Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1892 — Bent on Paying His Fare. [ARTICLE]

Bent on Paying His Fare.

He sat in a Sixth avenue elevated railrohd car, : and twirled a 5-cent piece expectantly. At length he turned to a New York Tribune reporter, who happened to be sitting near him, and said; “What’s the fare on this road?” “Five cents.” “Don’t they collect it?” “Certainly not. You buy a ticket at the station where you get'on and put it In the box on the platform.” “That’s strange,” raid the man with the unused nickel. “Somehow I’ve slipped in without paying. You see,” he added confidentially, “I’m from California, and we don't ride around In this sort of thing out there. Guess I can put in a ticket when I get off, can't 1?” “Well,” said the reporter, “the elevated road crowds and hustles us so that some New-Yorkers wouldn’t hesitate to ‘beat’ the road if it were in such an unintentional manner as you have done it.” “I think I had better pay,” said the Californian decidedly. And at Fourieenth street he lei t the train and said to the ticket chopper; “.Somehow or other I have ridden up here from Chambers street without paying anything. “Saved a nickel, did yer?” “I want to pay now.” “Hey?” “I say I want to pay for my ride.” “Don’t live in New York, do you?” “No.” “Didn’t come from Jersey or Brooklyn, did yer?” “No.” “Where did you come from?” “California.” “Convention?” “Yes.” “Well, you go round to that window,” gasped the chopper, “plank down five cents for a ticket, and come back and put it in this box. Then let me look at yer. I’ve chopped tickets goin’ on three years, but I never seed a man like you before.”