The Green Forest tribune., 1904-01-30
GOODS STOLEN IN TRANSIT.
ROa st for the Railroad Company
 from the Harrison Times.

1Q6 f1dFFlSOn IlIIl0S Ludk0S d Vigorous attack upon the man. agement of the St. l.. 6; N. A. railroad company in it's last issue on account of the manner in which freights are being ham, died. It says:
 For several months the mer. Schants of Harrison, especially the grocermen, have been com- plaining of the condition in which Freight shipments have been re- Aceived here. Losses, both great and small, have been suffered by shippers, who, being forced to pay very high freight rate, have saa right to demand the safest as well the fastest freight service. M And worst of all, it seems that 1. Expectations are generally trace < abIe to the St. Louis and North Arkansas Railroad, ,-at least this Toad has in part admitted this to be the fact by the allowance of many claims; and it is under- Stood that Agent Dewey of the Harrison station has promised for the management that steps 5 will be taken to detect the thieves; but so far no successful remedy eas been applied.
 The stealing has taken wide range, and is much more damag- ing to the merchants than would be considered possible. So bad has it been in fruits and all kinds of confectionery, etc., that many dealers are now shipping these things entirely by express. In cheese, crackers of all kinds, can- dies, etc., damage has been reg ular, and in many instances so Ngreat as to destroy the dealers ( profit on the entire shipment. @ Last week MT. Saffell tells us # that a bag of fine Java coffee for the One-Price Grocery Store was x torn open and several pounds ta- # ken, and that he has time and # again appealed to headquarters unavailingly; John Crumpler says that he has suffered petty x losses on his goods ever since he # has been in business here; Kuder < says the only way he can get X goods through is by having them shipped in large boxes concealing their identity; Woodruff says he s believes every bucket of candy he gets has been tempered with; the Springfield Grocer Go. says the depredations are regular and that it is rare thing for a single box of raisins or ther tempting edibles to run the gauntlet with out being filched, from a couple of pounds to the contents of the package; l.. A. Safer says he lost over five dollars worth of nuts, at wholesale prices, out of his Christmas shipment, and such things have become such an old story and the men at the depot have so wearied of it that a pained, tired look comes over their faces whenever a loss cl aim is suggested; Sol Mitchell has lost more or less on nearly every shipment in the last six months, he filed a claim some six months ago for box of cigars and some other goods taken from a pack age which looked like it had been bursted with an axe,-after pig on-holing the matter all this time the St. l.. & N. A. manage ment notified him recently that he must furnish affidavit of ship pers as well as his own as to con- tents and condition of package.
 General merchants also com plain of similar depredations, but to a less extent. Pairs of shoes, hats, and other articles of cloth- ing have been missed from their boxes under conditions which pointed plainly to tampering en- route.
 Of course, in many instances claims are filed, ana sometimes allowed; but according to the company's rules this involves the immediate surrender of invoices, and from six to twelve months generally elapse before restitu- ton is made. A merchant natl urally shrinks from continually filing small claims in such cases, and quietly suffers losses which