The Saint Paul globe., 1897-09-06
BILLETELY IS A NEW FAD.
Collection of Railway Tickets the
Latest London Craze.

Latest London Craze.
LONDON, Sept. 5.-There is a new
fad in town. 1t is the collecting OF
railway tickets, and the new science is
called billetely. 1t was invented by
an undergraduate of Cambridge uni
versity, Trinity man. In speaking
about it he said:
Yes, my cousin and I started the
hobby Ccraze,' if you like) some little
time ago, and great sport we have had
out of it. 1 should say that we despise
omnibus and tramway tickets-unless
they are foreign ones-as being COM
mon and as presenting no difficulty In
their collection, since passengers are
not required to give them up at the
end of the journey. What we go in
for are railway tickets, and l can as
sure you that the collection of these
requires a considerable amount of
tact, ingenuity and not little cheek
For instance, on alighting at a country
or suburban station one has to prac-
tice all sorts of ruseS to escape the
necessity of delivering up ones ticket.
I have crossed the line before now and
scrambled through the palings of the
opposite platform. I have gone
straight to refreshment rooms, where
such exist, and waited there-at con-
siderable eXpenSe-until the coast was
clear Several times after boldly pass
ing the barrier, a vigilant porter has
given chase to me, and sometimes
caught me, when 1 have had the salts
faction of disappointing his detective
instincts by coolly handing over the
ticket. 1 have been successful in a
more wholesale way. My greatest coup
was at Cover street, where tickets are
collected at the top of the stairs. l
took my stand at the bottom and col
lected a trainful of them, passing up
last and handing my own to the man
at the top in order to mystffy him the
more completely. You see there is
very seldom more than one porter on
a Metropolitan platform like Cover
street, and he was at the end the fur
thest from the gate. The man upstairs
when the passengers loudly protested
that they had already given up their
tickets below stairs had no option but
to believe them, and probably conclud-
ed that an extra ticket inspector had
alighted from the train and (as fire.
quently happens, I believe) collected
them at the platform gate. His sur
mise was right. I certainly was an 'eX-
ira collector, but not one in the pay of
the company. Probably so outrageous
an explanation as that passenger
was collecting the tickets would never
occur to the average railway employe."
"And how many tickets have you in
your collection?"
Upwards of 1,5OO," replied the bill
leteIist Here they are"
In a handsome cabinet next to the
fireplace were arranged these treas
ures, neatly and systematically, in
drawers, by countries, railways, class
es, returns, singles, clipped and unclip-
ped. Among the foreign specimens
were an unusual number of German
tickets.
But are not the German officials
strict in the matter of tickets?"
'They are. But friend of mine got
these for me in a curiously simple
way. He handed his own ticket to
collector at the next station to Trier-
m-der-Mosel; then he asked in bro
ken German if the man would give it
back to him. The official looked at him
suspiciously, laughed and walked
away; but, evidently struck by the
novelty of the request, returned as the
train was starting and thrust all the
tickets he had collectedsinto my aston
ished friends hands, muttering some
thing graceful and appropriate about
these mad Englishmen.'
And which are your most valuable
specimenS?"
well probably this one; first
class Paris Gyons) to Monte Carlo
but I have also a local Spanish one
the Mosei-Valley line. Here are also
some short-journey Swedish, several
Swiss, and this 'Echternach-Luxem-
bourg' is not common
You have collected these mostly
yourself?"
yes. But I have a great many cor
respondents who help me-"
"Gratuitously?"
ooh, yes. They do it for the fun Of
the thing at first, then it becomes a
passion with them. 1t is a species of
sport, you know, enjoyed always from
the hare's point of view. And then, of
course, there is no danger; for, if de-
tected slipping through the gates, you
simply produce your ticket, and VOLTA
toutn'