Arizona republican., 1911-06-28
CONSPIRACY OF EMPLOYES
Ticket Sellers and Conduc- tors on the $. F., P. & P. Railroad Accused of Max ing the Pasteboards Do Double Duty.

The Santa Fe Prescott and Phoenix Railway company has dismissed from it's service a number of ticket sellers and passenger conductors for dishon- est and irregular practices in manipu- lation of tickets
 The abuses have been so fragrant that the matter has been referred to the proper officers of the law. who have been acquainted with the infor- nation in the possession of the off cials of the railway company. and it has not yet been determined by them what course will be pursued
 The action on the part of the rail- road management was only learned of yesterday. though it has been known for some time that there was CrookcdneSs in ticket transactions and that the company was pursuing an investigation The names of the men discharged, under suspicion of dishon- csty. have not been disclosed. but it is known that the irregular transactions involve at least one of the ticket sellers in Phoenix. two in Prescott, and at least one conductor.
 Tine manner in which the railroad company was defrauded was rather a clever scheme. as long as it worked, and required the cooperation of ticket seller and conductor though the plan was an old one. frequently worked in other places Like most all crooked practices. it was bound to be exposed sooner or later by some one Of a dozen things that might happen almost any time Not speaking of any particular transaction, but of a typical case, the following is learned al the method em- ployed in perpetratins the fraud; 4 ticket to Prescott sold in Phoe- nix on certain date gives the buyer forty-eisht hours in which to use it before the limit cN- pires. the run between the two cities being only few hours. The Phoenix seller would dispose of ticket to a patron. and the conductor on the outgoing train would take il up and the passenger would get his ride regu- larly. But the conductor. instead of punching the ticket. would slip lt m his pocket and at the first convent ent Station out of Phoenix would mail the ticket back to the agent who sold it. He would receive it within a few hours after he had sold it. and dis pose of it to the next applicant for a ticket The next conductor would have to honor it. for though 1t may have been dated the day before 1t was presented it was still within the 4S-hour limit. therefore a good ticket The conspirators would make on the double transaction the price of one fare as the ticket would be turned in regularly on it's second trip.
 The plan could not be safely worked i'm selling a ticket to a way station where there was but little travel, as q second patron might not apply with in the time limit. but it could be worked very nicely for a time between points where there was an assured daily travel The tickets are all num- berad consecutively. and that fact youId eventually become menace to the conspirators. It might be easily conceived by the auditor, or whoever checks the tickets turned in. that oc- casionallv a patron of the road would not use his ticket until the next day after he had bought it. but when It became a too frequent practice for tickets to be turned in out of thelr natural order the fact would excite suspicion.
 There is no information available as to inc magnitude of the alleged pecu- lations of the railroad employees