The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-02-05
The Evils Of
Ticket Scalpine.

IIcket ScdIpIng.
Philadelphia, Feb. 2.-"What I don't
understand is how good Christian peo-
pie can have sympathy with ticket
scalping." said George w. Boyd, one Of
the best known railroad men of Phila-
delphia. Mr.. Boyd had just returned
from Washington, where he went with
some other railroad men TO argue in
| favor of the antiscalping bill.
1 naturally asked Mr.. Boyd what
Christianity had to do with soalping.
Just this" he said, that every stol-
| ell ticket goes into the hands of a
scalper and that scalpers offer induces
ments TO railroad men and sleeping can
conductors to steal. Let me tell you
one experience that came within my
own knowledge. man Of good stand
ing in Chicago died suddenly. leaving a
widow. an invalid daughter and a son.
They were almost entirely without mon.
ey. The daughter was able to give mu-
sic lessons at home. the son got em-
ployment I'm the Pullman service as a
conductor and contributed to his moth
er's support. The mother and sister
worshiped the young man. One day
when he was lying over in Jersey City
between trips the agent OF a scalper
tempted him to steal some of the rails
road tickets which came into his hands.
His salary was small. He yielded.
About that time the railroad over which
| he travelled was Investigating some
| ticket thefts. He was caught and
| brought before the officers OF the road.
| He made confession, breaking down
and crying bitterly.
| This occurred on Saturday The next
| day nelghbor took To his mothers
| house in the little town not far from
| Chicago, where she lived, a copy OF a
| Chicago Sunday paper telling the story
| OF her boys arrest. The mother bor-
| rowed the money to come east and
started Immediately. arriving in PhiIa-
| delphia at in the morning. At 8
o'clock she came TO the railroad office
and promptly tainted before she could
| tell her story. IL was a very pitiful
story when she told it. 1t so moved
the railroad people that they got per-
mission for her to see her son and
promised that If he pleaded guilty he
should be treated leniently. He did
plead guilty and the Judge suspended
| sentence. The railroad company gave
passes to him and his mother to go
home and afterward gave him employ
ment.
''Oh. could tell you a volume about
our experiences with scalpers and their
victims. One day man who was going
to Cincinnati bought a ticket in our
Jersey City office and put IL In his
pocketbook with $125 in money. When
he got on the train. the pocketbook had
disappeared. He returned from Newark
To Jersey City and reported the case.
1t happened that only one ticket in that
form had been sold for that train SO
the lost ticket was easily identified
and an order was issued outlawing 1t.
Some time afterward a young man
brought the ticket into our office and
asked TO have 1t redeemed. He told n
very circumstantlal story. The ticket
had been bought by lady who wanted
to go To her sick brother butt receiving
a telegram saying he was better she
had changed ner mind--and so ON.
Il kept him IN conversation until our
secret service officer came in. When he
saw the detective he broke down and
told the true story of the ticket. 1t had
been sent To- him by New York ticket
scalper with careful directions how to
present it, and he was to get dollar
for his trouble. told him he would be
prosecuted if he did not give up tn.
ticket and refund the SIPS which had
| been stolen with il. He refunded the
money, and we sent il to the owner in
Cincinnati. toSSather with the value OF
the ticket.
Another time we made scalper dis
gorge was on q fraud he had practiced
on an old lady. He sold her q ticket
from Cincinnati TO New York. charging
her $40, or 81 more than she would have
paid any railroad company, and the
ticket they gave her was so altered that
II was worthless The old lady got az
far as Pittsburu, and there she was put
off the train. are was i'm a distressing
condition. being without money. Our
agent wired me, asking what he should
do. / answered, telling him TO issue a
pass to the old lady. take up her ticket
and get a statement of the case. We
had our chief secret service officer see
her later i'm New York, and she agreed
to go To Cincinnati IL necessary and
Identify the man who had sold her the
ticket Then we notified the scalper
: that IL he did not refund what she paid
for the ticket and all expenses--soms
Sl5 or s20-we should prosecute him.
, He refunded the money.
From buying stolen tickets TO en-
. couraging men TO steal them is short
step. I have seen so many young men
, torn from the arms Of their mothers or
: their wives 20 serve terms In Jail who
, said that they were first tempted to
, steal by the agent of n scalper that, as
, / said TO you at first. cannot under
stand how good Christian people can
defend the scalpers' business. Probably
it is because they don't know the facts
l have told you.'
HENRY AMMON.
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