Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1896-09-17
THE SLIP READERS.
ALERT MEN WHO LIVE BY THE
MISFORTUNE OF OTHERS.
ALWAYS on THE LOOKOUT AT POLICE
HEADQUARTERS AND KNOW HOW
TO ACT UPON INFORMATION.


The policemen OF TINS city hold con
spicunus place among the working forces
OF undertakes Insurance. companies doc
tors and half doom other Professions.
Not day passes but thst many l"iceiheh
assist certain professions In business
way. although they o. tae F1sA 2H'pttu-
tarily and IN the ds-,'t HE Il ttfe.T catt
\ the central fii5r+' + lice In v uihe'-=
~ street, down IN the aa7 're'1f IN that
part OF The butliiuR :" herr the otlEA 81 tel
egruph INSTRUMENTS l. IL" only 'uild To
D. ht4ru DAY ai'3 night thrrr l. IA curious
little ru! tie $40 sssHzs.a! Il i sElsii an nlIt
OF the WAY l.l.,-e t.z.,t ieI>a!i might 70
thHtH.sh the ~; htf..stes al! ilt.t,, 'er q
times without coming ui-aH It "orr -
not much h 50 ehsH when you d. ma IL
but t1erc is II" department In The bulldlng
"Ilich forms the starting pace Tor mon
actiN!ty than this lizzie spot. 1t i scarcely
more than feet sS!de, iHeiosed on Two
sides by dirty walls and GA the third
ny a partition, half Of which Is OF glass
Beyond this Partition there arr two wires,
strung Close IL thu glass, ana on tht~''
wires, :" that they can ec seen from the
hallway, are always pinned nunler al
slips of paper II Is these slips oil paper
that bring people II the Glngy halfway and
that have made the place familiar to thou
sands these many years
When sisht-eer goes through police
headquar;ers. X he IS taken into the tele-
graph room, his guide may casually point
to these bits OF paper. IL he does he Will
merely say:
And those are tho slips
slips the visitor repeats And the
happens Throughout the city and a police
man makes report to his station, 1t Is
photographed ~ once 10 headq uarters, and u
slip Of the occurrence Is posted there in
the window. Ten chances 10 enc the
visitor never asks anything more about
the slips lie listens while his guide tells
him that there ARE seven telegraph upcr-
ators constantly on duty, that at least
1000 messages day are received and sent
10 and from the Various Precinct stations,
but the snip box doesn t seefn 10 him to
play an important part in these matters.
And YET It does, FOR there arc hall n hun
dre,d Is>ople who make living by merely
reading these sl!rs and telling other l.eo-
Pile what srr on them.
When the .i.itor enters the headquarters
building he wta notice number Of
young nen standing ne>sr At hand hey
arg always about .JiHe~ here and never aI,-
pear "a have much to do. hey are tie
slip reader. tlrst are those who look cut
only for slips having reference to fires
Evcry time an alarm IS sen; IN from Any
part Of the city slip is hung on one Of
the slip toH ~ir,-, telling the number OF
the box from which the alarm has been
sent shortly after that another slip tells
the location Of TIE Arc and the amount 81
n q slt
by various fire insurance conf anies OF the
smaller .-rt by fire adiusters and by coIHra
MES that insure furniture arr on the alert
in a nonentA They take a copy Of the
slips and in few minutes are out OF the
little hallway telephouinK the matter To
their employers he Information they
convey Immediately starts IL dozen men on
run for the scene ii the fire hey 30
10 lock afVtr damaged property or secure II
right To a1Jast the loses II the place
which has been burned Was not insurcd,
there are Other rlcn who are soliciting In
surance, while the house IL yet burning,
against It's ever burning again.
There are other slip rsaders who pay no
attention To tro eportS but, let the slip
OF an accident be posted, and they are
right on hand. When man falls and
breaks his leg or is struck by "a cable car
or wagon and injured slightly, some
people might be foolish enough TO think
that was the end Of him for some time
Not bit OF 1t. The slip readers are after
injured men In minute There are GER
tains lawyers whose agents are always
near the alp box waiting to notify the
lawyer the moment there Is an accident
case, 50 that some one may be sent forth
with TO the inju red man TO tell him he is
entitled to heavy damages for the injury
done TO him. Even II he only falls on the
sidewalk he Ia told that some one should
pay him damages Then there are ths
small accident insurance firms whose
agent at once notifies them from the slips
that another man has fallen and should be
seen 50 as to offer him the opportunity OF
receiving insurance money in case he
should fall avain