Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-25
Not the Regulars" but a Crowd of
"F1oaters."
THEY TURN UP WITH THE Big CROWDS
How They Seek to Ensnare the
Unwary Traveller.
A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS

itinerant ticket brokers, or "scalpers" as
they are more Familiarity known. On Thurs
day last a dozen or more of them fell upon
the town and more came that night, and
more are still coming. AS result Pennsyl-
vania avenue, from 1-2 to 9th streets on
the north side, sometimes called Railroad
row, is blaze of color and a babel Of
sounds. This is a queer fraternity that is
now occupying every available inch of
space in these two blocks, and buying
everything In sight in the form of return
tickets to every point of the compass. AL
most every establishment thus temporarily
located has runner in front of the door
bawling forth the wares that are to be
found inside at the top of a voice made
hcarse by The fogs of Coney Island, the
chill of Chicago, the smoke of Pittsburg and
the dust of the far west. Within the impro-
Vised shops sit shrewd managers, or pro-
prietors, eager for bargains, but more eager
for patronage. Seldom is anything allowed
to escape that ever enters the door. The
runners outside have all the tact Of Bax-
ter street ''pulers in" and nab the passing
gentry with a muscular grip. They are not
always gentle with their captures, but fall
Ing to convince the open -mouthed country
n en- that he really wants to go somewhere
that he never thought Of they persuade
him to enter the doors under pretext of
showing him the line of jewelry or line of
goods that are in the stock only of their
Regular Scnipers Object.
The regular scalpers in this part of town
are permanently established, ana well
known to the citizens Of Washington. As a
rule, their offices have a quiet, businesslike
appearance, Indicative OF good times and
fair profits. Ordinarily such an occasion as
the Pythian encampment would be a ripe,
rich harvest for them, for, under the regu-
lations of their two established associations,
.ney divide up the county into territories
that are not allowed TO become overcrowded
and cannot be. trespassed upon by other
members OF the same association without
severe penalties Therefore, the coming Of
the floating brokers Is a serious hardship.
and the regularly are loud In their: den an
Citations Of the transient dealers in trip
slips. These men come here probably from
Cleveland. and perhaps from Asbury Park.
gathering. Cleveland has offered the best
field for some weeks past. on account of
the convention Of Endeavorers. The crowd
Will doubtless go from here to Pittsburg to
pick up coupons that float into town with
the Grand Army encampment. Thus they
go from one city to another, from west to
east. from north to south. using their own
cheap stock" as they call their tickets, to
secure transportation for themselves
There Is no license required of the local
ticket brokers, and thus these interlopers
as the regular men are calling them, are
put to no more expense than the rental Of
their rooms and the hire Of their assist
ants. The latter are either partners or
regular men whom they carry with them
The item of rent, however. is a heavy one
as a Star reporter was informed yesterday
afternoon. and doubtless the merchants in
the vicinity Of the railroad stations are
making very pretty penny out of this
business. In some cases these men are be-
Ing charged $40 day for window.
Number Of FlOaters.
At o'clock yesterday afternoon there
were two Of these temporary establish
ments on the north side of Pennsylvania
avenue, between I'd and Sd streets, four be-
tween Sd and 1-2 eleven from II 1-2 to
9th and four on each side Of the avenue be-
tween 9Th and Ith making twenty-five in
all. This was In addition to the regular
offices. The newcomers are to be distin-
guished by the lack Of fixed signs and by
the generally flaming character Of their ad-
vertisements. These usually take the form
Of easels, on which rest towering stacks of
l,ames of cities, printed or painted on card
board of brilliant coIors, usually the Py-
THAN hues of red, blue and yellow. As
result this part OF the avenue has taken
on the Appearance of a fattened rainbow,
quite independent of the gorgeous decora-
tons that ffutter above in honor of the
knights.
In addition to these ear marks. the fioater
may be known by the fact that he usually
occupies very small portion of the inte-
rior of the store, while his signs may en-
tirely cover the front. He is to be found
everywhere In drug stores, tailor shops
saloons, book stores. cigar stores and even
in Railways. One establishment has pre-
empted the street end of ar adjoiling
window of bar room, and the tickets
nestle in close communion with the bottles.
The runners OF the temporary places are
about five times as energetic and noisy as
the attaches of the legitimate concerns. for
they are old hands ir the business and can
pick out ticket buyer half block away.
What n CIRCULAR Says.
There is no erd to tie antagonism be-
tween these folks and the regular brokers
One of the latter. a member of the Ameri-
can Association and a leading broker in
this city. said to a Star reporter yesterday
afternoon: II wish there was some way to
set these people out of town. They come
from noW.SA-e; they belong nowhere. and
they injure our reputation as well as our
business. wish That the laws of the Dis
trict required US to pay i.csnse. A Eca,d
pay mine most gladly for 1t woui1 grant IT.
the regular people some protection against
these fakirs. The lay should provide that
no license should be issued to a broker un-
less he had resided In the city for, say six
months prior TO the issuance of the license
The fee should be high enough to discour-
age these people from establishing them
selves. AS II is. there is absolutely no way
10 get TlQ Oh tneIn nor TO prevent their
coming. No one knows them in a business
sense. and they are wholly Irresponsible
They are up to all sorts of sharp practices
and do not hesitate to resort to any expe-
dent to sell a ticket, whether it is good for
anything or not. For instance, they will
pretend to sell you a ticket at what seems
a fair rate to a point which they say is
only little distance from where you want
to go. When you get to the end Of the
ticket, you find that you are several hun
died miles from your destination, and will
have to pay an additional fare that brings
the total up to, IL not beyond. the regular
rates. They catch many a customer by
this trick, confusing the buyer by indistinct
reference to places and distances.
A Bogus Draft Trick.
Another of their tricks is to pretend to
sell you rebate drafts for unused portions
of the ticket which you purchase This
trick was worked very extensively during
the encampment Of the Grand Army last
year, when these f1oaters struck town in
a rather smaller number than this year
The draft Is usually made On some person
who does not exist, or who is not known in
the town on which II is drawn. 1 remember
hearing Of one case last year of an old SOL
der buying such a draft on Ben Harrison
IN radiauap"ns. OF course. the ex-Presi-