The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-09-03
THE PULLMAN MAN.
HOW HE MANAGES TO GET AHEAD
OF THE lNQUlSITIVE SPOTTER.

Tho Duties Of . Sleeping Car Conductor
Putting a "Porter's Mark" on spottcr',
shoes-Raising the Accounts-On Hotel
Csrs.-The Art of "Knocking Down."
EYES," said an ex-mcinber of the Pullman
force, who had run through from New
York to the far west on the most frequented
highways of travel, "there are great oppor.
tunities in the experience OF the sleeping cal
man. 1t takes man with head on him to
know what he is about. And l guess there
are fewer Of them caught in any monkey
business than any other set Of trusted EN-
ployes I'm the country. There are new men
going on the road all the time, and those who
have a predisposition to crookedness are
never allowed to grow old in the ways of
sim"
$50 they knock down."
"Well that's broad question. They don't
all do it. But there is just the same chance
for Pullman man as there is for a street car
conductor, but the risks are greater and he
has more to lose by it. But the knock down
system is by no means an ancient custom.
It's devious paths are known; sometimes the
broad light of investigation trac in upon
them, and the man who is caught loses his
head and Sl25 month.
ITO begin with, sleeping car man must
familiarize himself with an intricate system
OF single-entry bookkeeping. On every trip
he carries with him q whole set of clerical
apparatus for keeping his accounts. They
comprise diagrams of the berths, check books,
. markers accounts Of receipts and blanks to
make receipts out the same as a ships mani
fest, and If he wants to pocket couple of
dollars, or . five or ten, he has to keep track
of an immense amount of detail, doctor up
his accounts ip good shape, keep an eagle eye
on the porter and run the gauntlet OF spot
'ters"
"Spotters"
"Yes, spoilers. There is whole army of
them on the road incessantly-male and
female both. Pullman keeps them employed
all the time. They never use passes. If they
60 through from New York to st. Louis, or
from Boston to Washington, they buy first
class tickets and pay for them with checks,
just the same as wealthy railroad tourists.
But they become known. They've got to
hang around the car in day time little, to
get track of things, and good fly porter who
can't size up spotter when he sees him amt
worth having.
TRACING THE CRooKEDNEss.
"A spotter, when he starts out to get the
drop on a suspected conductor, carries along
a diagram of the car and full set of equip
ments. He keeps an accurate account of all
berths sold or occupied between important
points, and makes return at the other end of
the line. The first trace Of crookedness will
be followed by several more spoilers follow
ing up the same conductor until the evidence
is dead against him, and then there is sud
den vacancy in the force.
'"But the career of the spotter is not path
of roses. If the conductor doesn't tumble to
him, the porter does in nine cases out of ten,
and then that innocent spotter is marked for
life.
"When he turns in at night he sticks his
shoes under the lower berth. The porter
-.s..Ses along after d WHILE marks the number |
of the section on them, and takes them to the
rear of the car to put quarter of a dollar
shine on them. The first thing the porter
does is to examine them closely, and if there
are no marks on the shoes, he proceeds in a
calm, matter of-fact way to "brand" them.
He puts a 'porter's mark on the shoe, that
every Pullman porter from here to San Fran
cisco will comprehend the instant he lays his
eyes Oh it. Everywhere that spotter travels,
the little hieroglyphic on his shoes does him
up, and he never gets down to the cause of it.
They work the women's shoes, too, when they
can find them, and when they can't they
mark their little caba or valise in some con-
venient place.
"Then the spoilers have the game stocked
up against themselves sometimes. If he looks
like an offensive fellow, of more than the
Raverage meanness, he stands in jeopardy.
The porter rakes in from IS to $40 on an
average run, and the conductor says, See
here, George, we've got to bull tho Market
and the porter knows what that means and
chips in. Then the conductor makes up his
accounts $40 above what they ought to be,
fixes up the diagram, and punches few
more checks. When he makes his report, in
stead of turning in $40, he turns in $50. The
spotter who has been trained in the school of
spotless virtue and umblemished truth, only
makes it out $40
MISTAKE IN THE FIGURES.
1.-THE next thing that happened to the spot
tier, he is taken to the front and investigated
The manager says: Look here, Mr.. Spotter,
this thing amt right; how is it you only show
8up $4OF
"'That must be right says the spotter, feel
ling mysterious and sort of distrust in the
arithmetic he studied at school.
"'Well, it amt right-you're $40 short
We won't want you any more Well get
somebody who can count up better and that
kpotter will never find out what happened to |
him, and forever lose confidence in his own
Intelligence. These are tricks that are vain,
but those who are on the wing night and day, |
flashing along over the continent, don't put |
jn their time without learning as they CO. |
I've known men to show up tricks to Pullman |
himself that be never dreamed of. The old |
men on the road have sowed their wild oats |
and never need watching. 1t is an object for |
them to keep their places. But the young
men were coming and going all the time, and |
applications are constantly made at head
quarters for a run 1t is good position for |
Ia young man with grit enough to keep to |
IA straight line. It's a big experience.
"The big work can only be done on the |
buffet or hotel cars on long run. That's
bonanza. A conductor has to keep an &C.
count of every article he takes out with him,
bring back all the scraps and have them |
weighed, and return a correct account of how
Everything was disposed Of But they can
basily knock the company's eye out for a soft |
thing, if they are sharp enough. A con-
buctor is given whole ham, which weighs
D much, so many steaks and other articles.
r. Al