Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-10-03
CHECKING BAGGAGE
\ REVOLUTION TAKING PLACE IN
4 MOVING IMPLEMENTS.

why the rasteboard Cheek Il pispiaeins
the Common Erass Difsicaitics 81
Tracing lost baggage Under the Old
Method baggage Frauds.
The DAYS az the brass baggage cheek are
Numbered. Fer the past two years the
uastehoarsl cheek has been gradually crowd
inr il out OF use, until brass checks are
now employees. only for local checking, and
for that purpose solely because each CORR
many has larse stuck of them On hand.
All but three Of the railroads entering this
city still use brass checks fer local business,
but through baggage is checked on the
printed al1 wr;tt,n cards,
Thus an American institution which has
hong been 4 Sougxe az admiration to Earo-
pean visitors is rels.sated 10 an obsolete
custom, The old s. ,Senl was objectionable
for several reasons An Immigrant who
could not speak the English Language might
come ON 10 this city while his baggage
would be checked only to CINCINNATI. This
involved d tedious delay while the hagsa e
was being traced by mail and telegraph
from New York. Again, a busy or absent
minded travelling man might ask for a
CHECK. yalsialia" Il u check should hap
men to be given to Nandalia station, the
man might so on TO pittsburg or Chicago
before discovering thar his baggage was
astray. There was nothing whatever ON the
brass check TO denote whence or by which
line the baggage had bven forwarded. BGt
no,y as soon as he looks at his check he can
see the point to which it was forwarded.
The new paper checks" as they are
i called. are designed to anu do obviate these
difficulties, which have long been night
mare to baggage agents Each road has its
own system Of paSgebuard checks, printed
in different styles and ON different coiorsd
cardboard. When travel between certain
cities is heavy. name of the destination, a.
well rs the originating point, is printed. Ia
some cases the routing is also printed. Bat
on general checks, which may thus ut once
be issued for any place on any railroad in the
United States, blanks are lett for The dcS'
tination and the names OF the connecting
roads over which the baggage is 10 pass.
These checks are numbered cunSecntively
and are kept Tor a limited time after the
baggage has been claimed, when they are
destroyed The check issued to the pas
senger is, therefore. an exact duplicate OF
the strap check, which contains fall and
explicit information, aud missing baggage
can therefore be quickly located by means
OF the details printed OF written in.
The difficulty OF tracing baggage is less
ened in another way. 4 brass check
might Ire received here in the morning,
used to Kansas City at night and sent out
from there tho next day. But paper
check can be used only once.
Baggage agents in large terminal cities
have TO be eternally on guard against
frauds. \ baggage room Is regarded by
many as IA desirable OBJ Get for plumber, and
new schemes To beat IL are being con
stantly evolved. Some years ago man
applied to have a big sample case checked
| to Memphis. When one of the employees
demurred and said that the applicant did
not look like u commercial Traveller, the
man replied that he was maehinist and
that much travelling had broken his chest,
compelling him TO use a strong sample
case. The baggage was accordingly
checked to Memphis, but the rightful
owner appeared in time to prevent the
theft of the sample case, which contained
about 5000 worth of jewelry.
To prevent similar frauds n system Of
''ciaim checks" was devised. Ii transfer
company calls for IA trunk at hotel or pri-
waite residence and the owner is not present,
but will return, a claim check" is left for
him, which is Il duplicate of that ATTACHED!
to the trunk. Ii he has gone to the depot,
the baggage man will not receive the trunk
unless the transfer company accepts Il
claim check from them. Then when a
passenger directs his baggage to he
| checked, he is told TO call at the Office of
the transfer company and get his claim
check" This simple means Of idcntiiica-
| ton has been found to work effectively.
A favorite method of doing crooked work
| at baggage rooms was to steal somewhere II
number of pairs of checks. Then while the
baggageman was looking for the trunk
bearing the number corresponding to that
on the bogus check rendered, the croon
would cleverly remove the strap checA
| from any trunk OF which he desired posses
sion and substitute therefor "a strap check
| from his pocket. Hence it il that all out.
siders are regarded with suspicion in Il bag
gage room, although this plan Of robbery
is no longer practicable with the new paper
| checks"
When asked if, in view Of the develop
ments Of the past few days. it was NOT as
| easy to counterfeit a pasteboarl baggage
check us n railroad ticket. Baggage Agent
William NJ. Steele replied that he thought it
was not.
Each road has different style and DIFF
| ferent color Of check said he, 'and the
matter that is written in must he in the
same handwriting Everything on either
| check must be identical with parallel in
| formal ion on the other, instead Of only the
number and name of the road being re-
| quired to correspond, as under the work
| ings of the old brass check system. Even
| though "a mau had a lot Of blank forms cor
| rectly printed, he would be compelled Ia
| lnApect the baggage he desired To steal.
memorize the number and written int0rma
| ton and then 70 away and prepare his false
check in the identical manner aud haud
| writing indicated on the strap check, Mis-
| takes would very often be made by him
| which would instantly expose his game
| The plan Of substituting prepared strai
| check Is old that II is rarely attempted
successfully almost never, for we arc con.
| tinually on the look out for shn"pers and
suspicious oilers We are at times ver.
busy here, but never so busy that we don Z
keep an eye on every man in the room wbti
is not an employee"
The origin of the paper check dates bacA
| few years to the commencement ut thp
era of railway consolidation, when change
in routiBgs were 50 frequent that the bra !
checks we've fuurd inadequate for the work
st. Louis Globe Democrat
To Save the Tree.
The Baptist brother was passing along By
| the Methodist brothers house in the coun.