I don't seem to get a preview on Google books, but there appear to be thousands of versions of that story on the web, e.g: http://www.progress.org/gandhi/gandh

I don't seem to get a preview on Google books, but there appear to be thousands of versions of that story on the web, e.g: http://www.progress.org/gandhi/gandhi03.htm http://www.progress.org/gandhi/gandhi03.htm "He wrote the station master requesting a first-class ticket and received it only because the man was not a local Boer but a Dutchman from Holland." I don't claim that this link gives an accurate story, but I would view the negotiation story in the book with equal suspicion.