Waterbury Democrat., 1902-03-15
TICKET MEN STUDY MANKIND

as many opportunities to study human nature as any other class of officials. To be a successful ticket seller, how ever, one must not only be q student of mankind. He must be able to an swer great variety of questions.
 Frequent inquiries are made at tick ct offices for transportation to places not on the map. The agent of one of the trunk lines passing through New ark tells an incident about young man who for q few hours thought he knew more than the ticket seller. This applicant had saved up suffi- cent money for trip to Niagara Falls. 1t was his intention to be married in few months and the Falls was to be the objective point of his bridal tour. With the intention of appearing to be an experienced traveller ill the eyes of his bride, he intended to take a flying trip, and on the next visit surprise the young woman with his knowledge as a tourist. He called at ticket office 1 in Newark and was given the infor- nation he desired regarding rates, trains and the cost of the trip. Be- fore purchasing his ticket he left the office to take q careful study of the time cards, which he had taken from the rack.
 l After diiigent perusal of the time tables he noticed the name of Little Falls on one of them. Apparently all l falls were alike to him. for, after as certalnlng that the excursion fare was but a fraction of the rate given him at the time of his first inquiry, he bought q ticket to Little Falls, near Paterson. and during his five hours wait in the deport for through train, he frequent " complimented himself on the way he had fooled the ticket agent He was going to Niagara Falls at q very small cost, he thought.
 When the conductor on the train ap- peared he refused, of course. to accept the young mans ticket for a trip to Niagara, and the youth was called upon to pay the straight fare, thereby losing the reduction for an excursion ticket in addition to the amount ex- pended for the one to Little Falls. l A we'll known Broad street financier called on the agent of one of the prin- cipal railroads a short time ago. and remarked that he was soon to % to Billings, Mont. but didn't suppose the agent could sell him q ticket that far. The agent replied that he could sell | ~-S - S4SASc tO siAiJ IOllII LII Jll0 OnlIeu States. The financier was inclined to doubt the statement and left the office to study up the most intricate route he could discover from railroad guide.
 The following day he called on the agent and with a smile handed him 2 memorandum of the route he wished to travel. The agent at once saw that he was up against q hard proposition but. as he puts it, he was game" and after giving the rate said he would send the ticket to the mans office dur Ing the day. After an hours work with rubber and dating stamps the job was finished, and shortly after the nnancier received q package that looked like bundle of bonds
 I He opened it and found that it was a ticket to Billings over the lines he had suggested. It measured five feet four inches i'll length and the twenty two coupons called for transportatiOn over nine railroads. The ticket was too bulky to comfortably carry in the pocket. yet to detach any of the cou- pons made it invalid. The financier acknowledged himself beaten at his own game and Immediately sent his check for the cost of the ticket Be fore leaving on his trip he purchased q wallet purposelv to carry his ticket in. This is probably the best thing in the way of freak ticket ever sold in Newark for domestic travel
 One of the most remarkable applica- tions a Newark ticket agent ever re ceived was made by q farmer a few
 weeks ago. He called at the ticker window late one afternoon and asked the price of ticket '.for corpse'' tc . a point, about eighty-five miles from Newark. He was told it would be S2 But want an excursion ticket said the farmer. As soon as the aston ished agent recovered his breath he ex
 plained that excursion tickets were never sold for dead bodies, and in ; quired what possible reason there would be for buying a round-triE ticket.
 We'll" remarked the farmer, s'it's this way. My mother-in-law is dead
 and most of her friends live LID the road Now. it would be a heap cheap CT for me to take the body up there
 have a funeral and bring it back fol burial than to pay the railroad fare o1 all her relations down here and back
 She was trouble enough durin' her life
 butsit seems the trouble ain't over yet,
 and he walked away in very disgust : ed frame of mind before the agent could recover his normal condition
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