Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-05-03
BOGUS RAILROAD TICKETS,
Recent Methods of Foiling the Counter
i2ltc5s.


panies, with simplicity IN the manu-
facture and design Of their tickets, af-
ford a broad, fair target for the shafts
of the forEer Their tickets are printed
on the commeueSt of paper, or even
cardboard ohtainable by anybody and
everybody, from any and every paper
house in large city The method and
design Of printing are OF the simplest
and can be initiated by a man who
would throw up his hands in despair
at the bare idea of initiating the de
sign Of dollar bill In very many
eases, too, the ticket clerk fills out with
pen and ink, in blank space left for
the purpose, the name of the station
to which the buyer of the ticket is en-
titled to be carried Seeing that there
is nothing in the nature of the paper
or in its manufacture to betray the
use of chemicals, it is obviously the
easiest thing in the world for dis
honest purchaser chemically 70 delete
the ticket clerks entry, and. by writing
the name of different station in the
blank space enhance the value of his
ticket by several dollars. The different
colors in which the various tickets are
printed add little or no difficulty to
the task of the counterfeiter, used rs
they are on the commonest kinds of
paper and cardboard
With so many ticket offices in every
city of the country working separately
from the railroad company whose tick
cts they sell; with so many ticket
agents, or ticket scalpers." as they
are less politely called, the counter
feiter finds that to shove his queer, "
rs coin conterfeiter talks of putting
his bad money into circulation. is an
easy affair, indeed. He sells his work
to the 'scalper' Mt a nominal rate.
The "scalper,' in some cases. it is to
be feared, knowing perfectly well
what sort of stuff he is handling, claps
on a price a fraction less than the
railroads regular fare, and resells the
bogus ticket to the innocent customer.
happy at saving % cents on a S.
purchase
There are a few lines which have
had their eyes open TO that fact for
the last two years. They have, with
out altering the external appearance
Of their tickets i'm any way, by esing
a peculiar manufacture of paper. put
a spoke into the wheel of the ticket
counterfeiters that has seriously i'm
peded, and threatened altogether to
stop its locomotion 1t will not be a
very long time, in all probability. be-
fore all the great lines in the country
follow their lead and, by the usage of
a paper for their tickets that defies
imitation, put an end to such sys-
TEN or robbery as allows a leakage Of
100000 in a single year to appear on
the records Of as hard headed a lot of
business men as exists anywhere.
The paper which the best Judges OF
such matters say is calculated to fulfil
this purpose is safety paper. Printed
in three colors-pink, blue and orange
it is. in its original state, ordinary writ
ing paper. BY means of a very eX-
pensiye process, it is given an elabor-
ate and distinctive roll surface.
The main safeguard of the paper
from imitation lies i'm the surface
marks" put on the paper by a patent
process when the ink is on Unlike 4
water-mark, these marks are darker
than the paper itself. being on the SUI,
face and not inserted They show on
both sides Of the paper with equal
clea1neSs These surface marks. which
stand out with such bOldneSS that the
most cursory examination of either
side Of the paper suiticeS to disclose
them the inventor asserts, cannot be
Initiated, the expensive process Of their
manufacture being an absolute secret
The insertion by the ticket clerk in
pen and ink on a ticket made Of this
paper of the station 10 which the
passenger purchased his fare cannot
be deleted OF changed. The ink is
absorbed into the paper and becomes
part Of its color Amy chemicals ap-
piled to IL would inevitably betray
5heir use by marking the paper in a
manner that would he obviOus even to
the most careless or short-sghted Of
ticket collectors. For many years this
same safety paper has, thanks to its
sensitveneSs to chemicals and its stub
born retention of the ink marks made
on it, i'm The shape Of checks, foiled
the attempts Of many iorger to
change the amount Of the sums origin.
ally inscribed There is no d)ubt that
it will do as much for the railroad man
as it has proved itself able to do for
the banker.
one most important factor regarding
the paper is that none win be sold in
the open market Its sale will be eN.
clusiyely confined to the six or eight
firms that print all the railway tickets
used in the United States.
such a limitation Of the sale practi-
cally puts fl out Of the power Of the
power of the comterfeiter to purchase
the kind Of paper absolutely necessary
for his fraudulent purposes, SO its in
ventor. pointing TO it's record as a me-
dunn for checks, confidently asserts.
In fact 1t seems quite on the cards
that, in face Of a paper used for tick
cts which he viii find almost impossi.
bic to initiate and certainly impossible