Evening Star Newspaper, November 5, 1892, Page 10

10 A BAND OF COSSACKS RUSSIA'S POLICEMEN. Queer Facts About the Greatest De- tective Service of the World. POLICE OF ST. PETERSBURG. - > Police Stations and Their Queer Rec- +-Soldiers Who Receive Less Than Two Day—Their Sanitary Police—Pass- * and Passport Burea: Correspomtence of The Evening Star. Sr. Prrensscno, October 5, 1892. CAME TO RUSSIA fully armed for contact with the police. Ihave letters from Mr. Byrnes, tne superintendent of the police of New York city. secommending me to the protection and confidence of the police- men of Russia. Ihave confidential notes of in- troduction from the head of our secret service of the Treasury chief of the third section of the czar, and before I left the United States I st lotters from the Pinkertons to the chiefs of Bice of the great Russian cities. These let- ters have been of value in giving me an insight into the police systems of this nation, which is said to have the best regulated and the most Perfect police system of the world. By it the €2ar is said to know just where overy one of his hundred million subjects sleeps every night and St. Petersburg is practically governed by the police. The head of the third section or the detective service of this capital, together with the chief of police. control all matters re- lating to the sanitary and political conditions of the city. Sitting in their big offices not far from ‘the banks of the Neva, they have their fingers on the wires which reach to every house and every room in St. Petersburg. Filed away in the pigeon holes of their offices is the record of every suspected person in the empire and their system is such that they ean turn in an instant the electric light of police investigation on the record of almost any man in the world. ‘Thev have their agents in every capital of the world, and nothing is done anywhere which the least affects Kussia which is not kuown to agents and put upon record. @OULINEY BIGELOW AND FREDERICK REMINGTON. And still one might travel all over Russia and hardly know that the police existe. Out- side of complying with the passport regulations, whieh are attended to by the managers of the hotels, you do not meet the police more here than in any other Kuropean city, and I have not found them as offensive in their bearing as the police of New York and London. I had no trouble with them on the frontier. I have car- Fied my camera with me and have taken photo- yphs of them on footand on horseback. I eS through them. resisted the extortions of the droschsky or cab drivers, aud have gotten {information from them just as I would from a iceman ona street corner in America. I te in south Russia Volga as [ have in I am convinced who minds his own business and goes about it without fear may travel just ax easily here as in any part of Europe. In fact. the only trouble I have had with the police during my three months here was in connection with Mr. Frederick Keming- the famous artist, who, in company with Mr. Poultney Bigelow. ade a very short Visit to Russia and left in haste. I came with Mr. Kemington and Mv. Bigelow ou the aa: ship from New York to Haraburg. the sume hotel with them at St. Petersburg and said good-bye to them wheu they left. 1 the steamer sed. and I think Russian imprisonment bad more foundation in their minds than any basis in fact. Mr. Remington and myself, while out riding one day behind a fast droschsky horse, ran a ace with s military official and this official w: gagered at our presumption. It was on th mable drive which goes from St. Peters- Darg to the islands of the Neva. The military man had a better horse than we had and he succeeded in passing ux. Shortly after this we ‘came to s bridge, in the center of which was a Policeman. The official got there firwt and he said a word to the policeman as he passed, and ‘we came up the policeman told us we ‘Must go back to the city. We 1. but we could not talk Russian and our droschsky ‘Griver was forced to turn around and we drove za I lived in| residence here in St. Petersburg and a pension of $1,500 a year. ‘The present chief of police is & fierce-looking man of about forty, who is a more pompous man than Gresser was and who does matters in a business way. I chatted with him in German for some time the other day and found him a very intelligent though somewhat secretive official. PERSONAL SAFETY. A man’s life is as safe in St. Petersburg as it is in New York, and there is less vice and crime here than there is in the average American city. ‘There iss policeman on every block both day and night, anc there is always a policeman in the center of every street roseing. The laws of the road are such that though a man may drive at the rate of twelve miles an hour down the Nevaky prospect and though the people always drive at a break-neck pace yon never see collisions. There are few burglaries and few murders here, and there are less arrests than in London. The police force of St. Petersburg consists of two thousand men. The city is di- vided up iato forty-two police districts and each district has a police station, with which is con- nected a sort of police court. In each one of these stations records are kept of all the eiti- zens of the. district, and these records are classified se that the police can tell ina mo- ment the history and standing of any man in the di ese records are made on papers of different colors, and those who are suzpected of political offenses have papers of a sepa- rate color from those snspected of crime and dangerous characters. have their police biographies written on a paper of still different color. In every one of these police stations and in the police stations all over the empire are kept lists of men who are to be arrested wherever ther are found. and of men who are considered dangerous to ihe gov- ernment. Similar lists are «ent to the agents of Russia in the different capitals of the world, | and by reports from these police agents the | government knows as far as possible just where | its enemies are. UNIFORMED AND IX CITIZENS’ CLOTHES. ‘The 2,000 policemen of t. Petersburg wear uniforms. There are tens of thousands of other men employed by the police who dress in citizens’ clothes, and every house in St. Petersburg has its police agent and spy. Many of the people here live in flats and the man who takes care of the flat is known as the dvor- nik, and he is responsible to the police for the eople within it. He reports upon their doings; Er coca chet teats pecoperts ere corrars exe keeps the police informed as to what goes on in his house, and it is almost imposeible to have a secret meeting in Russia withont it being re- orted by one of these men. These dvorniks we n sort of trades union among themselves and they are governed by a chief, and this chief is a member of the police and ‘is, to a certain eytent. responsible for the actions of the vorniks. It is necessary for evers house- holder to have one of these men and often there are several of them in a single flat. They have control of the sanitary arrangements of the houses aswell as the political aud criminal arrangements. They are exvected by the police to see that the streets in front of their | honses are awept and watered twice a day, and | St. Petersburg bas as well-kept streets as any | city m the world. ‘Ihe dvnorniks are respon. bie for any dirt or filth inside the house, and the man who does not keep his house clean in AX, St. Petersburg can be arrested. If the police see a business man whose shop is not properly cared for they order him to clean it. If he does not do so he may receive an order to close up his establishment for a certain number of j months, and he bas to doit. It ix the eame with theaters, One here in St. Petersburg | had not as many exits as the police cousidered necessary. ‘The manager was playing a big en- agement when he received an order from the police to remedy this defect and make the house tafe. He paid no attention to it and went on with his chow. The result was that a few days later his theater was closed by the order of the potice,and what he might have repaired at the of afew nights of acting cost him many thousands of Itis the same with the smallest matters. There isn law here that the barber shops must bring a clean piece of sca} and a clean brush to every man they shave, and the barber who would do otherwise would be arrested. The result is that the order at St. Petersburg is very good indeed, and thoi there is much drunkenness among the there are few brawls and practically no rlot. Passports. ‘The passport bureaus are all under the police. Every man and every woman in Russia must have passport, and if they move from one place to another or from one house to another this passport must be vised by the police. Ifa husband goes out of the country and wishes his wife to follow him he must arrange so that the can get a passport from the police, and this will be granted her only on the ‘application of Ber husband and will not be given without his permission. Every large hotel of Russia has its Passport bureau,and you handin your passport the moment you arriveand the hotel keeper has it vised for you and gives it back to you within an hour of so. In leaving the hotel you will not need to have it again vised without you are going out of the country, but the landiord always asks you where you are going, and the moment you leave word is sent to the police as to the date of your and the place of your destination. Landlords are com- pelled to attend to :wuch matters and they are fined if they do _ not send in the promptly. I have heard of the necessity of one always 2 pase- | to be a free thinker. oo THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY” NOVEMBER 5, 1892—SIXTEEN PAGES. police. All householders must keep the servants they employ. books made for this purpose, and in ove col- umn you must put down the date of engage- ment of a servant, his religion and where he comes from. "You must give age and must have a record of height, size, color, and, in fact, a regular pass- port description of him, You must send a notice to the police that you have employed hum and they look from time to time over your servant and put their stamp upon it. Tels the same with hired girls as with hired men and the same with clerks as with house ser- vants. When the servant leaves you you must again notify the police and state where he has gone. Yoti have to pay fees and stamps for his service and the police bere enforce collec- tion of stémp taxes. Not long ago there was ‘an order passed that every receipt and business Paper should have a stamp, and the police were about to collect this tax from a gas company in south Russia, ‘This company had thousands of contracts which were merely matters of record and the Police called and tried to collect stamp duties ‘upon each of these. The owner, who was @ shrewd Englishman, saw that the thing was MAY BE A spr. going to cost him about $30,000, and he burned up his coutracts and thus evaded the tax. He had a book acconnt, which enabled him to sup- ply the ioss,and he told me gleefully how he got ahead of the government. I chatted about the police with another En- glishman who lives in one of the big towns of the black plain and who was very angry at the police surveillance which was kept over him. Said he: “You caa’t do anything here that is not known to the police and there are spies everywhere. Your servants watch you, and evena beggar may be aspy. If a man does enything that is out of the way he is put under police supervision and he has to report every month of every week to the police. I bad a clerk with me not long ago who was supposed He bed to report to the police every month. One night we missed him and we did not hear of him for about two months. He had been taken off in irons to St. Petersburg and he was kept in prison there a month. Then his accusers were brought to the city and this man was bronght out with thirty others, but bis accusers could not pick him out of the lot and the result was that the authori- ties releared him. As soon as he was released he was told that he could have a free ticket home if he would wait a week for it, but he said that he preferred to pay his fare and go at once, and he did so. It is not uncommon for men to be sent from here to Siberia. Many of them do not go in prison gangs. They merely receive orders from St. Petersburg to report to the police at certain stations in Siberia and to remain there until they receive per- mission to leave. Once there they can engage in any business they please pro- vided they make their reports Properly, and . When’ they sometimes the stay for yea come back they say but littic about their ex- periences in Siberia and they are very careful of their utterances in the future. The major- ity of the persons sent to Siberia are for crim- inal and not political offenses. When a bank fails here the directors get ‘wolf passports’ or tickets for Siberia, and if u man commits murder he is sent to Siberia for life. There is not a great deal of flogging done in the prisons, but banishment takes its place.” Speaking of the spy system of Russia, while I was at Nijni Novgorod the governor detailed his private secretary to go vith me, and this man was very particular to know just what I was doing and for what purpose. He pretended that he wanted it for newpaper publication, but Lafterward learned that he was a spy and I doubt not the story I told him was sent right on to St. Petersburg. During my stay there I took dinner at a gentleman's hduse at which this private secretary was present, and at this | one of the ladies nt the table remarked in En- | glish that there were spies everywhere and there was one at this very table, but owing to his not understanding English he would not be able to report our conversation. I have been surprised in fact to find out how freely people talk in Russia about the government. They dicenss the czar and the —_ officials openly, and it seems to me that they are quite as free in this respect as we arc in the United States. I find less red tape about the offices here in St. Petersburg than I have foand in any of the other capitals of Europe, and thongh nihilists and socialists are un doubtedly watched carefully the people do not seem to be afraid of the police as much as is supposed, they have their good points es well as their bad ones. RUSSIAN PRISONS. Thave paid some attention to the prisons of European Russia, I find sofme of them very much overerowded and the prisons of the empire need a Qeneral reformation. About those of Siberia I know nothing. They are probably as bad as Mr. Kennan pictures them. One of the finest penitentiaries in the world is here at St. Petersburg. It is a splendid «truc- ture on the other side of the Neva river which cost $500,000 to build and which will accommo- date about a thousand prisoners. It is lit by electric lights and it is thoroughly sanitary in its arrangements. Each cell in it has cost about $500 and the cells are fitted up with Bibles and educations] works and with the materials for industrial work. The prisoners are well fed for Russia. They get buckwheat, mush and soup and rye bread three times a day, and they eat this out of wooden bowls with wooden spoons, ‘The prison clothes are no worse than ours, but the treatment of the hair of the prisoners is different. We shave the whole head, but the Russian convict has only one-balf of his head shaved and the remainder is left to grow long. They are fully as clean as our risoners and the Russian prisoner is given a Both as good as «Turkish bath every week. There are about 1,000 prisoners in this empire and the prison population of Russi is not, all told, much larger than oura in com- with the population. It amounted to, in 1888, 116,000 and in 1890 we had 45,000 prisoners in our penitentiaries, to say nothing of the number in our jails and_reformatories, During that year 18,000 were exiled to Siberia, and Siberia has, ail told, it is said, a hard-labor convict population of not more’ than 10,000. The profits of contract labor in the prisons of Russia amount to o1 150,000 a year, or just one-twenticth of the $7,000,000 a year ‘which it conts the country for its prisons. Fraxx G. Canrestzn. records of There are blank dis his DROP MAIL AT HOME. Turning Out Private Post Boxes by Thousands Daily for Everybody. STAMPS AND ENVELOPES. Ove Company Will Have the Monopoly of the Business—How the Boxes Will Be Dis- tributed All Over the Union—All the Con- veniences of » Post Office at Home—The Plan in Rural Districts. oeeioas SP eee eet WO THOUSAND LET- ‘ter boxes a day will be turned out by a factory at Norristown, Pa., which begins December 1%0 manufacture those articles for the private use of householders all over the Union. They are designed for at- tachment to the doors of dwellings and other buildings, being of the £ patterns selected by the Post Office Department from 1,600 models of- fered. To produce these models cost the in- ventors of this country not less than 250,000. ‘The company controlling the patents which Were successful in the competition will have Practically a monopoly of the business, be- cause people will prefer to buy the boxes ap- Proved by the government, Half » dozen styles were picked out as best by Mr. Wana- maker, and the inventor of one of them has bought out the others, so that all the rights are now vested in one concern, which calls itself the Postal Improvement’ Company. ‘The contrivances are to be introduced to all places where there is free delivery. According to the newest census there are 2,618,267 resi- ences in all the towns of the United States which have more than 10,000 inhabitants ‘The free delivery system extends to all communities having over 5,000 individuals. ‘Thus it will ap- Pear that the company has a prospect of selling its devices to a vast number of purchasers, with,| Profits correspondingly large. TO USE THE BOXES. Now, the problem is to persuade the people tose the boxes, and, to accomplish this end, the Post Office Department will lend its power- ful aid. It was recognized from the beginning that in order to get householders to employ such contrivances some better inducement must be offered them than the privilege of having their mail dropped in a receptacle at their doors. Citizens generally will not even take the trouble to have slits in their front doors through which letters may be put. They do not feel interested in saving the postal serv- ice time. But the inducement required is sup- plied in these devices by the introduction of an arrangement which enables every person having a private box to mail his own letters, news- Papers and packages without going out of his dwelling. At the same time he can purchase stamps and stamped envelopes in any quauti- ties he desires without leaving his house. HOW IT WILL WORK. Let it be supposed that Mr. A, who owns a box, has written a letter at his home. Having no stamp he drops it with 2 cents into the col- lection compartment of the box on the inside of his front door. The act of lifting the lid of this compartment to put in the missive auto- matically raises into view a target on the out- side of the door which bears the word “mail” in big letters. Presently the postman comes along, sees the target displayed, unlocks the compartment from the outside and takes out the letter and the money. Very likely he has letters to deliver, in which case he unlocks a lower compartment, intended for the reception of mail, and drops them in. Nothing appears on the outside of the door but aslot and two keyholes. The occupant of the dwelling has his own keys for opening the compartments from within. If he wants to procure stamps or stamped enveiopes he incloses the moncy for them in an envelope with an order indicat- ing thenumber and denominations required. He drops this envelope into the collection com: tment, addressed to the carrier, who takes it to the post office, where the order is filled. On his next trip he delivers the stamps, two 2-cent stamps being retained and canceled’ for the service. This system is profitable to the Post Office Department as well as to citizens. Lack of stamps and disinclination to make a trip to the nearest stamp agency or corner box, whether the cause be inclement weather or a too comfortable dinner, rob the government of an enormous revenue ‘annually which might be gained ifmcomplete post office were at every man’s door. WHAT HAS BEEN PROVED. Recent trials of these house boxes in cities having proved greatly successful in the saving of time, similar experiments are to be made at once on two rnral rontes selected for test pur- sen—one a Village routeand the othera farming istrict ten miles square—with mounted post- men. This is in line with Mr. Wanamaker’ ans for extending the free delivery system. ‘wo years ago Congress gave to the Post- master General $10,000 which was expended in trying the merits of free delivery in forty- six villages of fewer than 500 inhabitants: some of them wereas low as 300. Carriers were put on in those communities and the result was that in one year $3,600 was earned by the venture over and above all expenses. If the appropriation made by Congress for the purpose had been 1,000,000 Mr. Wanamaker believes that Uncle Sam would have made $360,000 by the specula- tion. Iucidentally, owing to the increased sale of stamps in those forty-six villages, the aggre- gate salaries of their postmasters, which aro paid by a percentage on the sale of stamps, were increased 1,900. Wherever the delivery system is introduced it is found profitable for the government and the Postmaster General is convinced that the revenues of his department would be largely augmented by extending it to the farming districts. VALUABLE TIME LOST Now. ‘Mr, Wanamaker has figured it out that one- fourth of the time of the 11,000 carriers employed in the postal service is lost by waiting at doors. They must wait for each bell to be answered, and female servants com- monly delight in detaining euch nice-looking fellows in uniform as most of them are for conversational purposes. Postmen receive an average pay of #900 per annum,.so that the estimate quoted signifies a loss of nearly $2,500,000 a year It has been suj posed that the Post Office Department would ‘take advantage of the letter-box system to cut down its force of postmen, but nothing of the kind is contemplated. On the contrary, the money and time saved will be expended in extending the delivery system and in multiply- ing deliveries. Where at present » route has three deliveries « day four can be made if letter boxes are employed. A box costs only #1. The of asuperior style will be $2, but ¢von cheapest ones will be complete ‘in all the essential features for delivery and collection. Fancy boxes will go upas high as €75, but the ‘$£penso will bo in the handsome door plate and immings. Cost oF RoxEs. It remains to be seen whether people will be disposed to pay so much as $1 or $2 for the privilege of having small post offices in their own dwellings in perpetuity. The boxes will last indefinitely, and inasmuch as they cannot get out of order.owing to the simplicity of their construction, they will need no ‘Think what a luxury such » contrivance will be! No more going outin the rain with letters, no more trouble to get stamps, and, last but not least, no more intrusting of precious missives to the untrustworthy pocket of the men of the jouse. To have the boxes put in two-thirds of the householders on route must agree to buy them, selecting their own patterns. ‘The Postal Improvement Company will ry their homes, includi: those of stamp win- dow and « mail box, letters, will write many more ANOTHER POINT IX FAVOR of the honse-box system is that it will practi- cally do away with the robbing of letter boxes. Tt will not: be worth a thief's while to attack a vate if he did 0, he would proba- ly be caught. The business of smashing post boxes and fishing them with something stigky on the end of a string will not be profita- bly applicable to the te contrivances. Pat- terns of the latter will be made with two hori- zontal slits in the door plate above and below the mail slot, By this device » person's name and number can be put on his plate in a few moments, each metal letter having a double flange on the back of it like a patent paper-fas- tener, which is thrast through the slit and spread behind tho plate, so as to secure the letter. The owner's name is quickly spelled out with letters attached equidistantly along the slit, With numbers it is the same wi It has been suggested that luminous targets shall be used to catch the postman’s eye after dark. Many builders are already introducing provis- ion for letter boxes into their specifications for dwellings and bnsiness offices to be erected. It is anticipated that before long they will be a feature of the construction of houses generally. If desired, they can be built into the wail. Some dey the Office Department may furnish boxes free, but at present it has no fund for that purpose. XN THE RURAL DistRIcTs. It may be asked, where in the rural districts does the house letter box come in? Why. on the fence post by the public thoroughfare, where it is easily accessible to the family and to the mounted letter carrier—the latter a bright Jad whose mother is striving to raise chickens and half dozen fatherless children on a truck farm. The boy gets $10, |i $14, aweek for himself and horse, riding fifteen milese day over country roads, stopping at farm houses, stores and blacksmith ope along the way, and putting into each little box, fastencd securely to porch or wall, letters, newspapers and mailed merchandise. Probably the target isup. his key opens the collect ment and he takes out missives of love and bu iness. These go into the saddlebags and the envelope containing $1 and a request for forty-¢ight 2-cent stamps, two being canccled for the convenience afforded, is thrust into his breast pocket as he rides away to the next place. EYBRY FREE DELIVERY TOWN | hasan immense contingent rural population population must walk or ride to the city every them. No newspaper is brought to its doors. Is this business like, asks Mr. Wanamaker, when an extension of the free delivery system to this enue? With a post office at his road gute, the farmer would write and receive hundred-fold more letters. In addition to his weekly coun- try paper, he would takea city daily anda monthly magazine or two. Thus he would keep up with the aifairs of the world, his mind would broaden, his methods of living would im- rove, his stock would be better bred and his jelds would bring forth better crops, THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH SCHEME. These letter boxes constitute an important feature in Mr. Wanamaker's postal telegraph scheme, by which every residence, factory and office in the nation will somo day be brought, as he believes, into electrical communication with every other residence, factory and office. His idea is that telegrams ‘should be conveyed toand from the boxes by the regular letter carriers. For example, Mr. B, lives in San Francisco and his wife is visiting her mother in she will return. Instead of going toa tele- graph office several blocks distant and sendinga message at the cost of a dollar or two, he writes a pos into own house. Not having a stamp, he deposits with the letter 2 cents for poxtage and a sufficient additional sum to cover the cost of telegraphing, low rates having been established by the government, of which be is informed by asimple tariff sheet pasted inside of his letter box lid. ‘The post- man collects the letter and delivers it to the operator at the post office, who telegraphs it to the New York post office, whence it is delivered by the first carrier to the box on Mrs. B.’ mother's door. Mrs. B. writes a postal tel gram in reply and deposits it in her mother's | box. Being = woman she is a trifle more anx- ious to make sure of speedy delivery at the other end, s0 she puts 10 centa additional in the box, which insures special delivery, as under the present system. On the same day Mr. B., in San Francisco, finds the answer to his letter in his box and blesses the Post Office Depart- ment, having saved, incidentally, perhaps a dollar. Rese Bacue, —_— GOOD LUCK FOR THE Baby. It Must Go Upstairs Before It Goes Down, Think of a baby twenty-four hours old climb- ing a stepladder! It was rather an undersized infant for that age, too, Of course it conld not climb up by itself, so the nurse carried it in her arms. It did not cry, but clapped its hands delightedly. ‘The child was alittle boy and the climbing of tho stepladder took place in the very room where he was born. The mother regarded it as an important event evidently. It was by her orders that the performance took place. Her | interest in it was none the less because it was all | for the sake of gratifying an old-time supersti- tion. | Monthly nurses all agree that if a baby goes down stairs before it goes Rpetairs its path iz life will be downward and iil luck will attend it. | Accordingly precautions should be taken against such an omen. In this instance the | child having been born on the top floor of the house it could not be carried upstaire and therefore its mother had suggested the in- genious plan of having a stepladder brought into the room so that nurse could mount it with baby in her arms. But that was not all. A small Testament was attached by a string to the child's arm and in its chubby little fist was placed a gold dollar. Thus reasonable certainty was secured that the boy would grow up both rich and pious, At the same time, it seems very odd to see such su- ratitious observances practiced in the city of ‘ashington in the yar 1892. Some people say that it is very bad luck indeed for a baby to see itself in u mirror before it is a year old. though why this should be 0 considered it would be dificult to tell. —_—_. Writtea for The Evening Star. The Ties That Bind. An Oscar Wylde, ‘Vain Fashion's child, A youth with usual manner mild, Stands panting now as red and hot As Pluto's fire—-is future lot— Ris hair ts bristling like the quills Of poreupines—while coldest chills Are playing “tag” adown his back, And all the sir around is black. His collar won't stay down behind, All owing to one of those “ties that bind.” A woman fair Beyond compare ‘Wears to the ball a costume rare, Of satin fine and golden lace, ‘With three yards train that sweeps the place. Her partner a man of bearing grave, (One of those¥renchmen who says“belave”), ‘Dodges ntmbly the dang’rous snare, ‘Till all at once, his feet in air, He's prone upon the floor, resigned, ‘Caught in one of those “ties that bina” A maiden true Appeals to you ‘Whether she’s doomed her lot to rue, She's bound so fast by silken bands Both head and heart, and feet and hands, ‘That only you, sweetheart, can break ‘The brave strong cords you helped to make. ‘You hold the ends—if any try To pull them *way and you comply Forever loosed from You they'll be ‘Tho’ unto death they shall bind me. dependent on its post office for mail That | time it desires to post letters or to inquire for | clase would actuaily mereaso the public rev- | New York. He wishes to know by what train | POOL ROOM WIRES. The Fascination and Temptation That Surrounds a Racing Circuit. —-__—_ EXPERTS AT THE KEY. patie eee How Telegraphers Bet on Sure Things and Lose—A Neat Trick That Worked to Per-| fection—The Fatal Termination of a Wire- Tapping Piot. pane beeen HE MOST FASCIN. ating feature of a tel- egraph operator's in-| teresting work is the transmitting and re- ceiving of racing re- ports. Reports and quotations from the steck exchanges, cf course, furnish a small ripple of excitement and interest, but the telegrapher is fully aware that it takes a great deal of money to deal in margins, With the baying of pools on races it is different. A ten-dollar bill will do to start with. This is the alluring bait continually dangling before the eyes of the telegrapher that works on a “race” wire. He will receive and send “pointers” from men who have made racing and horses a life | stady; watch the result and find that bad he | been quick to grasp the situation he could have been benefited to considerable extent finan- cially by betting on this information. The | same opportunity will materialize a few days later and all his money will back the “tip” sent out and this time he quite a loser. It is expe ences of this nature that bave led the’ tel- | egrapher to fight shy of betting on horse races, | On paper they can win fortunes in a week, but | let them once put up their hard-earned money nd their calculations and information goes for | naught. BIG WAGES To THE OPERATORS. It is said that proprietors of gambling rooms | pay their employes big wages, as they are sure of getting it back through the games played in | their rooms, So it is with the bookmaker that | employes an operator at €5 a day of four hours’ work; the former generally retains « major | part of the salary at the end of the week. and with ® relay sounder instrament and ground cut in on the wire and send out What news or horses it was clesired. | “One man eyed me rather sharply on Twas | telling the story as if reading my character. Immediately after the conclusion of the meal he hailed me in the hallway and with the offer | of a cigar intited me to his room. There he | tempted me with all manner of offers to put | my ideas into practical effect. but as I was am- bitious and hoped to stay in the telegraph busi- ness as a livelihood I refused all bis offers. “When he saw I was obdurate he changed his tactics, and with a laugh slapped me on the back and said he was pleased to know an honest | man, as he was & bookmaker and desired to know what chance he bad againsta wire tapper. | He then left the room, saying be would speak a good word for me to ‘the fuperintendent as to my honesty, but I laughed this off, as I conid read in his face that he was disappointed in my refusal to go into the scheme. | RUSTED UP ANOTHER MAX. “It doveloped afterward that he hunted up a Poor fellow whom drink held in « strong e: | brace, but who wasone of the most expert teleg- | raphers in the country when sober. This m: | had been out of work for some time, owing to | his failing, and being in great need, after a little | Persuasion, decided to enter into the plot. He | was kept sober and through acquaintances | | among the operators and linemen at the main | office secured « plan of the pool room circuit in the city and euburbs, ‘After diligent search a pole carrring the de- | sired wire was found that was planted alongside | a large tree just outside the city. The branches | of the tree completely enveloped the upper part of the pole or crossarm. The operator was now thought to be safe and my plan, no doubt, | was unfolded to him. All the lines were laid | for a bigswicdle. Confederates had been taken into the plot and every pool room in the city | marked as victims. The first time they tris the trick it worked to a charm. The book- makers learned of their losses about an hour after they had cashed the checks for the faked horses and consterna’ reigned supreme in their ranks. How much money was lost could not be exactly learned, but it was well up in the thousands. As luck ‘would have it sickness called me out of town for week and I heard nothing of the swindie until my return. Had I been on the ground I could have given my sus- picions to the superintendent and perhaps cap- tured the awindlers, “The operator was so expert that he simply cut in on the wire, heard what was transpiring | from his position on the cross arm, and when | the time came for the race he was to “fake” grounded the wire and told the story to suit | bimseif and confederates. REPEATING THE scuEste. “Three days later the schome was again to be Fepeated. Success emboldened them and they wanted to cut the melon while it was ripe. By | this time the swindle had ceased to be gossip | and only the bookmakers kept in mind the event. The afternoon was sultry and the clouds | _ The telegraphers handing racing reports are generally young men, as the older hands gen- | erally decline the positions, and are experts | with the key and sounder. Their surroundings | have a demorilizing effect upon their moral | character and the good pay is poor recompense. | | After they have been in the busincas a teeson | or two they become fully acquainted with the | workings of the ditferent race circuits und with | several of the codes or ciphers in use. ‘The | | next season, should they not be able to vecure | | their former positions or ones similur, they are enerally open for negotiations from outside etting men, and ascheme for “tapping” the | wires is generally the result. Were it not for the vigorous action of the Western Union Telegraph Company in prose- | cuting the wire tapers that are captured for | trespassing schemes of this class would be de- | veloped every week. The telegraph company derives a princely revenue from this source and must protect its customers, as they know the | Jaw will not recognize the latter, as they, too, | are battling against the statutes. If any one will take the trouble to circulate | among the operators and gain their confidence it will be found that three out of every four of | them have original wire-tapping ideas. They | do not make them public asa general thing, but ithas become quite a hobby with a great | many of them to figure out the chances of be~ ing captured or making a successful raid on the pool boxes, A reporter of Tae Evesixo Stam one even- ing recently dropped into the big telegraph office on 15th street at the midnight Iuncheon | hour, and during the let up of business a group | of the “boys” gathered around one of the | tables in an obscure corner of the room, Some | one broached the wire tapping and racing sub- jects, and soon they were off, each one having | a story to teil, many of them original and full | of excitement and humor, WOW PHIL DWYER DID THE Bors. “Say, Mac, tell us how Phil Dwyer did the | boys up on the racing cireuit about ten |ago,”" spoke up one of tho group. “W. heard snatches of it, but_you were right in it \d know all the particulars.” ‘Well, it’s pretty rough to tell astory on | one's self,” replied the operator designated as | Mac, “but as [ had plenty of company’ on that | particular occasion and the story has never | been rightly told, T'don’t mind letting myself | | out tonight. To begin with let me tell you | that the telegraph company and the book- makers hadn't things down to so fine a point as | | now in regard to safe Ve received #10 | for four hours’ the money away and only went into the betting ring on ‘sure things.’ The bookmakers knew | the betting fever was on us and that it only took a good thing to make us go down into our | | pockets and hand our money over in exchange | for their pool tickets. | | _ “Our circuit was a long one, embracing New | York, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and covered about fifty pool rooms. "I was located down on E street in this | city. It was toward the close of the season and | a majority of the operators on the circuit had good-sized rolls of money stored away. This fact ulso was evidently known to the bookmak- | ers and they must have come to the conclusion among themselves that this was too much good | money going to waste. They all possessed code books, and for a week before the trap wi | sprung allowed them to frequently come under | our observation as if by accident. Phil Dwyer | was a coming man then and coming with a rush. He was interested in many ‘books,’ and | words that fell from his lips in regard to | horses, especially his own, were treasured up | |as the purest pearls. Stories of how he was | winning fortunes daily were common gossip over our wire before the regular business of the day began, THE CIPHER DISPATCH, “On the day in question there was a message passed over the wire about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, addressed to all*the bookmakers on the line. It was in cipher and signed in cipher, but all of us read it off like an open book and thought we recognized Phil Dwyer's signature by the number. It gave the outline of how the = — = Jerome = was to be won throug! rugging fa orites and other underhand work and named an obscure outside horse as the winner. I think Parole was the king of the turf then and was entered for this race, but was among those to be fixed. The odds against the horse given in the code as the winner was something like 25 to 1, and you can easily imagine our suppressed chuckles of satisfaction as this great secret en~ tered our chuckle-headed brains. “I had something like $500 laid way at home ang immediately sent a messenger boy with a note tomy wife to secureit. He returned in good time and I asked the bookmaker that employed me how much money he would take on that particular horse. He madea show of hesitat- ing and then said: ‘Well, I'll ‘take all that's offered,’ and up went my #500 and I com- menced to buy « house and lot in my mind From what I learned afterward some of the other men on the line put up all they cash and then sold their watches and swell the amount. It was to be what they cail in racing circles a “hog killing.’ Well, it bat medi the Parole have beard the code that over between the operators after that race. 80 full of brimstone and sulphar teries were not renewed for three months ward. “One of the ‘bookies’ found the ‘worked the telegraphers out pay by sending @ confederate up to Siice New York to start the message forged Dwyer's number. It served we should not — bearish Wn vr reposed in was and we coulda’t kick.” * A WIRR-TAPPING INCIDENT. “Is there any one here that has been mixed £ i : t i let HE eb fe Eine fet & B | of any telegraphers that hav of us stored | j | would generally borrow as mach money as pos- overhead threatened a storm. iverybody knows what kind of storms they have down in that country in warm weather. If the trap had not been so well prepared the operator, noti: ing the threatening weather, would have de- laved putting it through, but he resolved to | chance it as they bad paid him liberally for his | first endeavor. The race he wanted to queer | was the third. When he cut in on the wire the | first race has just been run and he settled down | on his pereh with « rather uncomfortable fee ing to await the proper time to take a hand in the performance, “While the second race was being ticked over the wire the storm suddenly broke above the unfortunate man's head. The rain came down | in torrents and the lightning lit up the gathe: ing gloom with terrifying brilliancy. For one | moment the operator hesitated to look around and see if the clouds displayed any signs of breaking, and then he decided to desert his post for the day. | “As he was unscrewing the brass clamps that held the ground and instrument wires fast to the ‘main circuit wire a terrific flash lit up the «ky, the wires caught the full bolt and in an instant the wire tapper was hurled headlong from his treacherous perch. The storm proved tobe one of the most severe of the season and all the wires in the city were badly damaged. As one of the line- men was passing along the road a few hours later, looking for breaks and crosses, he came upon the borribly burned body of ‘the poor operator partly hidden in the bushes at the foot of the pole. Glancing up the pole to the wires overhead he discovered the ground wire and upon ascending. @ short time afterward, found the instrument and clamps. The secret of that big wire-tapping swindle was solved.” “The operators in both those tales appear to have received the worst of a bad bargain,” chimed in a young man just in from New York. “Isn't there some one here that can tell tory wherein the telegrapher came cut on top? Ageneral negative shake of beads of the crowd followed and pause ensued. Then one spoke up, savii “You have been in New York for some time and should have learned many things of inter- est in regard to pool room wires. Do you know had the best of the game with the bookmakers?” WAY BoB GIRARD WENT west. “Yes,” replied the New York man. “Have you heard the story of why Bob Girard took up | his habitation on the Pacific slope? "came inachorus. “Let bear about ‘Well, Bob was considered among the pick of the ‘profesh’ in New York. Wheu I tell you | that he worked on the Boston ‘quad’ for over a | year you will comprehend more clearly his | Bob was possessed of the betting erazeand gave up his regular job in the main office to go witha bookmaker whose pool room islocated on Broome street. Frequently he would drop into the main ottice to see the boys and make a little extra. During these visits he sible from every one and when we couldn't ac- commodate him a short trick at the key would follow. As Bob was good pay he usually got the money if it was about our clothes, “After a short time matters began to go from bad to worse with him and he became gloomy | and dejected. He made the remark that ail | his old-time good duck had deserted him and no matter what horses he backed he always was | # loser. In the hope that his long spell of bad | luck would desert him three of us who had worked on the Boston wire with Bob kept loan- ing him money until he was in our debt from | £50 to $75 each. This indebtedness worried Bob, and, although we told him to take it easy, I knew too well that he would take desperate chances to repay the loans. “Like a majority of operators, we occasion- ally wagered money on good ‘tips,’ but not to excess. Bob's financial straits acted as a warn- “Fone morning about 11 o'clock the three of us met, by appointment, at the Morton House, | having decided to takein the racer at Moris Park in the afternoon. Just as we were about to depart for the train Bob came in, looking pale and uneasy. Expecting another request fora loan i had almost made np my mind to refuse it, when he said: ‘Boys, I'm sorry I can't give you anything today, but the fact is I'm almost broke. But I'lido the next best thing by you. I'll put you onto « horse, if you'll come down to the room in which I'm working and invest your money, that'll win the fourth race today. You put up all you can or borrow, and if you win we' it square, I'm off for the west tomorrow and quit races forever. - What do you say, is ita go?” Bonls TrPs, “Now, while we knew Bob was square and above board and in a position to give ‘tips’ in g00d faith, we were a little dubious, but his earnestness won us over, and we decided to be at the pool room by $ o'clock. He then shook hands with usin a manner and as be left varR part of our experi- i 4 i HI clear, steady voice while looking us straight in the eve: jack Nose, first at the quarter; Badge, see ond: felt strung out’ Ve then easily comprehended bow he was going to make his “tip’ good. “*At the balf,” came from Bob, Jack Rose, first; Badge, second; fidld bunched three lengths behind.’ The wire named Badge, but said nothing of Jack Rose. “““In the stret.b,’ called ont Bob, ‘Jack Ross first, Badge second, field closing ap.” “Everything was as still as death in the room, My heart was beating @ tattoo and from the looks of my companions they, too, were in @ state bordering on nervous collapse. “Jack Rose wins, Montana second, Badge third,” called out Bob as he slid down from his perch. Then the wire ticked off the private cipher message corroborating the drtails of the Face ax given out by Bob, and up went the little slide at the cashier's desk and two or thre= im the crowd moved forward to cash their tickets: “Bob bad evidentiy learned the code and ree solved to play for a bigh stake, By keeping Jack Rose in front he made it appear planet that that horse was making a runaway race off and lulled suspicion. I learned afterward that the other winners in the crowd were in the scheme with Bob also, The bookmaker di. int hear of his loss until an hour after closing time. Ly that time Bob bad di«appeared “I beard from Bob two months later, the coo ter was dated Los Angeles, Cal.” “Did von fellows ci rour tickets?” @ mrck Youth in the crowd of listeners “Did they cash their ticl “came from the crowd in a derisive chorus, and ever the nomer- ders scattered over the big room seemed ho the query, “Did they cash ther in tickets? —~ro- A Fair Inconoclast. From the Pittsburg Bulletin Rose (rapturously) Just listen to these dear words: ‘You are the only woman lever loved.” * Lily (languidly)—“They appear in large letters, underscored Rose (surprised) — “Ye Lily— “Then it ist Rose—""What is trae?” Lily “That he writes those dear words eo frequently. and to 0 many girls, that he hed | them cut on a rubber stamp. — : ‘The Vengeance of @ Discarded Lover, From Life