San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-07-09
LIFE or A "SPoTTER."

Denver Sun,
A friend of mine back East is super
indsnt of street railway, and 1 re
membered his telling me of employ
ing Counters" he called them, but
''spotter" Is what they are generally
called by the men.
AS it was an absolute necessity fol
me to do something, called upon
the superintend of one Of the Denver
liaes and asked for the p!ace.:I didn't
fancy playing spy any more than you
would, but have since concluded that
1t is no more of q disgrace to protect
the interests of corporation in this
way than it is in any other. 1 dis.
covered that the men who are pecu.
liar, bitter,,against "spotters are the
very ones who would steal the com.
pauy blind if they had the opportu.
nifty and knew that there was no sys
tenn of surveillance.
1 also found that the men who do
their work thoroughly and honestly
do not care for "spotters" In the least.
/ may also add that q great many OF
the men think they are entitled to
,"knock down" occasionally as the
rate of wages paid is not two munifi.
cent and they think that the company
expects them to exc out their salaries
in this way. Probably if the wages
were higher there would not be so
much temptation, but at the same
time, some men are naturally disho.
nest. 49,.
The Superintendent said that he
thought that I would do; and gave
me my instructions. He gave me
some blanks to make my reports on
and told me that if 1 should ever
meet him anywhere that l must
know him under any circumstances.
NV duties were simple, but 1 found
that it takes q great deal of ingenuity
to get the number of the car, the
mum Der of the conductor the number
of passengers on the car and the
number registered.
To make some excuse tor my riding
so often, got an agency for watch
club and tried to sell them to the
conductors. l took orders for one
once in o while, which paid me 8
little better for my days work. In
this way in the evening L could get a
conductor to talk to me so that /
might catch his number. L found q
great many dishonest men and also
a great many careless ones. 1t was
my duty to report all discrepancies
between the number Of passengers
riding and the number rung up. l
paid my fair IN cash, which was re.
funded to me when / drew my pay,
as shown by my report, which were
all sent in by mail.
1t was also my duty to report all
cases OF negligence which came under
NV observation, and when / made
bad report on q man at the office he
got q mark after his name, and when
he got enough marks he was dischar-
ged.
was always very careful about re-
porting man until l was perfectly
sure that he was doing wrong, for |
know that great injustice is often done
in this way, and there is no redress,
as the conductor can not be confron-
ted by his accuser. I have known on
SUNDAYS and at times when travel
was very heavy conductor to knock
down 81 Ola trip.
The conductors do not always make
their perquisites from the company,
but the greatest part is made in max
ing change for careless people. A
sharp conductor soon makes q note of
the absent minded man, and will give
him a change for garter when half
dollar is given. All these little tricks,
when cleverly done, do not put the
conductor down as a confidence man,
for If his attent ton is called to the
error he very promptly apologies and
makes it right.
A favorite trick of the willy Icons"
is to smash the register, so that for
that trip, and perhaps for several sub
seuueut ones, he may knock down to
his hearts content, there being no
record kept. One clever way Of doing
it came to my notice one day. The
conductor induced q boy who was
carrying q base ball bat to paraliZe
the indicator and made zoe by the
ruse by neglecting to ring up another
fare.
The transfer system also was q
source of revenue to the scheming
employees. By simply trading with a
man on another line and substituting
these transfers for the cash taken in
q vast amount was thus taken from
the company. The"Jack -in-th o. box''
system of transfer now prevents this
fraud, and besides, the conductor now
maks returns for each trip instead oil
at the end of the day.
I don't think that the boys ever
spotted me as q "spotter," although
some of the amateur detectives EN-
ployed were dead easy marks
There was a near sighted chap who
went up to look at the register every
trip and would enumerate the passen
gers with his finger after the fashion
of children counting out" to see who
is 'ftn in q game of tag. He took {
q crowded car for Elitch's one Sunday
and the return trip some one had de
anrn Tod hi m with q tao uSnnttar. ~