Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-06-02
How Conductors are -spOt.ed.

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How Conductors are spotted.
Perhaps there is no class of employees
who have greater Inducements or better
opportunities to pilfer, with less fear o.
detection, than conductors on steam
railroads. They receive great deal Ot
money, and must necessarily be left tC
render their own account of it, and the
correctness of their returns consequent.
lydepends in a great degree upon theil
honesty. The well established weak
ness ofhuman nature requires that some
sort of surveillance beeXereised upon
them, and this is done by "spotters, ,
detectives who make running rail.
road" business, and are extensively
employed by the different railroad com,
panies.
To "run a rOad7 successfully requires
the outlay of considerable capital, as the
operation consumes from three weeks tC
three months, and requires from six tC
a dozen men, or even more, according
to the length Of the road operated upon,
and the number of its branches. There
must also be taken into consideration
the number of trains run daily from and
to certain points, and the average num-
Der of cars in a train, as in each car has to
be a certain number Of operatives.
Upon starting out to run road each
operative is furnished with written in
stFUetiOns, printed blanks, which speci-
! fy the number of the Srun,n the points
| to and from the time of departure and
! arrival of the train, the car he is to en-
! ter; whether passenger, baggage, or snlO-
! king car; its location in the train, the
] seat he is to occupy, either right side or
| left, and the number, counting from the
! forward end of the car, the end nearest
/ the engine.
Each operative is furnished with an
outfit of stationary, which includes re-
port and expense paper, blank cards, en-
/ velOpes, pens and lead pencils. Thus
prepared, the detectives leave their
| quarters for the place agreed upon for a
starting point, each one going singly
and by a different route, so as not to eX-
cite suspicion. Upon arriving at the
! train, each operative enters the ear and
| takes the seat assigned him in his in
structiOns. Ifhe is late in reaching the
train and finds the seat already occupi-
! ed, he takes the next nearest unoccupied
! one and keeps it till he reaches his jour-
ney's end, unless otherwise ordered.
The least experienced 'fspotter' is pla-
! Ced in the forward part of the car, about
! the fourth or fifth seat from the front;
] the next most experienced is placed on
! the opposite side, in about the eight seat
while the most Inexperienced one takes his
! seat in the extreme end of the car.
Neither of the operatives is expected
| to make notes of fares other than those
paid by passengers occupying seats be-
tween himself and the operative ahead
Of him; although it often occurs that the
operative in the forward part of the car
will see a fare paid in the rear end of it
sufficiently plainly to enable him to
make a correct report of it. But an Op-
erative in trying to note fares paid by
passengers i'll the rear of him, must use
extra care and caution, so that he does
not excite the suspicion Of either the
conductor or passengers, for among the
latter there may be friends of the former
who would not hesitate to put him on
his guard.
The operative, when making memo
Tanda of fares paid, uses a pencil not
more than two inches long, and has to
write with it in his pocket on blank
cards, a package of which he carries in
a rubber band. When he has no.
! ted down fare he draws out the card
and drops it in his pocket, putting but
one fare OH each card. 1t is no easy mat
ter to write well in ones pocket while
shaken by a railroad car going at the
rate oils or 20 miles an hour, and the
specimens of handwriting executed IN
der such circumstances are very apt to
look more like Egyptian heirOplyphics
than the style of penmanship in COM
mon use.
When making memoranda of fares
paid to the conductor, the following
facts must be noted down: The name
of the station at which the passenger got
in; whether alone or with anOtherpersOn;
the seat he occupied: whether near the
aisle or window; the denomination, char
acter and amount OfmOney handed to the
conductor; also, the change received by
the passenger, if any and any CONVEX
SatiOn overheard between the conductor
and passenger. The form of the mem
Oranda made by the operative when tax
ing down fares is about thus:
"NEWBEAUGH.-YOU man in fifth
seat, alone, gave conductors a U. S. Treas
uTy note, saying Bedford and received
postal currency and yellow check, which
conductor tore from check-boOk and
wrote on with pencil Went to Bed
ford"
The other operatives i'll the car who
are so placed as to see this fare paid, will
also make note of it, although they
may not be able to note all the DarticlI-
lars, such as the denomination of the
bill or exact amount paid. What they
do see, however, and note down. goes
to cOrTObOrate the report made by the
operative who sat nearest the passenger
and saw the whole transaction.
Upon arriving at the station where
the rum ceases, each operative, with
valise in hand, will wend his way to his
hotel, which has already been decided
upon, and the name and location of
which are down in hisinstrUctiOns. All !
the detectives do not go to the same hO- |
tel, as it would be apt to excite suspic-
ion. Two or three at the most, but up at |
the same house, each one dropping in |
singly and engaging his room. While |
at the hotel they must treat each other |
as entire strangers, and are allowed to |
communicate only when in their priv
ate apartment.
After each run, and after the operative
has reached his hotel, he sits down and |
writes his report. When the reports are |
finished the operatives assemble in the
room occupied by the person who has
charge of the operation, and compare
notes, beginning with The first passen-
ger car in the train. 1t is seldom that
there ever is any great variance in the
reports. Sometimes there may be q dis
pute as regards the amount of fare paid
in a particular instance, but when the
places the passengers got in and out at
are decided the amount of fare paid is
soon settled by reference to the sched-
ule of prices
Besides the amount of fares paid, the
report of rum often contains descrip-
ton of the conductor, where polite and
attentive to passengers; whether the
car was crowded or otherwise; whether
it was well ventilated and the lamps
lighted also, if the conductor cancelled
all tickets on presentation to him, and
gave checks for them; also, if there ap-
Deared to be any suspicion in his mind
Of being 'teSted.U In short, everything
that comes under the observation of the
detectives that is likely to be of any in
-erest to the company is reported.
"FTOm three to five" are generally
sufficient to show the honesty or dishOn-
9sty Of conductor, but they cannot be
made daily, as it would excite his sus-
picion to see the same faces in his car
on four or five runs in succession.
A great deal of Judgment and shrcwd-
ness are required TO run Il road SUCCESS
.qllyI and avoid being dropped on by (
the conductors, who, as n class, are rath-
ar knowing than otherwise, and are geu-
orally on the look out for 'spotters.' 1t ;
Is therefore necessary for the detective