The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-18
THEY BEAT THE METER.
Clever Swindfers Who Found a Way
to Lessen Their Gas Bills.
Detroit Free Press n

A It IGG GTcSS.
a very novel and sure way of reducing gas
bills was recently discovered by the Detroit
Gas Company, which resulted, yesterday. in
warrants being issued for Francis A. Mer-
rift, proprietor of the Hotel Congress. and
William Herbert, a practical gas man, on
the charge of consulting to defraud the
company out of 100000 cubic feet of gas
worth 81 per one thousand feet. The arrests
were made by. detectives Mcdonnell and
eral days, as the officers were looking for
Harry Stoddard, WHO'S charged with the
same oIfense, but he got word of his in
Just how much the gas company has lost
IS not .nown and will not be FOR several
meters in the city will have to be made be-
1ore that fact can be ascertained. So far
six or seven which have been fixed. are
known to the company. With the exeant;an
OF the meter in the Hotel Congress. which
Is made of tin. they are all of iron and can
De tempered with much easier. The officials
or the gas company saw that Merritt was
caught partially on account of the great re-
ruary. In January it amounted to s4 and
the following month it had fallen to $40. so. a
remarkable reduction. Wnen- the inspector
Went into the cellar he found that the face
OF the meter had been turned towards the
wall, which is always a pretty good evidence
In order to fix a tin meter so that if
will not register the correct amount of gas
used, the top has to be removed and the
ratchet, which only allows the meter to
register forward. taken out. This would
make no material difference until the meter
anu ttC -Ailcl dIQ outlet
pipes reversed. The. gas theel forces the
meter to register the wrong way, and as the
pointer is forced back the amount of gas
used does not show.
The scheme generally in use is not to
allow the meter to register the first part
of the month and then to turn it around
again SO that the inspector will find every
thing all right when he comes. In some
way a slip was made at the Hotel Congress
as the Inspector dropped in unawares. He
fixed the meter in its right position and re-
ported the facts to the office. Nothing was
done TOr a few daVS Ehan tho inSnootnr
made a special visit to the hotel and he
found that the meter had been changed
and examined and the fraud discovered.
The top had been reprinted SO that the
fresh solder would not show and the
ratchet was missing.
The case was reported to the police and
detectives Mcdonnell and Lally were as
signed to the case. They found that the
meter had been fixed on Sunday. Feb. 3.
The meter is not in the hotel building, but
in the cellar of the store next door, and when
the scheme was started some way had to be
effected so that the work could be done
without attracting any notice. Merritt made
arrangements with one of the employees of
the store to come down on that day and let
him in. Herbert went in with him, having
ing at the meter. He was not told any
thing about what was being done and
thought everything was all right, as Her
bert had one of the gas company's badges
on. A warrant was issued for the men and
Herbert was caught before he got wind of
the matter. Merritt was not supposed TO
know anything about the job, hut he was
initiated last night, when detectives McDon-
nell and Lally placed him under arrest.
Since the discovery the company has
begun an investigation to ascertain how
much of a loser it is and how many meters
have been tempered. The result
is that six tin meters have
been substituted for iron meters. OBJ
~jections have been met with, but 1t was no
use. All that is necessary to fix an iron
meter is to take a fine drill and bore a few
holes through the diaphragm, which allows
the gas to leak through witout being reg
istered. 1T is not known how much them en-
made by the scheme, but they evidently had
a good business. The number of meters
investigation is completed. The latter will
cost a large sum of money in addition to
the amount already lost
Merritt is about forty-five years old and
he has n been running the hotel since
last fall. His wife runs a boarding house
in another part of the city, and she bears
an excellent reputation. He has been away
from the city for a long time.
Herbert is about thirty-five years old and
he was formerly in the employ of the old
natural gas company. When the gas com-
panies consolidated he was thrown out Of
employment. He has a thorough knowl-
edge of all kinds of meters, as he used to
work in the shop where they were manu-
featured. He also had a fine kit of tools
and could work very fast. The police be-
lieve that it was their intention to do a
wholesale business By soliciting trade where
ever they could and offering TO keep the
meter back for so much a month.
fhe country. but it has been worked before
a. IT, rest md With C1socaSG