The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-28
a confidence Hans sketch Of ais
DnernttOus,


a confidence Hans sketch Of His
Operations.
I am ashamed to confess that 1 have
been II thief II is humiliating to re-
fleet that, at an earlier period OF my
career, / should at any time have so far
forgotten mi self as to have been guilty
of petty larceny from the person. 1t is
sad to remember, moreover, that, this
| being my third mistake OF that nature,
l was condemned for it TO five years
penal servitude. Doubly humilintinB
it was when, after being liberated on II
ticket-of-leaYe for good conduct, dis
! covered how many professions were
| open To me OF far more lucrative
| character than nv former calling, and
/ altogether beyond the reHch of the law.
/ 1t occurred 10 me that, with small
! capital, say fifteen pounds, ! might be
able in a short time to realize almost an
| Independence for one iu my position,
| by very simple means, and quite hon
| estly-that is TO say, when viewed in
! connection with some successful busi-
ness operations in the highest walks of
| commerce which have come within my
notice.
I Accordingly on my release, went to
an acquaintance OF mine, pawn
| broker with whom had formerly done
business in another way, and stated my
| intention of turning over new leaf.
1 hinted it was possible he might have
| in his possession ii number of valuable
articles, such as watches. rings, and SO
| forth, which, for certain reasons, il
would be inadvisable TO offer Tor sale;
but for which he might, nevertheless,
| be glad 10 find market. Slngularly
enough, he had. l prOflered my SER
| vices to assist in dispOsing of these arti-
| cles, for the very reasonable Iommis-
| sion of five per cent. My OveEtures be-
| ing accepted, requested my friend to
L.. TfRlF al
| trinkets, priced at their full value.
thirty pounds. Having done SO, he
then entrusted the tickets 10 my charge,
and handed me i'll advance the COM
mission of thirty shillings.
With portion of this money paid
| for the following advertisement in
daily paper: ads 1sa a--
| 01s WANTED FOR TEN DAYS BY A
| Z professional gentleman. Eight pounds
Will be paid for the accommodation, aud prop
address, &c.
From about twenty replies selected
one with a country post mark, and in
| female handwriting. After some cor
| respondence with this lady-a lodging
house keeper in seaside town-she
was prevailed upon to advance the
money on my terms, which were, Item,
my acceptance at ten days for twenty
! three pounds. Item, the deposit of the
pawn tickets for thirty pounds worth
of valuable jewelry.
| When the acceptance became due, l
was unHvoidably called out of town on
| important business, and did not return
for some days; in fact, not until the es-
timable mRtron, finding the acceptance
| dishonored, had endeHYOred to recover
her money by redeeming some of the
pledges. She had taken out goods to
the amount OF ten pounds, but consid-
| ering they were not worth the money,
| FatnGp1 Fn6Rnnl Tina
pnwnbroker, however, knew as we'll as
| | did that the tickets, being actually in
| circulation, would be sure TO come back
again some day, and 10 result in his
! getting rid of the property at very
good profit. This in course of time ac-
tually occurred, for the worthy lady on
discovering that the goods were pledged
| for more than they were worth, was
quite sharp enough to dispose of the
! tickets one by one, for small pre-
MUM, among her continually changing
constituency of dodgers, by this means
she partially recuperated the amount
she had lost, and carried out my truly
| fratern9l principle of sharing our losses
as well as our joys and sorrows among
our brethren in the world. Agonising
reflection to well balanced mind like
mine, IL cost her iour pounds fifteen.
! 1 would have made money by IL!
! During the hours of my retirement
| from the busy scenes of life lat the ex-
I pense of my country, l had possessed
ample opportunities Tor rejecting on
the inestimable blessing of "a free press
/ to an enlightened community. i now
/ proceeded TO embody the result ofthose
/ reflections.
| I first OF all made friends, at some
| trouble and not "a little expense Tor
| liquor, with a porter in the employ of
| Messrs. Danton and Birc', the Cele-
| brated auCtioneerS, aud 1 ultimately
I ls,,anan1al II n ll,nf
| for handsome consideration, to take
charge OF some letters that would be
addressed to me, but to "his care, " at
his masters office. l impressed upon
his mind the necessity of watchfulness,
lest any of these letters should miscarry
into his employers hands.
Having thus secured one of the most
respecta BILE addresses in London, next
purchased ten pounds worth of postage
stamps, and then sent the subjoined ad-
vertisement to three daily newspapers
directing IL to be inserted every other
day; three in each paper only:
THEADVERTISER Err, BEING IN THE EN-
i joyment OF a GOOD THING, is willing TO
ippart IL TO select number of subscribers.
stamps ana a directed envelope TO 'M.,' Esd
care of"H. W." at Messfs. Danton Blrcn,
Moon street, city.
This sort of advertisement being
rather q state Hrtifics in itself, / depend
ed for its success, irst, on the unim-
peachable respectability of the address,
and next, ON the manner in which l
intended TO work IL.
At the end of week, my nine adver
tisements had brought me one hundred
and eighty-four replies. Each reply
contained the addressed envelope and
thirteen postage stamps. If You think
l stole the postage stamps, and bolted,
you wrong me-you entirely mistake
the Christening Influence of meditation
and Eetirement on just and sensitive
mind. What did was this I'm each
of the directed envelopes, folded up
tue thirteen stamps had received, to-
getheT' IVith thirteen more, in a neat piece
OF paper containing these words and
figures:
See Genesis xiii. IS.
Imagine the surprise and curiosity OF
my one hundred and eighty-four eli
ents, when, on opening the letter, each
found twenIy-siX stamps returned for
the thirteen he had forwarded, and had
turned up the quotation: "Aud II came
to pass as they emptied their sacks, be-
hold every mans bundle o! money was
in his sack." :"
i stopped my advertisements tor a
week. Still a few struggling applica-
tions dropped in, making the total num-
ber of replies two hundred and twenty
seven. II
Now, 1 know very well that out of my
two hundred and twentY-seven constit
uents, each of whom had received a
present of thirteen postage stamps,
there would hardly be one who would
not apply to me again. In a general |
t,ay ~ a fish take your. halt and be not |