The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-02
SOME GOOD, SHORT STORIES
Tom Johnson,s Road Was Beaten.
.eveland Plain Dealer.)


A party of vesselmeh had a meeting
the other day and after business mat
tiers were settled they smoked and
chatted and recalled humorous remin-
iScenceS. The talk had turned upon
the dishonesty of subordinate officials,
and this brought out a story by Mr..
Chris Grover. 1t was a story which
Hon. Tom L. Johnson had told him sew
eral years ago:
THE first road that Tom had con-
trolling interest in,' said Mr.. Grover,
was little bobtail line in Louisville.
1t was cheap line as far as outfit
went, but it's patronage was steadily
increasing, and the stockholders began
TO scent a good thing in it. 1t had
been extended quite a distance into the
country, and this part of the line was
fairly profitable, too. Expenses We're
kept down, however, as low as possible,
the motive power being mules, with
only one man, the driver, for a car
crew. The old-fashioned fare boxes
were in use, the passenger dropping his
fare in slot at the top and getting
change If necessary from the driver
This was about the close of the war,
when the ancient fractional currency,
shinplasters they were called, We're in
circulation.
well, after while-it was early one
very closely, became convinced that the
receipts per car were not what they
should be. There was leak evidently
at the suburban end of the road Tom
became convinced that the road was
suffering q loss of from two to four
dollars on each car per day, and this,
even for a one-mile road, was quite
serious deficit How the hold-up was
done was a puZzling question. The
chance of fol id
| the boxes hadn't been tempered with.
And yet good many more passengers
went into the cars than were represent
ed by fares in the boxes.
Finally Tom determined to hire a
spotter, the first the little road had
ever known. The spotter went at his
duties in a cautious manner 1t was
TOO deep a mystery to be spoiled by
bungling work. For day or two he
had nothing to report He had count
ed the passengers and the leak was
still more apparent, but he hadn't dis
covered the modus operandi of the pill
ferers.
But the third night he same in ra-
diant I've got 'em, Mr.. Johnson he
cried. I've got emf Then he told his
story. 1t appeared he stayed with a.
certain car until it reached the end of
the line, nothing suspicious happening
! He didn't leave when the other pas
sengers did, and when the driver look
ed at him inquiringly he said: Got to
go back again-left my key in the safe
door, Then he became absorbed in a
newspaper, through the middle of
which he had punched a small hole.
Through this he watched the driver
There was a ten-minute wait at the
! end of the road and the driver turned
the car, set his brake and came in
side. He stood with his back toward
the spotter, but the latter could follow
his movements very easily. The driver
drew something from his pocket 1t had
a stout thread attached and the spot
ter could see it wriggle. The driver
crowded this object into the slot of the
fare box and held on to it by the stout
thread. In a second or two the wrig-
Cling claws adhered to a shinplaster
and then the driver drew it up, re-
moved the money and put the fish-line
and the bait back in his pocket Don't
you see cried the spotter, your road
has been pinched by pinchbugs!'
"And this was right, as Tom soon
found to his satisfaction. Probably
every driver at that end of the road
was on to the pinchbug trick, because
after a lot of discharges the receipts OF
each car Immediately arose to what
Tom thought they should be-"