Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-09

tended to naro up and to stand upon their
about standing upon their constitutional
rights are the nrst to take to the deep
jungle when they are politely given every
possible opportunity to invoke those rights
about which they make such a big noise
Owing to the extreme difficulty OF get
ting travelling victims of the card shafps
to appear against arrested card sharks. tho
secret service men themselves found II nee
essary In most cases to get into games
with the swindlers and detect them In the
act of cheating before the arrests were
made But this plan enabled the secret
service men to get the crooks dead to
rights. ana then. TO escape prosecution. the
sharks were forced to promise 10 abandon
the railroads as their field, and to agree
that they would never touch a card again
while travelling arail. A certain percentage
of the crooks who entered Into this agree
ment after being arrested violated IL later
on. Some OF them were again arrested and
put away as common gamblers and swim
dlers In the states In which their transac-
lions occurred Others found that they
could only travel on the railroads at all.
even when they didn't play cards. with the
greatest imaginable difficuity.
Ticket agents all over the country were
made familiar with their faces through
photographs, and the swindlers, when they
applied for tickets. were politely informed
that the railroads were all out of tickets.
When they stormed and kicked and pro-
tested, and threatened to sue ON the ground
of the violation OF their rights as citizens,
they were frankly given the boots by the
station police. or. II they applied for tickets
at city offices. taken away by policemen tel
ephoned for by the city agents. whereupon
the secret service would be Immediately
notified to appear against them again
Acknowledged the Bluff.
Most Of them were willing 20 confess
that. after ALL they didn't want to do any
travelling when things arrived at this pass
Those who got other persons to buy tickets
for them and boarded the trains were con-
stanty liable to be recognized by the trav-
cling secret service men. and in many in
stances they were inconhnently dumped
from the trains at the first stop after their
tickets had been taken up and the price
of the unusued portions of the tickets re-
funded to them. 1t was necessary. II
should be understood, to take the most
drastic measures on account or the unim-
aginabie impotence of these swindlers. and
in many cases actions were taken by the
secret service men that really would NOT
hold in law; but the presumption was gone
upon all the time that the known crooks
would never dare to invoke the law, and
the soundness OF the presumption was DEM
onstrated from the first.
'"The result of all this Is that complaints
are very rarely heard now a days of trav-
elers being done by these MISUNDERSTANDING
card sharks. Some OF them still practice
their trade on the eastern and southern
lines, Whefe the campaign lDeIn mas
not been waged quite so actively as In the
west. but they'll all be driven to the cactus
In time, and the new ones will be gathered
In as fast as they appear The card sharp
ers are absolutely afraid to show their
faces on the western lines. They were man.
handled and reugh-housed on the Chicago
and Northwestern road. particularly TO such
an extent that there hasn't been solitary
individual OF the known card swindlng
species on one of the cars of that railroad
for FIVE years, so far the secret service
of the railroads Ii aware. and the service
has many methods of becoming aware or
these things.
Another of the tasks undertaken by tho
secret service of the railroads for the pro-
lection of the travelling public was the up
roofing of the professional con men from
the lines. This, too, was job or considera-
BILE ma gnitude. Some OF the most plausible
confidence men in the business made 1t
their practice to pick up their victims on
the trains.
Detectives Posed as Guys"
In order to get these fellows IL was
necessary for the secret service agents TO
become acquainted with the oily ones and
find out all about their schemes, posing as
fall guys the phrase ruas. Then they
had to investigate the con mems schemes.
even when they knew perfectly well that the
schemes were crooked, so as to make abso-
iutely sure that they were not making any
mistakes. Nhen they haQ tnuS tne
schemes of the con men down. the same sort
of treatment, virtually, was melted out tot
the oils as was handed the card swindlers.
They were chased from the roads by drastic.
hootfoot methods that can only be applied
to people who are operating without tho
pale of the law and who are therefore prac-
ticaIly powerless to kick about the breaK-
ing up of their business
''As sort of side line the secret service
men of the railroads are in position TO
protect guileless girls and women, travelling,
from the wiles and schemes of hounds who
follow the railroads in pursuit OF victims
The service has been of great assistance
to the organizations formed in the great
cities a number of years ago for the pur-
pose of breaking up the traffic in Immoral
women or In girls whose ruin and otgrada-
ton were sought by the trafhckers. There
used to be a regular exchange system. a sort
of inter-oceanic and inter-city AFFAIR, be-
tween these traffickers and girls were gath
cred in the net and shipped around from
place to place on the pretext that they we're
to find lucrative and decent work when they
reached their destination. Literally thous-
ands of innocent young girls had their lives
blasted through this grisly traffic, but when
the railroad secret service began to act
hand-in-hand with the organizations or good
women formed In the various big cities Tor
the breaking I'D of this wretched business,
the slave makers threw up their hands
Many of them, especially In st. Louis, san
Francisco and Chicago, were catapulted 10
the states prisons by the most direct routes,
and the new dealers are grabbed ard
handled as soon as they fash their Initial
signals.
These are only few Of the things that
the secret service OF the railroads is en-
ployed upon. But we've got enough 10 Keep
nc harSy for the present