The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1889-09-21
MEAN MEN AND MAIDS.
The Petty Trickery They Resort to
- - o-Save Nickel.
Well-to-Do People Who Steal for Pure
Love of Stealing What Street.
Car Conductors Are Oblig-
ed to Endure.
Fare, please.

dTS, i9l0dS0s
The person addressed was seated on
West Madison street car, and as the
conductor approached has assumed a
dreamy, far-away expression. Al
ed the second time, the man did not
seem to hear, or, if he did, he obvious
ly thought that the demand was meant
for some one else. He was a we'll
dressed, middle-sged man, slightly
inclined to corpulence. His face wore
a benevolent expression, bu tat the time
he was sitting in the car there was a
nervous twitching about the corners of
his mouth, as though he was undergo
ing a severe mental struggle. From
his looks he must have been a well-to-
do business or professional man.
The conductor stood for moment,
awaiting a movement from the delin-
quent patron of the railway, but the
far-away expression deepened into a
look of abstract melancholy and the
nervous twitching increased.
PAY your fare, please" again re-
peated the conductor, touching the
man on the sleeve in respectful man
ner The elderly gentleman turned
with start, appeared puzzled and
amused for moment, then said with
the greatest assurance:
"How many fares do you want to
collect for one rider"
Il don't remember having collected
your fare, sir, returned the conductor,
glancing suspiciously at the man.
''Your memory will lead you into
serious mistake some day, then," was
the. response, :'for have already paid
my fare. "
Excuse me, sir" simply, half
apologetically answered the man of
fares, as he returned to the rear plat
form of the car with puzzled, half
doubtful look.
As he resumed his station on the
rear of the car one of the smokers in a
back seat remarked:
That man just got on; he hasn't
paid his fare " -
Il thought so, " resignedly returned
the conductor as he tingled his bell and
took nickel from his own pocket,
yet there is no redress. / couldn't
put that man off. He is a regular
patron of the line, and. perhaps
thought that he had already paid his
fare. though doubt it.
''IfI had put him off or insisted on
collecting his fare he would have filed
complaint at headquarters and Iwould
have lost my job. There are lots of
men ready to fill my place and it
wouldn't take long to find some one to
succeed me.
"You see it don't take much for us
to lose our jobs. A complaint or sus-
picion is sufficient, and off goes our
heads, sometimes without even a hear
ing, as the company is not going to get
its patrons. down on it; no, not by a
good deal.
People file complaints for the most
trivial causes, and if a man isn't fired
upon the first complaint made against
him a record is kept of his conduct and
his popularity or unpopularity with the
people who ride on the street-cars. If
two or three complaints are registered
against him his tenure of Office is sure
to be brief
There was one poor fellow who was
complained of regularly about once a
week by an old maid living on Ada
street. In her first kick she said that
he had neglected her in order to assist
a good-looking young woman off the
car. She next declared that he pinched
her arm one day when he was helping
her to alight.
Growing more venomous, she said
that he failed twice or thrice to regis
ter her fare, hence, she surmised, he
pocketed the nickels. AS these libels,
for do not believe the old girl was
telling the truth, had no effect, her
dislike for the obnoxious conductor in
creased. Every time she rode in his
car she let the company know by a
protest against his unmannerly con-
duct
''At last the poor fellow was fired
and the old maid was in a glow of high
spirits at her triumph. She ceased
her complaints after the conductors
dismissal and l suppose the men at
headquarters were glad to sacrifice a
good man in order to get rid of a
nuisance. The man who lost his lob
was married and had large family,
but don't suppose the old maid cared
for that, just so she injured the man
against whom she had conceived an
insane prejudice.
But l wasn't talking of the trials
and tribulations' of the conductors,
but of the mean devices to which some
people resort to cheat the company
out OF nickel, The amount Is Bot