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Practical Instruction for Detectives

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<h2 class="pnc mf">CHAPTER X</h2> DETECTIVE WORK FOR STREET RAILWAYS Practically all street railway companies find it necessary to employ detectives. The largest corporations of this kind may employ anywhere from ten to fifty detectives the year round, and one may wonder why and how all these detectives are employed. Street railway companies, like the railroad companies, are obliged continually to guard against three serious sources of loss, namely: thefts by employees, damage suits and strikes. Experience has taught the management of street railway companies that stealing on the part of conductors is always more or less prevalent. Conductors are not usually prosecuted when caught stealing fares, but are simply discharged. The morning and evening crowds on street cars provide opportunities for conductors to steal, if they may be so inclined. A conductor may feel that half a dozen fares appropriated to his own use every day will not be missed by the company. However, if we take a corporation employing say five or six hundred conductors, it will readily be seen that small thefts by conductors can easily run into hundreds of dollars daily. As a rule managements do not discharge a conductor for stealing until it has been found conclusively, on at least two or three occasions, that he is doing so.[77] Usually there are as many detectives employed on street railway lines as there are runs or routes on the system. Unknown to the conductors these detectives ride on the cars from early morning until evening, or from morning until midnight, changing from one line to another frequently enough not to be noticed by the conductors. The detective provides himself with a small counting machine which can be concealed in the hand. Upon boarding a car he makes note of the number of the car, the cap number of the conductor, and the number of cash fares shown by the register. While apparently busily engaged reading a newspaper or magazine, the detective keeps accurate count of the number of passengers boarding the car, noting at the same time if transfers are received or issued. As a rule conductors are required to render separate reports to the company for every trip they make, and to show the place and minute the trip was terminated. They must show in their reports the number of cash fares collected; also the number of transfers issued and collected. If a conductor’s report for any given trip does not coincide with the report of the detective the conductor will be checked more closely on succeeding trips, often by as many as three detectives at the same time. If the conductor’s reports to the company continue to show a shortage of cash fares, the chances are that he will be discharged. As to the second mentioned source of loss, managements of large companies usually are obliged to defend in the courts the year round, damage suits brought against them for personal injuries by persons who very frequently have sustained no injury or damage whatever. A surprisingly large number of fake[78] suits are entered yearly against transportation companies. There is also to deal with the professional witnesses, who go from place to place, and who, for considerations of money, will swear to having seen anything happen. I recall a case wherein a middle aged lady left her home one morning in New York to board a steamship bound for Europe. She rode down town in a surface car which happened to collide with another car, with the result that half a dozen passengers were more or less injured. The lady in question, however, sustained no injury and continued on her way. Several months later, while at the home of a relative in England, she accidentally fell and injured her spine. She promptly took advantage of her mishap by returning to New York, where she brought suit against the railway corporation, claiming to have been disabled permanently as a result of the street car accident before sailing for Europe. The fact that she was permanently injured could not be disputed; the railway was not prepared to dispute the matter of where and how she claimed to have received her injuries, with the result that she received heavy damages. The fraud was discovered by chance several years later. Like all other large employers of labor, street railway companies are not immune from having their employes go out on strike. When street railway employees, or those of other transportation companies are organized, a strike is liable to be called at any time, and often upon the least provocation. It is highly important that managements have advance information of any proposed strike, and of any grievances of any employees, whether well founded or not. By having such advance information seri[79]ous loss can very often be averted by the management getting rid of the agitators and trouble makers as quickly as they make their appearance among the employes. It is well for the managements to keep advised at all times regarding the attitude of employees. There is but one good way to accomplish this, and that is to have detectives scattered among the employes. The detectives can be put to work among the men as conductors, motormen or as shop men. I have known detectives to work in each of these capacities for years at a stretch without becoming uncovered, and without their purpose having become known. The valuable services that such detectives can render their employers will readily be appreciated. <hr class="chap" /> [80] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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