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. 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 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 serious 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.