Free lance work in Minnesota

Fannie Smith
Posted 1/15/03

I visited the courthouse saying I was willing and ready to substitute when there was a need. I wrote letters to some national court reporting agencies that I knew held state and federal government contracts for the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas. My reporting business was "feast or famine," but overall I was called more frequently gradually. I did stenographic services when I was in the office and became known in the legal and business communities. There were a number of law firms in the building. These law firms remained faithful to the reporters in the courthouse. Some of my calls for work were a testing - no other reporter wanted to work for these people. I wasn't always paid.

I found no free-lance court reporters in the twin cities. But, with time, I met one, Eldon Buckles, doing contract work through agencies in Washington, D. C., as a subcontractor. He was the first machine writer in Minnesota and I became the second. From Eldon, I learned of the Minnesota annual summer court reporters' meetings, and attended them. Two women pen writers were there. One lady was doing the same kind of work as Eldon Buckles: subcontracting work for federal government agencies in and around the Minnesota area.

These two free-lance people worked some of their time for Bernice Jackson Agency of Kansas City, who had several national contracts, on a yearly bid basis, serving designated areas, as outlined by the government. Bernice assigned court reporters to this work on a commission, or percentage of the "take." These government - federal and state - agencies had hearings and investigations. I let both reporters know, if they had a conflict, I would make myself available. Soon there was some work for me.

The other lady, a pen writer, had been a legal secretary for a lawyer who became a judge in the iron range area of northern Minnesota. The new judge took her with him as his court reporter. This woman, official court reporter on the Minnesota iron range, chambered in Virginia, Minn. She also had the freedom to do reporting work outside of the court when she had the opportunity. At the time, there were no free-lance court reporters in that north country. She described a very lucrative client she had - the railroads of the iron range were competitive, dealing with the government territories, or rights, for laying their railroads to iron mining locations. Along with that, the railroads had conflicts with other railroads and with union employees. The railroad people wanted verbatim notes taken.

I noticed this lady had a very large, swollen right arm - too big to fit into a normal lady's dress sleeve. She apologized for the obvious arm and said this happened because she wrote pen shorthand. That was one of the first times I was happy to be a machine writer.

Teamster's monthly meetings, of local No 32, was one of my first regular customers. In a year, I was taking these meetings. Mr. Jorgenson placed me in plain view of the truckers present. Having a woman verbatim stenographer present, who was recording the minutes of the meeting, caused most of the men to be careful about what they said and how they said it. The officers learned quickly, once I was present in the meetings, what a godsend I became. Those days, my obvious presence created a different atmosphere. The unwritten, and observed, rule was: no decent trucker would swear or behave unseemly when a lady was present. A transcript was never ordered by the teamsters. Obviously, I was there to support the board's hope for orderly meetings in this easy way.

Besides the monthly meetings, there were board and area meetings of Local #32 that I covered. When I had to go to the teamsters office, 60 years ago, the officers and directors were a unique and unusual bunch. They came from the rank and file of the membership. They were very vocal and outspoken with their constituents about their plans and ideas. As I waited and listened, some of them could not verbalize a dictated letter. The secretaries put the words in the mouths of their bosses. These men used the right language for the teamsters. What counted was the board members had the loyalty of the membership.

The board generally met in a reserved room at the Radisson Hotel. The most active - not always the chairman - carried in a large box of frosted donuts to eat with the coffee supplied by the hotel. This big fellow ate at least a half dozen of the donuts and sat on two chairs. He couldn't fit into any of the stuffed chairs. When there was a strike, this man walked in the middle of the busy street, as part of the picket line. Cars took to the very edge of the street, on either side, and passed by. He was an effective leader. He was tall, big, and looked the part of a union thug. I found him to be gentle and considerate when he wanted to be. He was smart on the ways of his world.

Mr Jorgenson, usually the chairman, was more sophisticated with whom I dealt. He signed my checks. At the time the teamsters pushed their way into the privacy of the owners of the trucking companies, getting their attention, finding ways to get what was asked for. They were tough. They had to be. Unions had a long way to go.

The FBI subpoenaed me, after ten years of these services, to read all my past notes of the teamsters' meetings. The four representatives sat around me as I read. Every once in a while, these men perked up, and got very curious. Then my notes indicated an "off the record" discussion. I don't know if they found anything of use. I think not. These FBI men never discussed paying me for my time of five long days, and I expected they had a pattern by which payment was made, I never was paid. I don't know whose fault that was.