Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-08-05
HOW THE Spoilers SPOT.
The Man with the Beans and Evangeline with
Her PincushiOn.
Globe

Boston Globe.
II notice to-day" began a Cambridge
horse car conductor last evening, shat a
number of conductors on the Middlesex
road have been pulled off for KNOCKING
down fares. I am surprised at their
doing anything of that kind after getting
that extra quarter. l don't believe there
is conductor on the Cambridge road
who knocks DOWN fares now. The boys
use the road well and the road uses us
well. AS far as I know, no spoilers are
riding about in the cars now"
"Then you generally know who they are
do your
eyes, those who have been on the road
a long time can generally tell one after
seeing the man or women, whichever it
may be, few times, and particularly in
an open car. In closed car they can
look around without its being noticed, but
in an open car they have to look back,
and when we are on the rear platform we
see what the racket is very soon, speaking
of spoilers there used to be an elderly
man, finely dressed, wearing a tall hat,
and carrying gold-headed cane, who
always rode into town with me on my 10
O'Clock trip in the forenoon. After rid
ing with me several weeks with great re-
gularity he stopped, and I haven't seen
him since. He was always reading a
morning paper, and tried to make con-
ductors think he was deeply interested.
Sometimes he had that mornings paper
and sometimes he had one month old.
He was always reading pparently-never
really. He carried a little book in his
left hand, and would keep track of the
number of passengers who got on and off
the car. He would, l suppose, pass, the
number in to the company and they
would compare his figures with mine.
Then remember young man, who tried
to appear-and this is true of them all
very dignifed. He carried about one
hundred small beans with him. When a
passenger got on he would put bean in
his left vest pocket, and when a passen-
ger got off the bean would find its way 10
another pocket, and vice versa. He would
get off at Scollay square and count up the
beans and see how many passengers there
were. By riding on car after car, count
ing beans by the thousand, till he could
almost identify each bean, and keeping
the conductors numbers he would earn
his living. Talk about conductors pay
money wouldn't hire me to take that mans
place."
''Now and then hear of them on vari-
Gus roads. | remember some years ago
a well-dressed woman, who always carried
in her left hand small, blue, pine ussion.
1t had long rows of pins. When passen-
ger got off she would put a pin in thr side
of the cushion. When one got on she
would put a pin in the top of the cushion.
The number of pins used on top and on
the side would correspond if she had paid
attention to business. The cushion was
very small, and unless you noticed par
ticularly, you wouldn't see it. She was
very much interested in Longfellow's
'Evangeline,' and so much did she carry it
about that the conductors began to call
her 'Evangeline.' She must have counted
enough pins to keep Jordan, Marsh, & Co.
supplied month. She probably got
married, but if she watches her husband
as closely as she did the conductors, the
Lord deliver him."