Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-10
HITTING THE PIPE.
1t Was a Gas Main, but It Brought
Revenue to a Woman.
HAD A CORPORATION OF HER OWN.
Prices Kept Pace With Every Advance
Made by the Parent Company.
ALL WAS RUINED BY HER TEMPER

To gain greatness one must be a special
ist in these stirring times. Success depends
upon answering adherence to one process
or method. The ordinary must be left for
the herd, and the new and attractive must
be chosen.
These facts are recognized even among
those who are not particular whose property
they handle. The bank robber will no
longer stoop to rifle even the home of a
wealthy man where only little silverware.
watch and some jewelry are all that can
possibly be a reward for his labors. That
is left to the ordinary burglar, while he de-
votes himself to his one particular branch
of the art of thievery, and the development
of new and catching schemes.
In this woman, too, has her place, and
for downright ingenuity an Allegheny y
matron takes the cream, and does not leave
even very mach of the skim milk. Her
idea was new and startling. She ran a
natural gas company, all her own. 1t was
just like any other corporation. Her prices
futtered up as regularly as those of the
larger companies, and she raked in big
dividends.
Selling Gas She Didn't Pay For.
The secret of her success was that she did
not pay for the precious fuel she sold. She
did not believe she was stealing IL, either,
for it came to her of its own accord through
a street main. She was simply "hitting the
pipe" ins style that was lucrative, if not
oriental.
This woman lived on Beaver avenue.
hr1k H.
Heating Company refused to give out, be-
cause it expects her to settle the case. The
story, however, is that this. woman took gas
from the Allegheny Heating Company on
contract for her own house, and consequently
there was no tell-tale meter. She then ran
line OF pipe from her house to a house in
the rear and supplied half dozen fires.
For year and a half she has been sue
cessfully conducting this systematic rob-
berry. She did business in business-like
manner, and assured the people she supplied
thatshe had contract with the company,
and they would have to purchase from her
or use coal. She kept pace with all the i'm
provements, and told her customers they
ought to put in gas-saying appliances, as
the fuel was growing scarce. She empha-
sized this argument by making several bal
loon ascensions in prices as the parent COM
pany advanced the rates.
A Flaw in an Excellent System.
Each month, as her patrons paid up. she
gave regular receipts, and that was the
greatest flaw in all her excellent system.
Like other monopolists, she was burdened
with complaints when the fuel failed to
respond All these she skillfully parried,
until her temper caused her downfall. Like
many other magDates, she finally aggregated
a huge idea of her own Importance, and
when an unusually hard complaint was
made, few days ago, she declared she
would turn off the supply. This awakened
suspicion that the main Office might have
something to say in the matter, and when
inquiry was made there the officials at once
realized the game that was being worked on
them.
One of the inspectors for the Allegheny
Heating Company at once honored the lady
with call. When she was asked about the
houses in the rear she said she did not be-
iieve they used gas. The inspector be-
lieved this until he found the connecting
pipe from the company's main and then saw
bright gas fires burning in the rear build
ing-it being day when there happened to
be some gas.
The woman who conceived this brilliant
scheme was game, however, to the last.
She admitted taking the gas, but calmly
said she had sold her house, and they could
not collect anything.
The next surprise was in Alderman
Braun's Office, when the Allegheny Heat
ing Company had the woman arrested on a
charge of larceny. She was confronted with
her patrons and.the receipts she had signed.
Then she weakened, and when she found
she could be convicted OF stealing gas, she
concluded she would pay the bill, and allow
her corporation to 60 into liquidation OBJ
scurity