The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-20 00:00:00

Auction " Knock-Outs."

A writer in a contemporary says :—Hundreds of suf-
ferers from the iniquitous system of "knock-outs" at public
auctions will thank you if you will use your powerful aid
to suppress this vicious practice that is now become such
a pest to London and its suburbs.

I am assured by a firm of auctioneers that hundreds of
pounds are sacrificed every week by this pernicious custom.

It appears that when there is a sale of furniture the har-
pies who style themselves commission agents flock together
and agree to a " knock-out ;" which not only means that no
one of the shabby oleaginous fraternity shall outbid another,
but that they shall use their united efforts to annoy and
molest any honest bidder who may attend the sale. To
such a pass has their audacity carried them that they have
absolutely become the terror of the auctioneers. I write
feelingly on the subject.

My mother-in-law, a widow lady residing in the neigh-
bourhood of Westbourne-terrace, das, a few weeks ago,
obliged, by a sudden and unexpected failure of a source of
her income, to give up her house and sell her furniture.

Acting on her behalf, I got the furniture valued at £450,
being assured that that sum was the least wo had to expect.
In my opinion it was worth £BOO. The sale was duly ad-
vertised in the daily journals, and the day of anxiety came
at last—for it was a day of anxiety—the trying to snatch
from tho fire all that was left of a tolerable fortune for a
widow now too stricken in years to rough it in the world.
With the sale came the "knock-out" gentry—a dirty,
miserable, hand-to-mouth looking crew, who by their bois-
terous conduct drove every respectable person away from
the drawing-room where the sale was 'held, even before the
auctioneer had mounted the rostrum.

Not knowing that I had anything to do with the sale,
three of these harpies assailed me for a commission. One
assured me•that the things would be given away, as it was
quite a "trade sale," and that he could get the things for a
mere trifle. "Besides," he said, "if you bid yourself, they
will all set upon you, and make the room too hot to hold
you." At this moment a large party of respectable people
entered the room and the fraternity commenced their tactics.
A lady was admiring the piano (one that had cost 130
guineas at Broadwood's, and never been outside tho house
from the time it came from the manufactory).. "Bill," says
one of the unwashed, running his dirty fingers rudely along
the keys, "Vy, bless me if there aru't that old rattle-trap ye
saw sold at Ealing last week. I niver seed sich a take-in
in all my life. Look at that sideboard—that's been put up
seven times to my certain knowledge ; it's a good sham
though, isn't it 2" " Yes," replies Bill, " I've been to a good
many sales in my time, but I niver see sick a take-in as
this surely."

And so they went on telling the most outrageous lies about
everything, and regularly frightening the people away.
Having succeeded in getting the place pretty clear of all
respectable people, they prepared themselves for the plunder
Things were absolutely given away. Every bidder that
came into the room was set upon in a moment, and obliged
either to allow the harpies to bid for him or leave the place
in disgust.

A friend of mine, a wine-merchant in the city, came de-
termined to make many purchases. I told him the system
that was being carried on, and he very boldly began bid-
ding on his own account. In a moment the scoundrels
were upon him; they badgered, bullied, and worried him
to that intense degree that he was absolutely obliged to
give it up as hopeless and retire in vexation.
What was the result ? The proceeds of the sale were
£207125. Gd., which, with all deductions of auctioneer's
fees, expenses,and advertisements, loft a margin of £156 Gs.
And the minimum valuation was £450. It was the hand-
some furniture of a large mansion, and it had beenremoved
from Weymouth about two years ago at a cost of £6O.
Now, sir, there was lost to this widow lady £3OO in one
day by this crying abuse ; will you not try to stop the evil
for others ? I write simply for the benefit of the publics
for before I, or any one for whom I stood guardian, would
submit again to the annoyance, worry, and grievous dis-
appointment of a sale of furniture in London by public
'auction, I would keep the things till the sth of November,
and make friends with all the little urchins of my parish
to burn them and do away with them for nothing.
And how is this evil to be abated ? Let all would-be
purchasers determine to employ no " commission agent"
under any circumstances whatever. Let every respect-
able auctioneer place a placard in front of his desk, warning
the public from having any communication with the vaga-
bonds, and they will soon learn to keep civil tongues in
their heads, and behave in a proper, tradesmanlike manner.
It is a matter of the deepest consequence, and I do not
doubt but that when once it is publicly noticed, some abler
pen than mine will lay the system before you in all its hide-
ous rascality.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—That the fearful annual mortality of
60,060 yoiin,g children and delicate persons of all ages may be
arrested, if, instead of flying blindly to pills and medic,nes,
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and with it the dangor of life, we were simply to study how
to increase the vital force by imparting new and pure blood,
upon which the harmonious development of the whole frame
depends, has been successfully proved by Du Barry's inva-
lids' and Infants' Food, the Revalenta Arabica, and its
thousands of cures annually. It yields three times as mush
easily assimilated nourishment as the best meat, and for
children it is the best substitute for human milk. Dr.
Routh, physician to the Samaritan Hospital for Women and
Children—the best authority on ouch matters —ln his admir-
able publication on Food, says—Amongst the vegetable sub-
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is, without doubt, Du Barry's Revafenta Arabica Food, con-
taining both phosphoric acid in abundance and chloride of
potassium ; it also includes casein, the same principle which
is found in milk in its constituent part?. No wonder, there-
fore, that under its influence many children affected with
atrophy (wasting away of the body), and marked debi ity
have completely recovered. I have given it with the greatest
advantage in such cases ; and so far as I may judge from my
own experience, practice fully carries out what theory,
from a knowledge of its composition, led us to anticipate.—
In tins, 11b, 2s 9d; 21b, 4s 6d; 51b, Ils ; 121 b, 225; 211 b,
40s.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London;
also Phillips, tea dealers, 8, ;ling William-street; likewise
at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 49, Bishopsgate-
street Within ; 83, 150, and 298, Oxford-street ; 330, Strand;
54, Upper Baker-street ; 10, Tottenham-court-road ; 96,
Upper-street, Islington, E.; Harvey, Notting-hill; Close
Brothers, 65, high-street ; and Stnbhs, Queen's-terrace, St.
John's-wood, London; and all respectable grooers and °he-
mistS.—BeWare of spurious imitations.