Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-03-27
HE SPOTTED THE SPOTrER.
How q Suspected Southern Railroad
Conductor Circumventcd the
Superintendent.

"Under the old, loose system that
prevailed on most of the southern and
western roads, said veteran passen-
ger conductor of this city, relates the
New Orleans Times-Democrat, "the
'spotter' was virtually necessity, but
the trouble about him was that he
could never be relied upon with abso-
lutte certainty to tell the truth. He
knew his popularity and prestige with
his employers depended on the NOM
Der of eases he worked up, and if he
couldn't catch a conductor Knocking
down he was only too apt to manu-
facture little circumstantial evil
dence and report the poor fellow any,
how. Of course, I am speaking of the
average spotter, and no doubt there
were plenty of exceptions to the rule,
but that was the great defect of the
system, and, incidentally, it reminds
me OF a curious little story. Back in
the eighties" continued the veteran,
"a tip was one day given to we'll
known and very popular conductor on
a certain line leading out of New Or
leans that spotter of considerable
note in the. north had been put on his
train with instructions to investigate
him thoroughly.
''This conductor was big. jovial fel.
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 were
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 i'm.
ported from the north and told to 90
to the bottom of the case if it took six
months. When the conductor himself
heard that spy had been put on his
trail he was highly indignant and also
considerably alarmed. He reasoned
that the fellow would be especially
anxious to sustain his reputation as a
thief catcher and was, in all proba.
bility, fully prepared to fake up case
in the event that he discovered no eyi.
dence. To protect himself against
such a maneuver he quietly tele.
graphed a big detective agency in Chi.
cago and engaged a first-class operative
to spot the spotter.
"Both men went on duty at about
the same time, the spotter taking the
role of a commercial traveller, who had
frequent business up and down the
road. He watched the conductor, the
Chicago detective watched him, and
the conductor sized them both up and
chuckled in his sleeve. Now comes the
funny part of the yarn. The double
watch had been in progress only a few
days when treacherous brakeman
went to the general superintendent and
told him the whole story. The super
intendent. was a pretty wise person
himself, so he said nothing, but sim
ply engaged an entirely new man and
set him watching the two spies. The
triangular game went on for several
weeks; then the conductor was sum.
moned to headquarters. He carried
his detectives report with him and was
staggered when the superintendent
showed him two others. The original
spoilers report exonerated the con.
ductor; the Chicago mans report
agreed exactly with the spoilers, 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 Disguised one road with
spoilers, and the superintendent swore
he would never employ another. The
conductor, by the way, retained his
!,