The Eccentric Visit of George Francis Train
The self-proclaimed 'crank' and inspiration for Phileas Fogg stops in Yakima to lecture on his own global travels.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
George Francis Train passed through Yakima on Thursday of last week. He enquired for The Herald man and commenced energetically to sing his little song to a constantly increasing crowd. Train, in his disjointed way, flew from one subject to another. He commenced with a dissertation on cranks and likened himself to Galileo. He spoke of his connection with the Union Pacific, the Credit Mobilier, the building of Tacoma, and his trip around the world. He claimed to be the original of Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg and told the story of the building of Cozzens' hotel at Omaha. During the building of the Union Pacific, Train stopped off at Omaha and, going to a hotel for breakfast, had an altercation with the landlord who refused him service. George Francis went off in high dudgeon and by the close of the day, 100 mechanics were at work on his own 120-room hotel. Jumping aboard the car as it was moving off, Train shouted back: 'Look out for me. I’ll be through Yakima again in eight weeks.'
“Look out for me. I’ll be through Yakima again in eight weeks.”
Train was the ultimate celebrity 'troll,' a man whose performative eccentricity was designed to grab headlines and provoke the status quo. His presence in the Yakima Herald office reflects how small-town newspapers were the primary stage for national curiosities and transient speakers during the railroad age.
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