The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-08-12
HOW THE SPOILERS SPOT.
The Man with the a and Evan-
geline with Her Pincushfon.

geline with Her Pfncushfon.
81 took notice to-day" began a Cam
bridge horsc-car conductor last even
ing, .'that q number of conductors on
the Middlesex road have been pulled
off for knocking down fares. l am
surprised at their doing anything of
that kind after getting that extra quar-
ter don't believe there is a conduc-
to- on the Cambridge road who knocks
down fares now. The boys use the
road well and the road uses us well. AS
far as | know, no spoilers are riding
about in the cars now"
"Then you generally know who they
are, do you?"
Eyes. those who have been on the
road a long time can generally tell one
after seeing the man or woman. which
ever it may be, a few times, and par
ticularly in an open car. In a 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
N elderly man, finely dressed, wear
ing a tall hat, and carrying a gold-head-
ed cane, who always rode into town
with me on my 10 o'clock trip in the
forenoon. After riding with me sever
al weeks with great regularity he stop
ped, and [ haven't seen him since.
He was always reading a morning pa
per, and tried to make conductors
think he was deeply interested. Some
times he had that mornings paper
and sometimes he had one q
month old. He was always
reading apparently-never really.
He carries 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, | sup
pose, pass the number in to the COM
pany and they would compare his fig
ures with mine. Then | remember Il
young man, who tried to appear-and
this is true of them all-very dignitied.
He carried about one hundred small
beans with him. When a passenger
got on he would put a bean in his left
vest pocket, and when u passenger got
off the bean would find its way to an
other 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 IN car after car,
counting beans by the thousand, till he
could almost identify each bean, and
keeping the conductors numbers he
would earn his living. Talk about con-
ductors' pay, money wouldn't hire me
to take that mans place"
CHOW and then | hear of them OF va
rious roads. l remember some years
ago a well-dressed woman, who always
carried in her left hand a small, blue
pin-cushion. 1t had long rows of pins.
When a passenger got off she would
put a pin in the side of the cushion.
When one got on she would put a pin
in the top of the cushion. The num-
Der of pins used on top and on the side
would correspond if she had paid at
tention 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 be-
gan to call her 'Evangeline.' She
must have counted enough pins to
keep Jordan, Marsh & Co. supplied a
month. She probably got married,
but if she watches her husband as close
ly as she did the conductors, the Lord
deliver him."-BOSton Globe.