Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1892-02-13
SHIPPING DETECTIVES
Men Whose Sole Business It L. to
Prevent Thefts. u
They Shadow Consignments OF Goods
from the Time Thy Leave the
Store Until They Reach tho
Depot.

While in conversation with his at
.torney the other day the head of one OF
the largest wholesale dry goods houses
in the city had occasion to refer casu-
ally to the various classes OF men
whom his firm found it necessary to
employ, says the Chicago Herald.
After citing statesmen, various kinds OF
clerks. credit man, cashier, book
keepers. etc, the head of the firm add
ed, land shipping detectives"
.And what?" asked the attorney, as
though he had misunderstood the term.
shipping detectives" replied the
client.
swell, that's new one on mel" It
was also new to the Herald representa-
tive, who was all attention.
There's nothing strange about that, "
said the wholesaler, ''for the shipping
detective is quite a new thing. Few
houses-only the larger ones-have
cause to employ them, and the house
that does usually keeps the matter as
much of secret as the condition of it's
bank account"
''What are his dutNs?"
principally to shadow consignments
of goods from the time they leave the
store until they reach the freight depot
and the railway company becomes re-
sponsible for them by accepting and re-
ceipting for them"
"a sort of watchdog on the team
ster?''
'sOnly in part. You see we ship a
great many small boxes which fire.
quently contain hundreds of dollars
worth of goods, such as fine silks,
satins. rich trimmings, etc. Often the
wagon on which these boxes leave the
store passes through alleys or narrow
and unfrequented side streets. ! need
not remind you that there are scores of
of very bold. dexterous thieves in Chi
cago, as well as other big cities, who
are constantly on the lookout for OPP
portunitles to nip anything whatever
that can be turned into money. Many
expensive experiences with these peo-
pie have demonstrated that they keep
themselves remarkably well informed
as to the more valuable shipments made
by wholesale houses. In former years
it was an almost daily occurrence for
wholesale houses-particularl those in
our line-to have small boxes of fine
goods boldly taken from the wagons in
broad daylight while going the COM
paratively small distance necessary
to be covered between store and freight
depot. Only few years ago our firm had
three such boxes stolen at a clip from
of of fyrn II in ho
afternoon, while they were being carted
less than four squares. BY descrip-
ton which was furnished of the thieves
by a bootblack we caught one of the
three bold laddies and sent him over
the road, but we never recovered the
goods, which were valued at over three
thousand dollars. This was but one Of
several such losses. Now we have men
that do little else than keep their eye
on goods from the moment they are
placed on the transfer wagons until
they are safe within the responsibility
of the railroad company. And frequent
" it keeps them lodging very lively,
for they, of course, follow the wagons
afoot, going along the sidewalk, and
keeping sufficient distance in the rear
so as not to attract attention.
Another duty of the shipping de-
tective-for whom some houses have a
different name-is to prevent, so far as
possible, the theft of consignment adj
dresses. There are firms doing bust
ness in this and, | suppose, other cities,
who employ men to lay in wait at vari-
Gus times and places and copy the adj
dresses on boxes of goods which other
Arms are sending out The object Is
plain, namely, to have their statesmen
call on the parties later on and try to
get their trade. The shipping detec-
tives employed by us have caught
several such sneaks, but notwithstand-
ing they are guilty of plain unvarnished
thieving, yet all we can possibly hope
to do in the matter is to drive them
away, or, when we catch them at it,
give them sound basting. OF course
they will never reveal the name of the
firm they are stealing the addresses for,
and this makes it impossible for the rep
utable houses to publicly expose their
despicable masters. Such hlrelings are
usually blacklisted clerks from other
cities and they hold their dishonorable
jobs but short time. Anyone MOTTO
ing the loads of boxed goods thai are to
be seen upon the principal downtown
streets at any hour of the day will OBJ
serve that as a rule the addresses are
not exposed. If they are, the boxes in
all probability represent imports in
stead of exports. strict following of
this rule regarding the placing of
boxes on wagons is enforced by nearly
Ill the houses and goes far toward
guarding against the class of thieves
last mentioned"
A Georgia Story.
Ben Pierce, colored, while fishing In