The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-09
RAILROAD Spoilers.
The Skill They Display, and the Accurate
Character of Their Reports.

The Skill They Display, and the Accurate
Character of Their Reports.
Chicago News.
RAILROAD spottersl' said an ex-railroad presi-
dent IN tell you how we used to employ them
on the long line For weeks and weeks we
would not use spoilers at ALL and then we would
work the line thoroughly for fortnight, and
when we got through we generally fired lot of
the conductors. We would have one operator in
each car, and it was his duty to watch all the
cash fares. When he made his report he located
himself, located his cash fares, described the
kind of money paid out-whether paper or coin
and also told what was the nature Of the change
given by the conductor to the passenger. In
addition to this, he had to report where these
cash passengers got on and where they got off.
By this means we knew exactly what cash fares
were paid on That particular trip and between
what places If the conductors report agreed
with this, alE right, but if it did not we would
call him up and reason with him. If he denied
having received more fares than ne had ac-
counted for in his report, | used to say: We'll,
Smith, you carried an old woman from A to b,
and if he still denied it l would read from the
report what was the denomination of the bill or
coin she rendered, what was the character of the
change he returned, how she was dressed, and
where she sat in the car. | tell you it is ridieu-
lous for people, especially railroad men, to tell
you they can spot spotter; they can't do it,
ut is astonishing how accurate these spoilers
are. They rarely make mistake. One dav we
had com bination baggage and express car on,
in each of the three coaches we had one man,
and we purposely sent out conductor who we
knew was honest but very rapid in collecting
tickets. When the three reports came in l
added up the cash receipts and found they COM
pared exactly with the receipts turned in by the
conductor, except that man duly described had
handed the conductor 81 bill and had received
no change. From the description of the man
and the points between which he rode | judged
it was my secretary, and so / called him IN and
a m aE n or ly no ha6
found himself on the train without money, had
borrowed So from the conductor, and had re.
turned it the day upon which the reports were
dated.
''It is true conductors withhold good many
fares on some roads, especially at night. One
of the schemes on our road was worked by
drummers and conductors. For example the
fare was Sc, and by tacit, though unmentoned,
understanding the drummer would hand the
conductor $3. BY this means the passenger
made So and the conductor $3. know of a case
in Arizona where a special agent boarded the
train about o'clock in the evening at small
way station where there was no ticket office.
He paid the conductor $2006 and the conduc-
tors returns only showed So 06, so that he made
$I5 by the operation. Many men board the
seeDers just before midnight and, being
tired, go right to bed. The sleeping
car conductor goes forward and tells the
train conductor that he got passenger at the
last station and then the conductor goes back
into the sleeper when he thinks the passenger
has retired and collects his fare. OF course the
tired passenger does not want to be hampered
with slip or train ticket and so the conductor
CONSIDERABLY does not SO hamper him, and there
is another fare lost to the company. Some
times passenger rides in the coach all day on a
secondcla ticket, and at night wants to go into
the sleeper. In order to obtain a berth he must
have first class ticket, and the train-con
ductor collects l cent mile extra, which prob
ably means SIS. You have no idea how many
pockets there in train conductors clothes.
Then we had spoilers travelling as statesmen
with big sample trunks, for which they would
have to pay excess. baggage, and we caught a
good many of our baggage masters holding back
the extra Charge Once in a while we would
have a man travel with huhting-dog which
must be carried in the baggage-car, and we
found that our baggagemen always looked upon
this as legitimate prey. These some of the
reasons why freight and passenger conductors
are often found who are able to loan their super
intendents few thousand dollars witout inter
est"