The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-06
working railroads for Clothes


Il started to get on a car the other
night" said club man." according to
the Philadelphia Inquirer, when the
motorman, who had slowed up for me,
suddenly turned on the power with the
result that my coat caught in the mana
rail and was ripped down the front.
was thrown on my face on the ROAD:
got several bad scratches, and one OF
those fine three-cornered cuts in the
seat of my trousers.
II didn't mind the shaking up or the
scratches, but / was sore about my
clothes, and the next day l went to the
claim agent of the road with my clothes
in a bundle and demanded an order on
my tailor or some equally good tailor
for a new suit.
The claim agent looked me over
carefully for fully three minutes, then,
without asking me a single question,
wrote out an order on the cashier OF his
office for $50, which l said was the
value of my suit.
eff you would rather have an order
on your own tailor for suit at this
price, he said. as he handed me the
order, I'll give it to you.
II would. said, so he tore up the
other order and gave me an order on
my own tailor.
The whole proceeding struck me as
being very queer. l had the number of
the car on a slip of paper, but he new
err asked me for it. 1 was prepared TO
describe the exact circumstances of the
accident, but he apparently didn't care
to know anything about them.
My friend l said, as 1 put his or
der in my pocket, how can you afford
to give me an order like this without
any idea of who l am, or whether l am
i'm most or, Nhu xypII hax-a1'f
even looked at my ruined Clothes
Don't want to see 'em,' he said. L
see you, and that's enough. In this
kind of cases i don't look at the dam
aged clothes. l look at the man with
the claim. L make up my mind in a
minute or two whether he is on the
square or not, and 1 act according to
my judgment. If had decided against
you, you would have had to go through
every court in the state before 1 yield
ed an inch.
Then he offered me a cigar, asked
me to sit down, and then told me a
rather queer story about clothing
claims. He said:
There are more claims for clothing
against us than anything else. Men and
women come here by the score every
month with some damaged article Of
clothing, demanding that we replace it,
80 = "N9 ny OilG VI OuE CATS.
There are some fellows, j believe,
who managed really to get their clothes
stained or torn on our cars so that
there will be at least a sembFance of
legitimacy in their claims. The real
bona fide claims are very rare.
A favorite trick is to come in and
say that clothes were burned in a fire
in one of the trolley cars. Just as sure
as the newspapers print an account of
a f1re in one of our cars there are two
or three claimants for new clothes.
new hats or new shoes in to see me.
e" 1t is the same thing with a COLI
sion. After a collision, whether it's be-
tween two cars or a car and a truck.
the claimants begin to drift in the next
day. In nine cases out of ten these are
pure frauds.
4 see all these claimants person.
ally. l think 1 can tell the fraud right
away.
9 Sometimes l allow myself to he
cheated by these fellows, because there
is little doubt in my mind about them.
but IN most cases 1 turn them right
out, and never hear anything more
from them. In other cases L can tell
that the claim is all right.
In your case l know you suffered
this loss through the carelessness of
one of our conductors or motormen. 1t
was enough for me that believed this.
The facts of the case are not interesting
to me- -