Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-27
TRICKY BOYS.
How the Messenger Boys Cheat Their
Customers and Fan into
Bad Habits.
San Francisco Chronicle.

WAN NAAAN N@NN - 'h' -
glacier In Washington Territory that
travelled a quarter of q mile q year, re-
marked that eve haven't any glaciers,
but we have messenger boys If this
tendency to slowness was the only bad
habit prevalent In ''the District this
article would not have been written, but
the fact is that the great majority of
these boys, whose age rsnges from IL to
10, while tardy of gait are decidedly
"fast" in habits. Many parents place
their young boys In the various district
telegraph offices, believing that 1t is q
good place for them to learn the city and
acquire business-like habits of prompt
ness and dispatch, little thinking that
they are placing their pure and innocent
children in perfect schools of vice, for so
little can the managers exercise ~surveil-
lance over them and so many are the
temptations and opportunities that beset
them that they soon become adopts
In many small crimes and vices
that soon harden their hearts and blunt
their finer aensibilitles. Like all similar
cases, the older and more experienced
soon educate the new boys into all the
tricks of the craft, and, with the Loyalty
to comrades that distinguishes boys the
world over, they will submit to fines, and
even discharge rather than ''pesch" II
upon the other. AS the neatly uniformed
aud in many cases bright-fsced locking
little fellows pass through our streets, no
one could think of the thousand sights of
crime and Vice that are brought before
young eyes and the pretty tricks of mean
ness and deception that they soon learn.
The manner in which the habit Of petty
larceny aieh often acqvired and prac.
tlced comes from the Ignorance which
prevails among the general public as to
the workings of the messenger sy,tem,
There are three different Telegraph COM
psnies which do telegraph business in
San Franciaco-the American Dis. riot,
the San Francisco DISCREET and the
Western Union. While each one differs
In minor particulars, yet in the main the
principle of operation is the same. The
customers rings or telephones to one of
the different offices or stations, and a
messenger boy is Immediately
sent to the place from which the call Is
sent, and there is given the messs &c or
package which Is to be taken to some per-
son or place at some other point in the
city. The boy, on leaving the office, Is
color being for regular customers, whose
bills are made out at the end of the month,
and from whom the boy receives no
money, and consequently, has no chance
to defraud, but another color being for
transient patrons, who pay the boy for
the time occupied in doing each particu-
lar GRAND upon tue basis Of go much an
hour, the price varying with the several
companies.
After a boy has "learned the ropes he
Is able to guage pretty accurately the
Of his customers, and whenever he
imagines that he can do so with impunity
he often adds as much to the correct price
of the service as he thinks the persons
employing him will stand, and this he
puts into his own pocket, simply report |
ing to the Office the correct amount for
the time spent on the trip. 1t is said
that some of the older Glands" thus re-
alizs several dollars a day, and as the
office rarely hears of 1t there Is very little
fear of being detected. The time of leav-
Ing the office Is marked on each ticket,
and the messengers are obliged to pay for
the time which they are absent,
SO hat this has led to
another favorite device among the boys.
They do the Grand and then report 5 or
10 cents less than they receive, claiming
that the customers clock only indicated
the amount of time consumed for which
they report; that is, that 1t was ten or
fifteen minutes slower than the office
clock, and that they were therefore de-
esived, and only charged what they re-
port. However, as the company is the
direct loser In this case, it does not sue.
coed so easily as the others. Another
plan is to answer the call, and if the boy |
thinks there Is no chance for the mana
ger to find the customer, he takes the |
message, collects the pay and reports the
call mo co." that is, that the bell was
rung by mistake or accidentally, as
quite frequently happens, and if the
youugster can tell a straight story and
to 1t, he generally escapes detection.
This plan is generally followed where the
arrand is a short one and can be quickly |
done. Still another scheme Is where
people meet the messengers on the street
hire them to go on errands, not
knowing or caring that it is against the
Jules OF the company to do so. The boys
accept the work, going, as soon as out of
'ight, to the original call, where
hey likewise receive a message, and
10 them both together, charging one
or the other Of their patrons
to cover the extra time consumed,
IN come spscious story of not finding the
they were cent to or of being de-
for an answer, and so they collect
enough to pay the Office for the time they
nave been absent, and pocket the pro-
,eeds of the extra trip. And still
practice commonly resorted to Is
where they are given money to buy some
particular article for the customer-say
80 for a bottle Of champagne. In this
Instance they Immediately resort to some
lealer In spurious wines, who will fur
nish them with the desired label for SO
,r SO, the boys pocketing the difference.
It Is said thaG one boy, during the recent
holidays, stole the difference on a whole
bottles without detection. And
1t is with any article that they can
reception about, so that their
from this source Is very large.
There ara many other tricks resoIted to
oy these embryo criminals by which even
oerlons cognizant of the rules of the
company are duped by clever stories and
pretexts, but enough has been
,ho WI to indicate the terrible and nearly
general prevalence OF petty crime among
.hese children, who are thus imbued with
- ~ natxY - "a $40 -Ln. Ala- n,a lItI14 /