The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1873-11-01
Conductor and Vice-president,

Ata certain period, some six or eight
years ago, the officers Of one of our princi
pal railroads had good reasons for beiev
ing that some of the conductors upon
particular section of their roads were in
the habit of rendering inaccuratr returns
ofytheir receipts from "way passengers;'
aud as they were unable to fix the defal
cation upon the particular individuals.
Pinkerton was employed to investigate
the matter, and test the accuracy Of their
suspicious. For the execution of this
delicate service he selected sufficient
number of his best men to furnish four
for every car in train one to be seated
at each door and two in the centre of
the car, the latter facing to the front
and rear, SO as to see every person who
went in or out These men were dircc
ted not to recognize each other, but TO
p"y their fares, and otherwise deport
themselves like ordinary travellers
Each one was provided with pencil and
paper, and Instructed to keep an accu
rate record Of every person that entered
or LETT the cars, noting the stations to
aud from which they Travelled. etc so
tha; fiat the end OF the trip h .ir n,te5
were in accord, it would b. good evi
dcnce of accuracy. In this manner the
major was enable in the course of
few days, tn make det lied report which
show d conclusively that nearly every
con II ctor upon the section of road uu
der Surveillance had been guilty OF
swindllng. lie also ;:secrtain2d that
one OF Those dc!iuq lcht, owned property
to large amount II Phiadcip PHI Where
upo, SIS was Informed, Coloucl s..
thc'vics presideut sent for tho man; and
tie following dialogue ensued:
'Nir.-, how long have YOU been Gin
plole as copductor.on our roaS:?
'Abput seven years, Sir
'Wkat-rny lave sou reeelvcd during
that tiine2
- -ielEssi'ls.ss..-'.-,.r'frt:ri uurmrS a ycar."
DO you own the house N---upon --
Street :'saT var err ~ f1f-f -y'ri
II do, s.r.' = asa za'@ q.
Have you other prop rty in th,
,ity"
III have 'r-
What is its va'uc??'
"Wcll, Sir, cunt tell precisely, but
1t is considerable
What estimate do yon place upon
your entirc aSSrsts?
Something like forty thousand dol
'ars.' I4
Were you the owuer Of any portion
of this rspperty when you en,erel our
service E# Rsa #
'Notp dollars worth SIR
You havea family to support, | un
derstand 2
4 have wife and three children p
sRSill you do me tl.Siavor to in!nrn,
me how you have been able. in seven
years to support our family and accl
mulate fortune of forty Thousand ad.
lars upon salary of eight hundrcd!'
4 have not the sli . htest objection to
answer your question, sColonol S.,
provided you will suffer ME first to
II few pertinent interrosatories to
you
Very well, Sir, I've no objections.
What are thcy?'
will you, then be so kind as to
inform me how long you have been c,n
nected with the Railroad
Something like ten years.
What, allow me to ask, has been your
salary during that time? 2
! supPOse tsn,"y haye,avenged about
$4,000 year.
sYou have /, family tossprport, If am
not mis,akep?'a ( z sfB 4@L
Yes, Sir, have family"
fits not an improper qucstio 0,
Goioncl S., will you suffer me to
ask what is the amount OF your for
tunc| #f t7
well, Sir, don't know precisely bat
it is something handsome
Would you estimate 1t at half mil
lion dollars, coloncl?'
Yes, | dare say it is'