The semi-weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1890-1891, 1890-12-10
A FAIR FARE SPOTTER,
THE WAY A WOMAN DETECTS DIS
HONEST CAR CONDUCTORS.

She Has IA Remarkable Memory for Num-
bers-sle Always Pays Her Fare and
Rides with Different Men-The Way
Collectors of Fares Can Cheat.
met a female spotter and was sur
prised to learn to what HI extent this
system Of espionage is carried Oh by the
principal horse car lines in the city. The
young woman detective with whom l
came in contact was an exceedingly pre-
possessing looking girl, quietly dressed
in u gray cloth gown, with small round
hat to match.
"Oh, the queer things I see and the
queer things l do" she quoted laugh
ingly, with a pretty gesture Of perplex-
ity. "My varied experiences would fill
a good sized volume. But come up to
my rooms while l talk. My hours are
from II to 4, so as it is now 8 o'clock I
am at liberty until tomorrow morning"
She led the way up to a small flat in
West Fifty-sixth street, furnished in a
dainty, Inexpensive manner, with evil
dences of a refined mind and cultivated
taste.
''There's only my mother, myself and
me big cat" she explained, and a jolly
looking little dumping Of a woman
came forward to greet us. She was evil
IDENTIFY an ardent admirer of her daugh-
ter's prowess and capabilities.
DANGER OF DISCOVERY.
"We sit here and laugh by the hour
after l get home over my days advent
ures-don't we, mother?" she ratified on.
"Do you find it tedious OF mind the
position it places you in!"
"Why, not Il bit. I've become SO used
to it now. Let me see, it's three years
since l first began, and I haven't been
found out yet. OF course it requires a
great deal of tact and watchfulness to
be able to go over the same road day
after day and not be suspected by the
different conductors, but I am very care
full not to get on the same car more than
once a day, though occasionally, if |
take, say, car 40 down in the morning l
can board the same one coming back at
night, thus giving the impression that I
have been down town to business all
day"
She said she made a point never to
start ut the beginning of the road nor to
end at the terminus.
81 have been engaged in this work SO
long now" she continued, ''that l can
tell at a distance whether my right car
Is coming or whether I have hnan 81 pas
senser Qua it urlCe before that day."
The road officials always employ men
as spoilers during the early morning
hours and later in the afternoon, the
traffic during those portions of the day
being greater than at any other times,
but in respect to the danger of discovery
the intermediate hours, when tine car
takes on comparatively few passengers,
are really the most risky.
care you an expertY
well, yes, they do call me an expert,
but ] was dreadfully nervou at first and
painfully conscious. Every time the
conductor looked at me / expected to see
him walk up, put his hand on my Shout
der and tell me that he knew just what
| was there for, but this feeling gradu-
ally wore off until now I can look one
| square in the face and hand him my fare
without even a culver of tho eyelids."
DUTIES OF A sPOTTER.
What are you obliged to do?"
Sin the first place, l must take the
conductors number, and the number Of
the car. Naturally il l ride any dis
tance these can be easily remembered
without the aid ofpencil Or paper. Then
the passengers rluat be counted as they
come in. At the bayilaing of my career
| pursued quite Il neat idea of turning
ver a leaf of the book l was pretend
ing to read on the occasion of every
fresh arrival; this action appeared nat
ural and conveyed the idea that l was
carelessly scanning the contents. but as
time passed on l found | could rely on
my memory mor and more, until now l
have no difficulty whatever in retaining
large numbers in my head for any length
of time"
The fair spotter went on to. say that
there are always several spoilers on one
line, and each one takes a turn at every
conductor in rotation. It would never
do to stick to n during his entire trip,
as he would soon find out the game; so
when n spotter, FOR instance, watches
him from Fourteenth to Thirtieth street
and then gets off another spotter takes
his place within u radius Of q few
blocks.
eff / am not mistaken" she continued,
II think there were eight discharged
through my investigation during the
first six months of my work, but whether
it is due to their gradually becoming
aware that they are being constantly
and closely watched or not, there is Ger
tainly 100 per cent. less cheating nov
than twoeyears ago Of the eight dis
charges which l just mentioned five
were for cheating, o. knocking down,
as they call it; II for impudence to a
lady passenger, nj for drunkenness and
the last for throwing a newsboy off the
car under the wheels of a heavy cart
and nearly causing his death"
sis it easy for conductors to defraud
the company
"You can have no idea how easy it is
for these men to cheat" she replied;
''for instance, at the Grand Central
depot, or vt big shopping points, such
lis Fourteenth or Twenty-third street
ut least a dozen or more will crowd into
the car at once. What more easy thar
for the conductor to knock off a couple
of fares? 1t only requires "a second and
it takes Il very smart person to detec,
them sometimes."-New York journal
A Great Discovery.
The problem on How to marry OF