Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1900-03-08
THE TRAIN sPOTTER
AN OFFICIAL WHO is WELL PAID BY
THE RAILROADS.
The Work Which Is Performed by
This Class of Detectives and the
Qualities For Which 1t CaIls--Meth-
eds of the Woman S,otter

SDOtter.
little over three months ago there
alighted from an Oakland ferryboat n
demure little woman, who passed along
with the crowd, with scarcely glance
to the right or left. Her petiteness at
tracted some attention and her mod
esty more, but no one who observed
the air Of confidence with which she
made her way to the public carriage
stand would have imagined that she
was stranger and that for the first
time in her life she was visiting San
francisco.
Giving few quiet directions and en-
tering cab, she was whirled away
from the hustling throng and driven to
hotel. Later the register contained
an unassuming Miss Waller, Chica-
60" Her room was No. H. Calling a
private messenger, she dispatched a
message to firm of lawyers, and that
evening, promptly at o'clock, pros
porous looking, well dressed gentleman
entered the hotel, glanced at the regis
ter, and. ignoring the clerks question:
do you want anything?" passed by
the waiting elevator and walked up
the stairs
That was Tuesday evening. On
Wednesday morning Miss Waller might
have been seen boarding Market
street car bound for the ferry, where
she purchased train ticket and cross
ed to the mole. She returned late on
Friday evening, and Saturday morning
the same messenger took a sealed let
ter to the same lawyers, but this time
there was no evening caller. Saturday
evening she left town again for few
days. and these trips were continued
until one day last week, when, by the
merest chance, the object of her re-
peated outings was discovered. On this
occasion she was the possessor of a
ticket to a city near the Missouri river,
and she smilingly confessed that she
was bidding goodby to San Francisco
for some time to come.
AS an Illustration of the care which
she must exercise in order to enhance
her value to the big railway corpora
tons in this country it is only neces-
sary to state that in the ten years
which she has devoted to the business
of spotter, or, as she would probably
prefer to have it called, private de-
tective, she has doubtless made fewer
friends than any one else in the coun-
try. And while she will not allow any
one to get thoroughly acquainted with
her, she does not make enemies. That
would be ruinous.
1t is an unwritten law of the rail-
roads that every employee is open to
suspicion until he has been proved
guilty, and the people who take upon
themselves the task Of separating the
two classes-those who are found gull
ty and those who are as yet merely I'M
der suspicion-are objects Of the great
est contempt with the army Of toilers
who seek living on the trains. To
offset this unpopularity, however. they
have the inducement of large financial
returns. There is no ironbound rule
governing the amount of money which
they receive, but the more proficient of
the class probably make from $500 to
$4,000 year.
AT times railroad will have an inn
portant case on its hand, and the serv-
ices of first class spotter will be in
valuable to the company, and on such
occasions, if successful, the financial
returns increase wonderfully.
There is much greater demand for
this class of detectives in the east than
there is here. and several reasons are
given for this condition of affairs. In
the first place, traffic being heavier,
there are more trains run there. and
more men are employed by the com
panies. Besides. that section is more
thickly populated and way trains are
in many instances run hourly, if not