Page:Omnibuses and Cabs.djvu/196

 them all, and yet never forgets to collect the fares inside before going on top.

A few years ago I gave the following answer, to the oft-repeated question, "How can you tell a pirate?" "No pirates issue tickets; therefore, before entering an omnibus, see if the conductor has a ticket-punch or roll of tickets. If he has you may enter his 'bus assured that it belongs to one of the London Companies or Associations. It is not, however, suggested that every omnibus which does not issue tickets is a pirate, for Messrs. Balls Brothers' Brixton omnibuses, and a few others, are exceptions."

Unfortunately, the pirate conductors read my advice, and some of them quickly rendered it nugatory by wearing punches and holding packets of tickets in their hands so that every one might see them. The punches differed, however, in appearance from those used by the Company and Associations.

A similar dodge was very common among pirates immediately after the great strike, when the ticket system was in its infancy and