Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1885-11-17
MISCELLANEOUS.
spotty,s /" Spot"

He was known as s.Spotty.'' That
was not his real name. He had
earned the soubriqtiet from being a
spotter ON one Of the great railway
lines leading out of Toledo. He was
small thin man with piercifg black
eyes. I asked him one day why he
gave up the spotting Business. He
looked at me fof d moment and re-
piled: 81 will tell you the reason.
1t is no use Dragging, but you as well
as many others know that 1 was one
of the smartest spoilers in the coun-
try at one time, and always had a
good fat job. In 197-I / was spot
ter on one of the lines leading out of
Toledo.
There was young conductor on
the road who was suspected of
" knocking down"-that is charging
more for money tickets than the price
called for. will call him Jack, but
Jack is as far different from his true
name as Smith. Jack was great
favdrite all along the line, and, withal,
the passengers-men, woman and
children-7adored him. He was a
handsome man and good natured.-
The 'boss'' was always receiving
letters from the roads patrons in
commendation of Jack, but, you
know, " knocking down" must be
prohibited no matter how big favor=
lite the conductor is. So one day the
4" boss" came to me, and says he {:
" Spotty, Jack is knocking down pref
ty bad lately, and you must stop it,
and the sooner the better" 1 gave
him the Mother Hubbard wink of
distress, and says L: "I don't believe
word of it, and if you are going to
spot him / wish you would get some
other gentleman to work him."
said gentleman but we "apostles"
are not gentlemen" though we like
to call ourselves such. But he would
hear no protest from me, so had to
" spot" Jack. hated it, but spot
ter has TO swallow his hates. A few
days after boarded Jacks train in
Toledo. BY and by Jack came through
shaking hands with the passengers,
winIcing at that child or patting this
baby on the head and smiling pleas
antly at the ladies'. tell you there
never was another conductor like
Jack. I tell you / cursed the day 1
ever took up the profession Of spot
ter. When jack cat1e to me 1 asked
for ticket to -; $780," says
Jack. The fare was st.25; j tell
you was all broke up in mintte.
There was 40 cents from me. I sat
in my seat and pondered. 1 got off
at -, changed my disguise and
waited over until Jack came back.
boarded the train and Jack came
through as before. / asked for a
ticket to Toledo; "s1.G0,' says Jack
this time. saw then he had worked
the scale of tickets pretty fine-it was
only 5 cents less from - to Toledo
than from Toledo to -. He only
gave the company the 81. so, the true
fare. The next time he went out 1
was On hand again. This time /
worAed him by telling him a pitiful
story, the death ofmy mother at,
and L had no money for fare He
passed me clean through to -,
cheating the company out of $3.50.
Not only, You see, was he cheating
the passengers, but the company by
allowing passengers to ride free. A
third time 1 lay for him. This time
l boarded the train and paid s7.6O
for a ticket to -, where the fare
should have been Sc. so, and he pock-
eted the entire $3.50. reported to
the boss" and Jack was called into
the private office and confronted with
the facts. He broke down completely,
and burying his face in his hands
wept like child, and told us he had
knocked down" to obtain comforts
for his invalid mother, and went on
about his mother until, me if the
boss and didn't commence crying
like a couple of women. But he
prayed us not to tell his mother, for
she believed him honest, and If she
learned of his dishonesty the shock
would kill her. We promised him
we would never tell single person.
The company ousted him; they could
do nothing else. A reporter Chow
no one but the reporter knew learned
the facts and published them. Jack 8
mother saw it and the shock killed
her. His mothers death and the dis
grace of his dishonesty affected his
mind. 1t was then 1 swore / would
never do another spotting and never
have
1t was dark, rainy, windy night,
nearly year after q Spotty" had
told me of Jack, that 1 was pas
senger on a western passenger train.
As 1 passed into the rear coach,
was surprised to see Jack. "Spotty''
had pointed him out one day, walking
with downcast eyes and hands clasped
behind him. sat down beside bin
and introduced myself. We spoke
of " Spotty" and he said he had for.
given him, that "a Spotty" had done
his duty. Then we spoke of hi.
mother. suddenly noticed he was
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