Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1879 — A Little Strategy which Did Not Pan Out Very Well. [ARTICLE]

A Little Strategy which Did Not Pan Out Very Well.

At the Union Pacific transfer depot, on the east side of the river, the other day, a short time before the train was to pull out for the West, a man stepped up to the window of the ticket office, and addressing Mr. Carrier, said: “I want three full tickets and one half ticket to Grand Island. The half ticket is for my little girl, who will not be six years until June.” '“Well, we will have to charge you full fare for the girl if she is over live years of age,” replied Carrier. “ Hold on a minute! Let me see! I was mistaken. She will not be five years old till next June,” said the man, who saw his mistake, and calling his wife up to him, he gave her a knowing wink, and then said, “ Betsey will be five years old next June, wont she?” “ Yes,” was the reply of his wife. This didn't satisfy Carrier, however, who insisted upon seeing the little girl. So they went back to another part of the depot, and, in a few minutes, returned with a child under five years of jure, which they had borrowed "from a Grand Island lady to show the particular Carrier, who then told them to purchase their half-fare ticket at the Omaha depot. Carrier discovered the stratagem which had been played on hin\ and accordingly posted the conductor. Soon after the train had left Omaha, the conductor came through the cars as usual to punch the tickets, and, when he came to the party above referred to, he asked how old the little girl was. Neither of the parents seemed to know definitely, ana their answer was rather evasive, but the father said the ticket agent had told him it was unnecessary to get a ticket for her. “Well, you must get her a full-fare ticket at Fremont. • That isn’t the girl at all whom von showed to the agent. You went and borrowed another from a lady from Grand Island, who is in the next car. Your girl is eight or nine years old. That game won’t work.”

This announcement of the conductor fell like a bombshell in the camp. No reply was made, and the hard-hearted conductor passed on his way down the aisle. Immediately after the train left, Fremont he passed through the cars again, and sure enough found that the man had purchased a full-fore ticket for bis girl. As he punched the ticket the mother gave him a piercing look, and twisting her nose into zigzag shape, to show her contempt for him, she said, “ Well, I hope you are satisfied now.” The conductor survived the shock, and continues to run on the Union Pacific.— Omaha Bee. *