Conductor And Vice-president

At a certain period, soine six or eight yenrs ago, the otBcers of mie of our principal railroads had good reasons for beHevmg thut some of the conductors upon a particular seotion of their road were in tlie iiubit of renderinef inaccurate returns "i their rcceijits i'roin " way-papsengers ;" and as tney were unable tó fix the defalc1 ' ) uní upon the particular individuals, Pinkerton, the fainous Chicago detective, was einployed to investígate the matter, and test tlic accuracy of their suspicions. For the execution of this delicate service he selectpd a sufncient number of his best men to furnish four men for every car in a train, one to be seated at each doov and twu m the center of the car, the latter fiicing to the front aud rear, so as to see every person who went in or out. These men were directed not to recognize each otlier, but to pay their faros, and otherwise deport theinselves like ordinary travelers. Each one was provided with peneil and paper, and instructed to keep an accurate record of every person that entered or left the cars, noting the stations to and froni which they traveled, etc., so that if at the end of the trip their notes were in aceord, it would be good evidence of ecuracy. Tn this marnier the Hajor was enabled, in the course of a few days, to tnake a detailed report which showed eonclusively that neaily every conductor upon the section of road under surveillance had been guilt.y of swindliug. He nlso ascertained that one of these delinquents owned property to a large amount in Piiiladelphia. A dialogue then eusued, wherein the conductor confessed that he had laid up over $40.000 on a salary which of itself would not amount to a seventh part of that eum. He then turned on the VicePrcsident, and made hini confess a similar oriine in stealing half a milliou dollars in about ten years. " That i.s all very well," replied the imperturbable Vice President, "but you seem to have forgotten that there is a slight difï'erence between your status and mine upou the liailroad, in that you are responsible to me for stealing the company's money, whereas I am notaccountaljlo to you for my transactions. In vie%v of this fact it now becomes my duty to inform you that vour services ure no longer required upon our road. The facetious conductor probably anticipated this resuH, and with his charactcristic coolness remarked : " In that eveut, sir, it muy at some futuro time become neoessary f'or me to seek employnifi:t upon motlier road. Would it be asking too inuch f'or you to give me a letter i'orth your estímate of my ability to periorm the duties of conductor Y' " If you desire it, I certainly have no olvjeetions to giving you a testimonial to the effect that I look upon you as the most unscrupulous and unblushingknave that has evur disgraced the catalogue of our employps, and that any company havinfi auything to do with you will be morally certain to be robbed."- Harper's Magazine.