the oldest member. Rawlins was active in the church at all levels serving as trustee, lay president, and singing in the choir. He was also active in the community as a member of the Rising Sun Masonic Lodge, No 27 and working as a Newton Police Reserve for many years. He worked for the Santa Fe for 40 years as a porter with no chance of advancement. Rawlins was awarded $123,031.57 with interest earned from 1982-1984 the total amount $140255.99.

Rawlins died on July 28, 2001.

Baylon Kirkpatrick Thaw Sr.

Baylon Thaw was born April 10, 1916, to Harry and Georganna White Thaw. His siblings included Booker T., Jack A., Harold A., and Georganna C. Thaw Gray. His half siblings included Omine and William Beard. He grew up in Harvey County and married Monterie L. (Cox) Thaw. They had one son, Baylon Thaw, Jr. In 1950, the Thaw family moved to Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. Thaw worked for the Interstate Transportation Railroad Station as a porter. He died 7 September 1972. In 1993, his portion of the settlement was $131,162.64 with interest the total came to $149,252.41.

Ray Wagner

Ray Wagner was born June 3, 1893. He was awarded $33,931.31 with interest $38,681.69.  (Lewis to Byrd) Wagner died in April 1981.

Sources

The Tragedy of Mary Janke at 413 N. Main, Newton, Ks

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by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator/Archivist

400 Block of N. Main, Newton, Ks, ca 1900. Looking south down Main Street from 5th & Main.

Suspicious Death 

January 15, 1898, a young unidentified woman died alone in her rented room at the City Hotel located at 413 N. Main. After the coroner was called, it was determined that the young woman was Mary Janke from Lehigh, Ks. While she had been in Newton for several months, not many people knew her. The Coroner discovered in the weeks leading up to January 15, 1898, she had been sick off and on with an undisclosed condition. The two local doctors, W.C. Nolder and James F. Youmans, had been giving her care. They had diagnosed her with peritonitis, an infection of the abdomen that can be life threatening if not treated. Nolder and Youmans also determined this was the cause of death. Coroner James McKee was suspicious and called for an inquest. The investigation that followed captivated Newton for several days with twists and turns.

“Of Delicate Condition.”

During the jury inquiry more details about Mary Janke emerged. She was about 23 and had lived in Newton about a year. Her family lived in Lehigh, Ks. She worked as a domestic and a dress maker with Mrs. J.F. Sims. At first, she boarded at the National Hotel. She later lived with a close friend, Mrs. D.C. Lemert, 122 W Broadway. On January 5, she asked a friend, Jennie Wohlford to get Dr. Nolder, because she was feeling ill. He came to the house on W Broadway and spent time alone with Mary. However, Jennie did not sense anything wrong with Mary after he left. She and another friend stayed with Mary for the night. The next morning, Jennie reported that Mary “looked pale” and “had suffered a good deal” overnight.  Mary left later that day, and her friends assumed she went home to Lehigh.

Then, a few days before her death she paid for one week’s board at the City Hotel, 413 N. Main. The very next day she took sick and was confined to her bed. She had sent a telegram to her father and sister in Lehigh to come get her. They apparently ignored her plea thinking she wasn’t very sick. After her death, her brother, Peter P. Janke, came to identify and pick up the body.

The Weekly Kansan Republican, 20 January 1898

“Not what she ought to be.”

At the inquest several witnesses were called.  While some found her to be an upright young woman trying to earn an honest living, others said she was “not what she ought to be.”

One witness recalled a conversation he had with a Dave Tennis, another boarder at the National Hotel, who had something to do with her unfortunate history. Tennis, a carpenter with the Santa Fe revealed to the witness that “he had been entrapped by the girl” that Janke was in “precarious condition” and he “was responsible for her misfortune.”  Tennis left for Texas shortly after the conversation. Before he left, he gave the witness instructions to contact him if Janke needed his financial assistance.

Others recalled incidents of seeing her coming from Dr. Nolder’s office and that “at odd times she had complained of pains in her side and stomach, for which she had consulted physicians, Dr. Nolder being named mostly.”  Another witness, Mr. Shuck reported “that the woman had been sick at sundry times.”

An old friend who saw her the week before Christmas noted “she wore a ‘Mother Hubbard’ and seemed down-hearted and restless as though something were weighing her mind.” Mary Janke kept her own counsel and confided in no one except perhaps her physician, Dr. W.C. Nolder.

Dr. W.C. Nolder was the physician that saw her the most and diagnosed her condition. He reported that he treated her with “hypodermic injections of morphia” to ease here pain. The pain would get better and the return violently. Dr. Nolder said the cause of death was peritonitis. Throughout the inquest, Dr. Nolder was strenuously question by Coroner Dr. McKee.

“An undercurrent that something sensational will yet come to the surface.”

On January 20, the editor of the Weekly Kansan dramatically wrote of the case;

There was an undercurrent that something sensational will yet come to the surface.” (Weekly Kansan, 20 January 1898)

He was not wrong.

Just as the jury was coming to a decision on the Janke case, there was a huge shock to the community.

The Weekly Republican, 28 January 1898

On January 25, at about 9:30 am, Dr. W.C. Nolder left his office at the corner of 5th & Main and walked to his home on 129 E. 1st, Newton.  People that knew him noted that it seemed like he had something heavy on his mind for several days. His wife and two young children were at home, and he complained to his wife of not feeling well. Mrs. Nolder helped him to bed. Just after she left the room, “ the doctor, taking a 38-calibre revolver, immediately shot himself through the head and died almost instantly . . . Mrs. Nolder ran into the room . . .and immediately grew hysterical, and has not been capable of uttering hardly a sane word since that time. She was and is terribly affected by the deed.”

It seemed that there might be a connection between the jury verdict and the suicide. Nolder left a note, but at the request of the family Coroner McKee did not share it with anyone.

Dr. W.C. Nolder was described as a “man vigorous of body and mind. Liberal in all his views; fixed in his ideas of right and wrong, but charitable to a large degree towards those who held views different.” Without the note, the public was left to come to their own conclusions about why Dr. Nolder took his own life and any connection to Mary Janke.

The verdict for Mary Janke’s cause of death was she was in ‘delicate condition for at least ten weeks” and that “criminal practice occurred sometime between January 1 & 15, 1898 by persons unknown.”

Dr. Nolder’s cause of death was self-inflicted gunshot to the head due to temporary insanity.

The events of January 1898 were truly a tragedy.

****No location of burial has been discovered for Mary Janke.

Sources

  • Evening Kansan Republican: 19 January 1898, 20 January 189824 January 1898, 26 January 1898.
  • Weekly Republican: 21 January 1898, 28 January 1898.
  • Hillsboro Herald: 13 January 1887.
  • Marion Record: 24 April 1919.
  • Peter P. Janke Find A Grave Memorial.

At the end of Dr. Nolder’s obituary, the writer concludes with this sentiment, “May the clods rest lightly on his bosom.” (EKR: 28 January 1898)

He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Newton, Ks.

Mrs. Lizzie Bourne Nolder died of pneumonia seven weeks later on a Tuesday, the day her husband died. The obituary concluded, she was “always unusually depressed on that day of the week and had felt that her life would end on Tuesday, as it did.” (Find a Grave clipping Lizzie Bourne Nolder.

Native Americans on Sand Creek

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by Kristine Schmucker, Archivist/Curator

In a letter written to a ladies committee, Dr. Gaston Boyd shared one story about an interaction with Native American people traveling through the area around Newton in 1871. Dr. Gaston Boyd arrived in Newton, Ks April 10, 1871. He was very involved in the early establishment of Newton and Harvey County.

He wrote this story in response to an unknown ladies group. Boyd’s letter to them gives a small glimpse into the life of Native Americans in Harvey County before their removal in 1873.

According to Boyd, a group of Native Americans, including women and children, were traveling to the Osage Reservation near Council Grove. Along the way they would hunt buffalo, found primarily around Burrton and Hutchinson. This was not an unusual occurrence.

They traveled through the area “with their ponies dragging their tents and other luggage hitched to poles, the back end of which were (sic) dragging on the ground.”

Dr. Boyd recalled one particular incident. They had camped on Sand Creek, just north of Newton. The women remained in the camp, but the men “invaded the town principally on the hunt for fire-water. Several of them got gloriously drunk, so much so that the ones who remained sober became quite anxious to get them out of town.”

One of the drunk men “got ugly and abusive.”  When the men got back to camp, “the women*** pounced upon him with clubs and beat him to death. When they broke camp the dead Indian was fastened to the back of a pony and taken, it was supposed to the Indian burying ground.”

Boyd explains that no one interfered. Henry Mayer, the City Marshall, made no arrests “and no special excitement was in evidence over the occurrence.” 

***”women” is used in place of the offensive term in the original document.

Sources

  • Boyd, Dr. Gaston to the ladies of the Committee. Letter, 26 July 1911, Newton, Ks. Copy of letter at the Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives, Curator Files, Boyd, Dr. Gaston.

About the Photo

The photo was likely taken in Indian Territory around 1900. The scene seems to be a distribution of food and other supplies.