The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-03-04
SHE is A TRAIN sPOTTER.
The Work Done by Private Detectives
Employed by Railroads.
San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco Chronicle.
alighted from an Oakland ferryboat a de-
mure little woman, who passed along with
the crowd with scarcely a glance to the
right or left Her petiteness attracted
some attention, and her modesty more,
but no one who observed the air of con-
fidence with which she made her way to
the public carriage stand would have i'm
agined that she was stranger, and that
for the first time in her life she was visit
ing San Francisco.
Giving a few quiet directions and enter
ing cab, she was whirled away from the
hustling throng and driven to hotel.
ing Miss Waller, Chicago" Her room
was No. IL. Calling a private messenger
she dispatched a message to firm of
lawyers, and that evening, promptly at 8
o'clock, a prosperous-loking, well-dressed
gentleman entered the hotel glanced at
the register, and, ignoring the clerks ques-
ton, do you wish anything?" passed by
the waiting elevator and walked up the
stairs.
That was Tuesday evening On Wednes-
day morning Miss Waller might have been
seen boarding a Market street car bound
for the ferry, where she purchased train
ticket and crossed to the mole. She re-
turned late on Friday evening, and Sat
urday morning the same messenger took
a sealed letter to the same lawyers, but
this time there was no evening caller. Sat-
urday evening she left town again for a
few days, and these trips were continued,
until one day last week when, by the
merest chance. the object of her repeated
outings was discovered. On this occasion
she was the possesor of a ticket to a city
near the Missouri river, and she smiling
confessed that she was bidding good-by
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 corporations In
lie
that in the ten years which she has de-
voted to the business OF spotter, or, as she
would probably prefer TO have II called. pri-
vate detective, she has doubtless made
fewer friends than any one else In the
country. 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 railroads
that every employe 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 guilty and those who are as yet
merely under suspicion-are objects of the
greatest contempt with the army of toilers
who seek a living on the trains. To offset
this unpopularity however, they have the
inducement OF large financial returns. There
Is no iron-bound rule governing the amount
of money which they receive, but the more
proficient of the class probably make from
81. 500 to 5000 a year.
ant case on its hand, and the services of a
first-class spotter will be invaluable to the
company. and on such occasions, If success.
full. the financial returns increase wonder
fully.
There Is a 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, traf-
fic being heavier, there are more trains
run there and more men are employed by
the companies. Besides. that section Is
more thickly populated, and way trains
are in many instances run hourly IL not
oftener, but probably the truest cause fol
the increased dishonesty among railway