The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-10-04
A TRIANGULAR GAME.
The Reports of the Three Spoilers
Disguised the Railroad Official

Disgusted the Railroad Official.
"Under the old, loose system that
prevailed on most of the southern and
western roads," said a veteran passen-
ger conductor of this city, ''the spot
ter was virtually a necessity, but the
trouble about him was that he never
could be relied upon with absolute GER
tainty to tell the truth. He knew his
popularity and prestige with his en-
ployers depended ON the number cf
cases he worked up, and if he couldn't
catch conductor knocking down he
was only too apt to manufacture lit
tie circumstantial evidence and report
the poor fellow anyhow.
"Of course | am speaking of the
average spotter. and no doubt there
We're plenty of exceptions to the rule.
but that was the great defect of the
system and, incidentally, it reminds me
of curious little story.
"Back i'm the eighties continued
the veteran, "a tip was one day given
to a well known and very popular con-
ductor on certain line leading out of
New Orleans that a spotter of consid
erable note in the north had been put
on his train. with instructions to inves-
tigate him thoroughly.
"This conductor was big. jovial fell
low, fond of good clothes, good sport
and good living. and, while there was
no evidence of anything wrong, he had
fallen under suspicion on general prin-
ciples. The company officials We're
persuaded he was living far beyond his
means and inferred that he must be
helping himself to the cash, but all
prior efforts to get line on him had
| failed ignominiously. and for that rea-
son the expert sleuth had been import
ed from the north and told to go to the
bottom of the case, if it took six
I months.
"When the conductor himself heard
that spy had been put on his trail, he
| was highly indignant and also consid-
! erably alarmed. He reasoned that the
| fellow would be especially anxious to
sustain his reputation as a thief catch
| er and was in all probability fully pre-
pared to fake up case in the event
| that he discovered no evidence. To
protect himself against such a maneu-
yer he quietly telegraphed to big de-
tective agency in Chicago and engaged
| first class operative to spot the spot
| ter.
Both men went on duty at about the
| same time. the spotter taking the role
| of a commercial traveller who had fire.
| quent business up and down the road.
He watched the conductor, the Chicago
detective watched him, and the con-
ductor sized them both up and chuc-
kled in his sleeve.
| "Now comes the funny part of the
| yarn. The double watch had been in
progress only a few days when a
treacherous brakeman went to the gen
eral superintendent and told him the
whole story. The superintendent was
a pretty wise person himself, so he said
nothing, but simply engaged an entire
ly new man and set him watching the
two spies.
"The triangular game went on for
several weeks; then the conductor was
summoned to headquarters. He car
ried his detectives report with him and
was staggered when the superintend
ent showed him two others.
''The original spotters report exoner-
ated the conductor. the Chicago mans
report agreed exactly with the spot
ter's, and the last spy asserted fatty
that the two other men had stood in
together, so as to please all hands and
save trouble. That disgusted one road
with spoilers, and the superintendent
swore he would never employ another
The conductor, by the way, retained
his job."-New Orleans Times Demo
| crat