Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-07
Railway Men Strongly Denounoe the
Bpssra.
low THE COMPANIES SUFFER
Hearing Before Mouse and Senate
Committees.
q Z {
SERIOUS CHARGES MADE

| George H. Daniels, general passenger
] agent Of the New York Central Railroad
Company, was the first witness today be-
| fore the Senate interstate commerce COM
mittee in its hearing upon the anti-scalp-
ing bill. He supported the bill and said
| the railroad companies would not make
any effort to reply. to the ticket brokers
| but for the fact that the representations
made by the ticket brokers were false. He
represented, he said, not only the New
York Central. but practically all the rail-
road lines Of consequence in the country.
| He presented specimen forged tickets sold
by the brokers, which represented, accord
ing to his claim, loss of at least $5O,OOC
to the railroads east of Chicago
He also filed affidavits from thirty OF
more railroads as to how scalpings was
| carried on; how the brokers induced con-
ductors and others to steal tickets.
| Senator Tillman asked how 1t was pos
| sible that tickets could be stolen without
| the immediate spotting of the thief
Mr.. Daniels explained that one plan was
| to approach brakemen who handled for
| conductors the tickets of sleeping car pas
| sengers during the night. The plan was
| to get the number of pass apd use this
in the reports instead Of tickets, which
would be stolen and sold. He cited case
| saying that brakeman on the Michigan
| Central had been approached by broker
and melted to this theft.
| Does the broker admit this?" asked
Senator Chandler.
No, SIR" responded Mr.. Daniel, The
| lies about it,
Mr.. Daniels said that passengers were
generally in collision with the ticket brok-
eis, and he stated in reply to question by
Mr.. IIllmaE that passengers would often,
after getting aboard train on valid
short-distance ticket, produce fraudulent
| ticket and ride for an indefinite distance on
1t. They thus evade the gate man in the
| large cities. He said that the holes in tick
cts were often plugged, and he presented
specimens Of such tickets.
Mr. Daniels also presented an affidavit
from Charles H. Wooley, now Of Cincinnati.
VINO stated last spring he was employed by
| Inc ticket brokerage firm of Milford L. Co.
OIL chicago, giving a detailed account of the
method of manufacturing tickets. IA
| torite method was, he said, to prepare a
! skeleton ticket on a road which had no
! existence.
! Mr.. Daniels said he had gotten this affi-
| davlt through friend in Cincinnati and
committee. II necessary.
| rs he still loose and roaming around ~
! asked Senator Cullom
| Yes, sir" RESPONDED Mr.. Daniels, land
mere are thousands, more just like him.
| 1 mere is no law for their punishment
Senator Chandler asked where the dis
| elimination came in, and Mr. Daniels re-
pileo That 1t was through the use of the
l
| deemable by any one. He explained that
not all conductors nor even all passenger
agents know the names Of all roads and
IN tne strife Tor business all roads honored
| the tickets of other lines.
| He admitted, in response to a suggestion
| by senator Cullon, that the custom was a
reprehensible one at could not" he said
n amy ohsr esunfy nor would the
country. Why, the Emperor of Germany
| would hang q man caught in such a prac
tice' and the Car of Russia would send
him to Siberia" -----
holder Caught watering stock?" asked SEN
| ator Tillman.
Yes, sir. and they ought"
Explaining the use of these fraudulent
| them to a point beyond which the traveller
| desired to go. that when the traveller
should reach his destination his ticket
would not be taken up and the passenger
could send 1t back to his ticket broker thus
preventing its ever going into the hands of
| the railroad official He said that the op-
| portunities for this species of fraud were
| especially good on the western roads. where
| a coupon often covered from 1000 to 1000
| miles. A favorite plan was to make tickets
| to passengers bound for San Francisco
good to Los Angeles.
Mr.. Daniels also presented list of thirty
| criminal indictments against ticket brokers'
On these there had not been one convic-
ton.
so the poor railroads have not been able
to get justice in the courts?" asked Mr.
Tillman.
They have not" replied Mr.. Daniels
| mot for twenty-five years"
Continuing, he said he could bring 25C
| passenger agents to substantiate what he
had said. They would come and tell the
truth. Their purpose was to secure the
| passage of a bill that would prevent the H.
| censing of bribery, counterfeiting and
thieving, and everything else wicked.
Mr.. Spohn In Opposition.
Milford Spohn Of this city, representing
| the Building Trades Council and the Gen.
trail Labor Union, appeared In opposition TO
| the bill. He said that all the labor or
Sanizations of the country had taken a
| position against the bill. He claimed that
| in doing this they were representing the
in defer.se of the principle that man
| has a right to buy where he pleases and
to sell where he pleases.
Paul E. Morton OF Chicago. third vice
| PRESIDENT of the Atchison, Topeka and
| santa Fe road, said that IL the discrimina-
| ton now allowable in passenger business
continued it would naturally be allowable
| In freight business.
| lations of the interstate commerce law, so
far as it relates to freight business
| Senator Tillman asked about the Stand
| ard OIL Company. and Mr.. Morton replied
1
i Of the big corporations Of the country
| that had taken no rebate on its business
| from the railroads since 1887.
| George w. Boyd, assistant general pas
| senger agent Of the Pennsylvania railroad.
made q brief statement similar to that
| which he presented to the House commit
tee. He also filed number of cases with
the committee showing how tickets had
| been fraudulently obtained and dishonesty
| used by the ticket brokers.
Mr.. Boyd had not concluded his state
ment when the time of Adjournment ar
rived, and the coMMittee requested him
to appear before it at the meeting next
! Thursday, in order that he might go more
into details of the ,scalping business and
give the committee, the benefit of the
knowledge he has on this subject.
George W. Boyd's Argument.
The House Interstate commerce CON-
mittee gave another hearing on the
anti-scalping bill to-day. Mr.. George w.
| Boyd. assistant general passenger agent Of
the Pennsylvania ssllroad, made an argu-
ment in favor Of the bill. He said the es-
sertion that s5 per Cent Of the tickets Used
| by scalpers were furnished direct by rail-
reads was very misleading There was a
very small percentags. probably not Is per