The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-18
Railways OF u. s. Seek Anti
Scalping LegislatiOn.
Would Have Congress Pass Nav
to Kill Ticket Manipulation.
FRAUDS PERPETRATED
Would Make 1t an Offense Same
as Bank Note Manipulation.
Gossip and Matters of Interest in
Railroad Circles.

The railroads of the United States are
making an effort to have passed Law
at the next session of congress which
will make the business of ticket scalp
ing impossible.
The railroads want a law making the
offense of manipulating railway tickets
as great as the offense of manipulating
United States bank notes. With this
object in view adj the principal rail
roads in the country have submitted tC
the Interstate commerce commission
specimens of manipulated tickets which
have been presented for passage on the
trains, some of which were honored be-
fore it was discovered that they were
bogus, and others which were detected
before the passenger had gotten the use
of them.
Upon the showing which is made be-
fore the interstate commerce commits
sion it is hoped that that body will rec
ommend to congress the advisability OF
such law. At the same time the con-
ditions are being pointed out to con-
greSsmen in all parts of the country by
the representatives of the railroads. It
is their hope that the congressman will
be so impressed with the showing
which is being made to them that they
will give the railroads the legislation
desired
The railroads are not asking for a law
to prevent the transferring of local one
way tickets. They want law which
makes it unlawful to manipulate
tickets by ticket scalperS.
The tales of ticket manipulation sound
to the average person like fairy tales.
But it is a fact that there is not a form
of railway ticket which is completely
beyond the reach of persons who wish
to doctor it and make it good for pas
sage to points not originally intended
when the ticket was sold.
No sooner than a railway adopts a.
new form of ticket which they believe
is beyond the ability of the ticket
manipulation to beat, there are hundreds
and hundreds of experts at work fgur-
ing out way to beat the ticket. And
they always succeed.
For instance the Santa Fe recently
adopted a new form of local one way
and round trip tickets. The manage
ment of the road thought the ticket
could not be beat by the ticket scalp
ers. But they were mistaken. The new
form of ticket was printed with the
name of the station from which sold in
black letters on the body of the ticket.
a sentence showed that it was good
from the originating point to the station
indicated in the margin, and by the use
of a piece of steel a portion of the mar
gin is torn away containing the name
of every station except the one to which
the ticket was sold
Ticket scalpers in Chicago and Kansas
City work together on a scheme to beat
ticket Scalper in Kansas City buys a
ticket to Holiday, a small station out
from Kansas City. 1t costs him a few
cents. The scalper in Chicago buys
ticket to a little station just outside
that city. 1t costs him but a few cents
also. He sends his ticket to his confed-
crate at Kansas City. An expert is put
TO work on the ticket With a very
margin from both tickets. The cut is
made on a bevel. When the margin
containing the name of the destination
of the ticket is cut from each of the
tickets they are simply pasted on OPP
posite tickets. The margin cut from
the ticket purchased at Kansas City is
glued to the ticket purchased at Chi
cago and it makes a whole ticket read
ing from Chicago to Holiday, and
which may be used between Chicago in
Kansas City. The margin cut from the
ticket bought at Chicago is pasted to the
body of the one bought at Kansas City
and a trip is secured from Kansas City
tc some station within a few miles of
the city of Chicago for a few cents.
By shaving the ticket in two on a
bevel they can be glued together and
ironed out so that it is almost impossi-
bic to tell that the ticket has been
manipulated except under the most
careful inspection with a glass. A rail-
way passenger man says:
MANY frauds are perpetrated by
gcalpers. They change numbers of
tickets by acids ana erasures. They
change names. change limits and des-
tinatiOn by punches, block up punch
marks, and paste several tickets to-
gether so as to change the character of
the ticket, its origin and destination.
Tickets and dies and stamps with which
they are made have been frequently
counterfeited. They demoralize rates
and render honest and fair settlements
between connecting lines of railway
difficult and often impossible.
1t is almost impossible. 1 am in
formed. to detect the parties perpetrat-
ing these frauds and forgeries and to
secure sufficient evidence to convict
them. The railroads seem powerless |
to protect themselves. They have done
their utmost to provide tickets made of |
the best safety paper, printed with the |
best indelible ink. but acids and |
erasures are still used and tickets are !
scalped and the scalpers thrive.
Some ticket Scalpers in an effort to |
give themselves standing in the COM |
munity have continued to call them |
selves ticket brokers' A broker is a |
legitimate merchant. who buys and
sells on a legitimate basis If he /
handles a carload of flour or other
commodity. he buys it from the man or
firm manufacturing it
Does the ticket scalper buy his
tickets from the railroads who alone
can issue them? On the contrary. he
buys them from the purchaser who
signs a contract for lawful considera-
ton to use the ticket in riding from
one designated point to another desig-
mated point, and to make such a ticket