_run on the road_ "work as a dining-car waiter or as a Pullman porter"

[Wilson Gray]

Heretofore, my previous opinion of this phrase is that its use is peculiar
to BE of the past 75 or so or years. But, as is too often the case,

Youneverknow.

Literal use:

Hazard's register of Pennsylvania, devoted to the preservation of facts and
documents, and every kind of useful information respecting the state of
Pennsylvania. Ed. by Samuel Hazard  Vol. I-XVI. January, 1828-December,
1835. Volume 15, May 1835, Page 300
Philadelphia, Printed by W. F. Geddes [1828-35]

Columbia and Philadelphia rail way
[Bulletin] No. 3
Report of E. F. Gay, Engineer.
Nov. 7th 1834.
. . .

Motive Power.

The engine "_Lancaster_," was placed
on the road and commenced running
on the 28th of June ...
. . .

The engine "_Columbia_,"
commenced running on the road
on the 10th of September ...

www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discover_history_explore_nature/history/allagash/index.shtml
The Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad [n.d.]
The trains of twelve cars each
ran on the road
both day and night stopping only ten minutes to service the steam engine.

Derived use by whites:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/Wirz-trial.pdf
House of Representatives
40th Congress, 2d Session, 1867-1868. Page 330. 1868.
Ex. Doc. No. 23
Trial of Henry Wirz.
Letter from The Secretary of War _ad interim_,
. . .

Washington: Government Printing Office.
1868

W.A. Griffin, for the prosecution:

... I have been conductor on the Southwestern railroad ...

I had been running on the branch road ...
. . .
... I ran on that branch road ...
. . .
... I commenced
running on the road
from Macon to Eufaula.

Report of Grand Lodge Officers to the Convention
books.google.com/books?id=1oZZAAAAYAAJ
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
<https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&authuser=0&biw=1436&bih=1019&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/1900,cd_max:12/31/1920&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Brotherhood+of+Locomotive+Firemen+and+Enginemen%22&sa=X&ei=iv8cVPevK-SAsQTx84KoBA&ved=0CCUQ9AgwAQ>
1916

After
running on the road
[for] five weeks, on account of unsatisfactory service he was transferred
to the [rail] yard...

Derived use by black speakers:

http://goo.gl/cCfQ1H
The Homesteader: A Novel
By Oscar Micheaux.
Page 299-300
Sioux City, Iowa: Western Book Supply Company, 1916

There were two real estate men who had once
run on the road
with him...

http://goo.gl/HE4vTt
Here I Stand
By Paul Robeson.
Page 21.
Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, c1958

At various times, he got work "running on the road" as a Pullman porter ...

http://goo.gl/CMDItR
Listen to the Lambs
By Johnny Otis [born white, but lived and died black]
Page 28.
New York: W.W. Norton, 1968
This was the cat who
ran on the road ...
He lived like a king on his Pullman-porter earnings ...
-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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