A party of gentlemen who had been to Doncaster to see the St. Leger run,
came back to the station and secured a compartment. As the train was
about to start, a well-dressed and respectable looking man entered and
took the only vacant seat. Shortly after they had started, he said,
“Well, gentlemen, I suppose you have all been to the races to-day?” They
replied they had. “Well,” said the stranger, “I have been, and have
unfortunately lost every penny I had, and have nothing to pay my fare
home, but if you promise not to split on me, I have a plan that I think
will carry me through.” They all consented. He then asked the gentleman
that sat opposite him if he would kindly lend him his ticket for a
moment; on its being handed to him he took it and wrote his own name and
address on the back of the ticket and returned it to the owner. Nothing
more was said until they arrived at the place where they collected
tickets; being the races, the train was very crowded, and the
ticket-collector was in a great hurry; the gentlemen all pushed their
tickets into his hands. The collector then asked the gentleman without a
ticket for his, who replied he had already given it him. The collector
stoutly denied it. The gentleman protested he had, and, moreover, would
not be insulted, and ordered him to call the station-master. On the
station-master coming, he said he wished to report the collector for
insulting him. “I make a practice to always write my name and address on
the back of my ticket, and if your man looks at his tickets he will find
one of that description.” The man looked and, of course, found the
ticket, whereupon he said he must have been mistaken, and both he and the
stationmaster apologised, and asked him not to report the case further.