The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-11-20
SWINDLING THE RAILROADS.
BIG ISSUE OF COUNTERPART 1IcK-
ETs PUr ON THE Marker

They Are Exactly Like sepuins Tickets
Over 100000 Of Them Accepted In =
Month by Roads Betwse. Chicago snd
New HorE-An Equal Amount Taken
from Passengers, who Smart tor PIu-
ninE Their Faith 90 scnIpers In Chicago.
CHICAGO. Nov. 1a.-Coun. rfeit railroad tick
| cts to the am cunt Of over $lO0.0OO have boon
| honored in the last four weeks by the Balti-
more X OhiS Erie. Pittsburgh and Western.
| Nickls Plate. and other roads. There was abb
| solutely nothing on the face OF the tickets to
| indicate that they were counterfeit They
were accepted without question by conductors.
passed readily by the ticket counters. and
were entered as OF legal issue by the various
ticket auditors The first intimation OF
crookedness cropped out in tho auditors
office OF one OF the uctimized lines nearly
three weeks ago. In checking the used tick cts
from the original record two tickets Of the
same form number were found. The auditor
satisfied himself that both tickets wero genu-
inc and sent a note to his printer ecorinR him
severely for his carsessness. The printer ap-
peared In person with an Indignant denial Of
the charge, but whom the two tickets were
shown to him was compelled to acknowledge
that the error was made in his Office.
The next day the ticket auditor discovered
tions. There seemed no possibility Of the
tickets being counterfeit. They were exact
duplicates. Tho next day nearly 200 dupi-
Gated tickets appeared In the collections. and
q panic reigned in the auditing department.
Each Of the tickets read from Chicago to New
York, and was worth S18 The one days coll
lections showed that the company had hon.
ored at least 5000 worth Of tickets for which
1t had not received cent OF revenue.
Experts were i'm mediately called in. At the
end OF three days. during which over 500 more
duplicated tickets were found in the auditors
Office. one OF the experts declared that the
duplication was a counterfeit. With the aid of
a powerful microscope he had at last discov-
cred q minute imperfection in a small letter
20" in the duplicated tickets. In all other
respects the jobs were exactly alike The
paper. ink. type. and presswork could lot have
been more alike 4 both job. had been printed
consecutively. with exactly the same materials.
same experience. In each case the tickets were
passed without question Ivy all the handlers.
numbering appeared Zach OF the roads
promptly issued minute Instructions to it's
eSndnetoTss to take up all the counterfeit
Each conductor was told how to recognize
roads named took up over 800 OF them Tho
passengers were natural ly indignant. but
had bought tho ticket OF a Chicago scalper.
Nine out OF ten OF the passengers, who made
written statements Of the circumstances de-
clared that they had bought tho tickets Of n
notorious scalper doing business on Clark
street The remainder were bought in various
other Offices
With the information thus obtained. the VIC
tlmiZed roads engaged the services OF detec-
tive agency and began the work of running
down the countcrfeiterS. The ends OF Justice
would be perverted BY publishing all the evil
dence they have obtained. 1t will be presented
to the Grand jury Up to date the roads have
expended over al, ,-yO in securing proof which
1t Is confidently believed will land tho crimi-
nails In the penitentiary for long terms.
There is no means OF knowing how many
tickets were sold 10y the counterf"it' -. rhe
railroads now have In their pO-s"-~iru about
S2OO.OOO worth. more than half OF whirh were
hOnored for TRANSFORMATION. There |, no fear
OF the roads losing anything more on the
present issue OF counterieits. but the public
at every point IN the West where scRlpers have
offices. dozen or moro were sold in Chicago
day before yesterday. and dishOnOr ed for pas
sage on east-bound trains YESTERDAY
In many cases the purchase OF tho tick cts
has work oil great hardship to passengera
In aOt a few cases they did not have enough
money to pay the cash fares demanded by the
conductors when they took up the counterfeit
tickets. ON one train there were eighty-three
holders OF counterfeit tick cts. and thirty-soyep
were compelled to leave the train for non-puY.
ment Of passage,