Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-01-30
nae srREer cAa sporreR.
He Keep. Tab on the Conductor by Means
Of a Pocket Register.

He Keeps TAB on the Conductor by Means
Of Pocket Register.
There are men who habitually stand on
the rear platform Of street cars. That is
the spotter's position. Professional spot
tiers never give themselves away" by
counting passengers. The spotter carries
n small noiseless register In one OF the
pockets OF his overcont. He Is most likely
TO appear on n car that is to carry n big
load. He takes his place on the rear plat
form and always appears TO be the most
unconcerned man on the car. h first
thing he does Is to glance at the register in
the front Of the car He makes mental
note of the number OF fares that have been
rung up. Every time a passenger gets on
he presses the button Of the little register
In his pocket. lie never appears to be
watching the persons who are getting in
the car, but he must be careful not to miss
one. He rides on tho platform until the
fares OF all the persons who have got on
the car since he took his position have
been collected. His last act before getting
OF Is the mental registration OF the num-
Der Of fares indicated by the register in the
car. II he has another test TO make before
making his report, he will probably stop
under the FIRST electro light, write down
on the blank furnished him the number Of
fares registered when he got on the car
and the number registered when he got
of. He subtracts one from the other n
has before him the number Of fares the
conductor should have registered. Then
he looks at his indicator, and II there is a
discrepancy between his count and the
count the conductor registered he reports
the fact to the company.
A conductor who is discharged is never
accused OF having stolen money from the
company. The Charge is improperly
collecting fares" II is not often that a
conductor IL discharged the first time 1t is
reported to the company hat he II "im-
properly collecting fares" The test Il APP
piled to him frequently, and II 1t is found
that he is habitunlly not ringing up fares
for all the persons who take passage on
his car he Is dismissed. Conductors he
lieve that the means employed by spoilers
are unfair. They say that 1t is often i'm
possible for any man to get all the fares
on II car; that 1t IL an easy matter to get
Rll the fares when "A car is not crowded,
but when 80 or 60 persons board a car
bound up town IL is next to impossible to
collect without an error. Often persons
will get of the car before the conductor
has reached them, and %hampered as he is
by the crowd, they say, he cannot prevent
this. Then persons are getting on and
oil, exchanging seats and doing other
things that mystify the conductor as he
pushes his way through the crowd in
search Of the nickles that are due the com
pany.
Persons who travel regularly on the cars
are sometimes surprised that conductors
do not lose their temper oftener. They
are not permitted to talk back, " no mat
ter how great the proyocation may be,
Recently one Of the old conductors on the
Illinois street line lost his temper, The
next day he lost his position. A woma
got OF his car at Illinois and Washington
streets, She offered him n transfer ticket,
which, he said, had expired.
at cannot be So, u said she, "for | got
this ticket just a few minutes ago"
"Madam, you lie" said the conductor,
who maintained that the woman had re-
ceived the ticket from "A representative Of
the company mt another crossing nearly an
hour earlier. One Of the company's de
teGtives overheard the remark Of the con.
ductor and reported him.-Indianapolis
News.