The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-03-10
SHIPPING DETE CI 1 YES y;
THE NOVEL DUTIES OF JOB
BERs' EMPLOYEES.
Mon Mon whose Sole Business 1t 1. to Pre-
vent Theits From Trucky add Adj
dresses From Packag es-A
New Occupation.

while In conversation with his at
torney tae other day the head of one
OF the largest wholesale dry goods
houses in this city had occasion to re-
Ter casually to the various classes Of
men whom his firm found it necessary
to employ, relates the Chicago Herald.
Alter citing statesmen. various kinds
or clerks. credit man. cashier book
keepers ETC., the head OF the firm
added and shipping detectives"
'And what?" asked the attorney.
as though he had misunderstood the
| term. .<p -
Shipping detectives, replied the
| client -
We'll that's new one on mer, r
was also new to the Herald representa-
tive. who was all attention.
'lheres nothing strange about
that said the wholesaler for the
shipping detective is quite new
thlnG. Few houses--only the larger
ones-have cause to employ them,
and the house that does usually keeps
the matter as much OF a secret as the
condition OF its bank account. y +
What are his duties"'
rlnclpally to shadow consign-
ments OF goods from the time they leave
the store until they reach the freight
depot and the railway company be-
comes responsible for them by accept
Ing and receipting for them. :.
"A sort OF watchdog on the team
ster?"
Only In part. You see we shin a
great many small boxes which
frequently contain hundreds OF dollars
worth OF goods such as fine silks
satins. rich trimmings, &c. Often the
wagon on which these boxes leave the
store passes through alleys or narrow
and unfrequented side streets. Ineed
not remind you that there are scores
OF very bold. dexterous thieves in
chicago as we'll as other big cities,
VINO are constantly On the lookout for
opportunities to nip any thing what
ever: that can be turned into money!
Many expensive experiences with
these people have demonstrated that
they keep themselves remarkably we'll
informed as to, the more valuable shin.
ments made by wholesale houses. In
former years it was an almost dailv
occurrence for wholesale houses par
t1cularly those in our line-to have
small boxes of fine goods bodily
taken from the wagons in broad dav-
light, while going the comparatively
small distance necessary to be covered
between store and freight depot. Onlv
few years ago our firm had three
such boxes stolen at a clip from one of
the wagons at 9 o'clock in the after.
noon. while they were being carted
less than four squares. BY a. descrip-
ton which was furnished Of the thieves
by. q .bootblack we caught one OF tho
three bold laddies, and sent him over
the road but we never recovered the
goods, which We're valued at over
So 600. This was hut one of several
such losses. Now we have men who
do little else than keep their ewes on
goods from the moment thew ara
placed on transfer wagons until thew
are safe within the responsibility of
the railroad company. And frequent
ly it keeps them lodging pretty live
ly. for they, of course follow tn
wagons afoot going along the side
walk. and keeping sufficient distance
IN the rear as not to attract attention.
Another duty of the shipping de-
tective-for whom some houses have
a different name--is to prevent as far
as possible, the theft OF consignment
addresses. There are firms doing bus
mess in this and. suppose, other
cities, who employ men to lie in wait
at various times aud places and copy
the addresses on boxes of goods which
other firms are sending out. The OBJ.
ject is plain-namely, to have their
statesmen call on the parties later on
and try to get their trade. The shin.
ping detectives employed by us have
caught several such snealss, but not.
withstanding they are guilty Of plain
unvarnished thieving; yet all we can
possibly hope to do in the matter is 10
drive them away or when we catch
them at it, give them a sound basting.
''Of course they will never reveal
the name OF the firm they are stealing
the addresses for, and this makes #
impossible for the reputable houses to
publicly expose their despicable mas
tors. Such hirelings are usually
blacklisted clerks from other citie,
and they hold their dishonorable iobs
but short time Any one noticing
the loads of boxed goods that are to
be seen upon the principal down town
streets at any hour Of the day will OBJ
serve that as rule the addresses are
not exposed. II they are the boxes
in all probability represent imports
lstead OF exports. A strict following
Il this rule regarding the placing Of
boxes on wagons is enforced by near
ly all the houses and goes far toward
guarding against the class of thieves
last mentioned.
Wild West Love Letter.
1t is clear that the average Indian
ofk he asW,11