Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1892 — GRAIN STOLEN IN TRANSIT. [ARTICLE]

GRAIN STOLEN IN TRANSIT.

Thieves Make Use of Augers to Tap a the Laden Cars-. Chicago News. “I could afford to give a great many dollars to charitable institutions each year if I had tho grain that is stolen while in transit in the United States,” remarked Mr. Perrin Clark, a grain operator from Fargo, N. Dak., at the Leland Hotel, as he read a communication from a farmer in South Dakota, who told how he had shipped 1,500 bushels net of grain and by the time it had reached Buffalo and the exorbitant warehouse tolls had been paid to the combine the grain netted him about $225. “Aside from the heavy warehouse drain and storage charges and the natural and allowable shrinkages, that grain, I dare say, lost many bushels by theft,” continued the Fargo nian. “One of the most ingenious, and at the same time hardest to detect plans of stealing ,graiq from cars in transit is the boring Glreat numbers of coni-. plaints are daily received at terminal points aJjput.thea’avagqs of ‘bar r G i S. “How is the boring process performed?” “You know it is almost impossible to mQyelLc&r of-wheat fromaWest- T ern point to an Eastern mart and keep the car going continuous!v. one road’s yard tp auother and very often when a congestion occurs it frequently remains for hours on a lonely sidetrack. There is where the borer getg his opportunity. “Ais it is impossible to house ill a great city contiguously for a night, so it,is impracticable for a railroad company to watch ea.-h car on a side track. The borer is generally a poor fellow who lives near the track and who keeps poultry and perhaps milch cows. To sneak up to a freight train, glide beneath a car, bore an inch hole in the floor and fill several bagSj from the. downpouring stream of grain is a safe task. Railroad men might pass' and repass without observing the ‘borer,’ who might easily conceal himself behind a truck. Should a mau attempt to break a seal and force open a door, the chances are that he would be detected. The boring process is safer. “The depredations of these - borers are becoming so alarming that the railroad companies have in many cases doubled their force of watchmen. Strenuous efforts are put forth to capture these marauders and make examples of them. The shippers would not kick so hard if the borers would content themselves with taking a bag or two of grain from each ear, but when they drill into a load, fill a few bags and leave without plugging up the auger hole the grain leaks out and is scattered along the track for miles. With an inch hole in the floor one can approximate the leakage from a 30,000 pound load. It would be enormous on a trip of 100 miles. Careful car repairers are detailed to watch for these leaky cars, end by this species of precaution the poor shipper is often saved many a dollar. Eortune often comes to the rescue xvhen the car's cargo happens to be oats or corn, as the grain is apt to stop up and thereby stop the leakage. Between this evil dnd the octopus that controls the storage of grain at Buffalo,* the law regarding eleva tpr rates and transactions seems to be violated without fear, the poor, grain shipper is kept guessing as to where his profits are coming from.”