In 1848 he made the break, bought six wagons, eighty or so oxen, hired six bullwhackers, and wrote out a pledge for them to sign. It read:
“While I am in the employ of A. Majors, I agree not to use profane language, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly, and not to do anything that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman. And I agree, if I violate any of the above conditions, to accept my discharge without any pay for my services.”
Majors meant every word of that pledge, and no man who did not feel the same was hired. Men who worked for him kept it; violators worked for somebody else. He, like both Russell and Waddell, was a sincerely religious man. That document, which cynics have ridiculed, was an expression of his firm belief that God-fearing, orderly, sober men made the most efficient and dependable employees.