The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-08-10
DESPITE THE BELL PUNCH.
The second Avenv Railroads Ofhccrs Brenk-
Ing up "a Conspiracy.

Ton conductors of the Harlem branch Of
the Second Avenue Railroad were summarily
dismissed on Tuesday. II had been charged
that they mad tampcr,d with the he'll punch and
discover means OF turning back the irdica-
tor inside.
For some timo tho railroads officers had sus-
pocted thata combination existed among the up
town CONDUCTORS. These mon Ny LONG expo
rcncc are able to detect spoilers or count
crs." spotcr il a person who gets on car.
pays fare and watches the conductor sharply
to See that he rings the punch properly for
every fare collected. A counter" counts the
number Of passengers on trip, ana this count
is compared with the record the conductor
hands in. BY n system Of signs. mods. and
wnks. members of a combination are able To
convey TO cnch Other intelligence rs To the urr-
sOnhlity and whereabouts OF the sputter inc
moro dreaded parsons are the private dctcc-
tiNcs Of the Bell Punch Company. for these are
too smart Ia he discovered watch Is also
kept by the conductors on the movements of
Officers Of the company. TWO condnctors pass
on the road one wipes oil his chin with his
hand and points curelcssly down the street.
This indicates that the superintendent has
gone down town Tn conductor is always COM
PEELED h. share his ri kings with the driver
Occasionally a now ana honest man is put on
the road. The returns from his ear must not
the bulldozing system Of loatlng' is brought
in The ear ahead Of the new conductor hangs
lDhlni, ana PICKS up all the passengers pOSSl-
hlc. dCpriying the ear that Is following ii Of its
just share. The driver of the new mans ear
lalso in the plot pays no attention to passen-
gers. nnd they are picked up hy n third car,
whirh has pushed up behind.
Whom evening comes the now conductor has
a very small amount OF receipts to show; in
deed. far below the average. Added to this per-
scrution there are threats and cntreatics until
finally even an honest man may yield and Join
the conspiracy.
A dishonest conductor must be very careful
in his operations. He must punch u card. and
every timr he does this a bell rings. an Indicator
scores one. and small hit Of cardboard falls
into rcccpta lr. Careful men always count
their money on the start and ON the return. II
they iind money over. they make note OF II
and hand 1t to the receiver. They may have
neglected to punch or have punched twice
through the same holes or perhaps outside OF
the curls. In any case either n spotter" Oi
the ndi 'atnr IL lik, ~ To- expose them; hence II
is better % turn ia. money in. for then II any
mistake Is found they arr credited with the in
tcnuon 10 be- honest
II H. impossible to tampcr with the bell punch
TINS lilu instrument has "a combination 10 X
siwinr o. that oi "a sufc. II can Ice set in any OF
lNIOnJ different combinations, aud IL changed
EVERY day. No coudutor has the same punch
for moro than few hours AZ n time. COnsc
qu 'nily he ms no timr 10 tampcr with IL. an,
oven II he had time he could hardly dis cover
the combination. TAfrr ia only one way OF de-
c"IN,ng tIr pun ". namely. hy not punching a
ni \ gentleman fully qualified 10 estimate
says That on an average fully 80 cents a day II
stJl- n Tor every ear running in this city.