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Grasshoppers $1 Each

Grasshoppers $1 Each image
Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
August
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Bobtail cars were all the go in St. Louis at one time. They were not so popular with the people as with the companies, as they were small and inexpensive affairs, the driver acting in the dual capacity of driver and conductor, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The fare-box at the forward end with its series of trap-doors and front and back of glass, was supposed to be an efficiënt device for the protection of the company's interests. At that time car tickets passed everywhere as currency. The peanut stands, the saloons and all retail stores accepted them at their face value for purchases. The drivers knew this, and some of them would evolve schemes to abstract the cov'eted tickets after they were deposited by the passengers in the box. This was no easy matter, as the inventor had so fixed its internal arrangements that robbing the box by a curved wire or any pliable instrument was deemed an impossibility. One driver took a live grasshopper and tied his two hind feet together to a piece of thread, so that he was helpless. The ingenious cuss would then pry open some of the slanting trap-doors with a small stick and slowly let Mr. Grasshopper slide over one door, through another, and so on down into the bottom of the box among the tickets. The hopper had the use of his four small legs, and when his master pulled the thread to which the insect was attachëd, the hopper naturally grabbed hold of some of the tickets. A grasshopper, when secured by the hind legs, will hold firmly with its fore legs to anything that comes within reach. As soon as the hopper reached the tic!; ets he was pulled around the angles in the box and out, bringing with him from one to five or six tickets. The tapping was done at the end of the line or on some lonesome part of the road. ïf the feliow who hatched the scheme had kept it to himself, perhaps the railway company would never have discovered his rascality. This chap had a long head and tried to make all he could out of hls lucky find. He went into the whofesaie grasshopper business. He knew that grasshoppers were not to be had in winter, therefore he laid in a supply. He fed them and took care of them. When Jack Trost cleared the flelds of the chirpers he started out on a tour among the drivers. He was careful about sounding his man first, and to those who were willing to be tempted he showed how the trick could be done. He had the grasshoppers and would furnish them at $1 a piece. By taking care of the hopper it would be good for a week, no matter how cold the weather. He plied his trade with some boldness, and it eventually led to his downfall and a Wholesale discharge of drivers on several of the lines.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Register