Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-13
THE SP0TTER SYSTEM.
Car Conductors Are Closely Watched
by Detectives in Chicago.
NO CHANCE TO STEAL MANY FARES.
The Big Clock Dial. Assisted by Host>of
Disguised Spoilers,
KEEPS THE CASH IN THE RIGHTGHANNEL
CORRESPONDENCE OF TIE DISPATCH. !


CHICAGO, July n.-In their efforts to
keep their conductors straight, the two cor
porations by which the street railways Of
Chicago are operated have organized what is
perhaps the largest and most efficient detec-
tive force employed by any private concern in
this country. Their conductors run far into
the hundreds. Their pay is from 50 to 80 40
per day, of about 12 hours work. The re-
eeipts of single car frequently exceed 500
per day on Sundays and holidays, and 1t is
no uncommon occurrence for a conductor to
turn in $50 as the result of days running
on an ordinary business day. The tempta-
tion to appropriate the company's cash is
then very strong, and it is of the utmost
Importance to tine street railway managers
not only to obtain honest men for con-
ductors, but also to keep them honest. De-
| vice after device of the automatic variety
had been tried and discarded, and finally the
large clock-shaped register fastened inside
the car has been adopted as the best thing OF
its kind. But experience of managers here
shows that even this can be beaten, and that
at best it is but partial safeguard against
| theft.
To supply its deficiencies the street rail-
way detective force has been called into ex-
istence. It is made up of young men and
old men, middle-aged men and a fair sprink-
ling of women.
Spoilers Unknown to Each Other.
Its members are not permitted to know
each other. The time of their employment
is determined by their success in concealing
their identity from the conductors whom
they are employed to watch. When they
become known their usefulness is at an end
Their business is to ride with the conductor
as a passenger, count the number of his
passengers, and to watch whether it CORE
spends with the number of fares which he
registers, and, if there is any difference,
whether it is to be attributed to carelessness
in failing to collect fares or to dishonesty,
to report them. 1t is quite interest
ing to observe the workings of this system. A
hundred spies are turned onto the line, each
of whom is supposed to take Is to 20 trips
per day. Boarding the car at any given
point the spotter observes the number on
the register, then he counts the additional
passengers as they get on and watches if the
conductor collects the fare of each and
properly registers it. At the end of the
trip, lodging into saloon or some other
convenient place, he takes out of his pocket
book in which he notes down in columns
the number of the car, the number of the
conductor, the state of the register on
entering the car, the number Of
passengers from that point to the
end of the trip, the state of the register at
the end of the trip, the number of police
men, fremen, employees and other dead
heads, and if a fare is missed the spotter
notes the time and place and description Of
the passenger missed.
How Thieves Are Caught.
If the conductor pockets o fare without
registering it, he notes all the attendant
circumstances, and notes whether in his
opinion it is case of mistake or theft.
Nothing is supposed to escape his argus
eye.
The reports thus made up are mailed
daily to the manager and a clerk carefully
compares them with the record of the trip
as shownsby the conductors report of the
same trip. If there is a discrepancy the
presumption is always in favor Of the hon.
esty of the conductor, but more spoilers are
put upon him, and, if he is dishonest, an
effort is made to have two or more witnesses
to positive act of theft.
Then, and not until then, the conductor
is called into the Office and confronted with
all the evidence of his crookedness and
given chance to explain. If he is not
able to clear himself one of these things
happens: he is either dismissed, prosecuted
or retained for permanent service.
"Our usual plan," remarked manager,
sis to dismiss man. 1t is of no use to
prosecute him in the courts, because such
prosecutions stir up i'll feeling and do no
practical good and besides they result in the
ruin of a man who in other employment
mayprove to be straight enough.
Sinners Given q Chance.
Frequently when a man promises to re-
form We help him, and there are many in
stances in which a man who has been caught
stealing and has been retained has turned
out to be reliable and trusty man. He
knows that his weakness is known; that he
is being watched, and that the slightest
crookedness will result in his discharge, and
that keeps him straight"
The spotter in Chicago receives salary
of from S14 to $40 per week, according to
his efficiency. When discovered on one
line he is transferred to another section of
the city; when discovered by one conductor
he is put on work which will not bring him
into contact with that conductor. Easy as
his employment seems, it requires nerve
and courage, and sometimes involves him
in serious difficulty. A spotter who re-
ported Southside cable conductor once found
himself strung up to lamppost by
crowd of the conductors unknown friends,
and there have been numerous instances in
which the fidelity of the spotter to his en-
ployer has made him the victim of a mid