Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-01-10
THE
NEM YORK SWINDLES.
The SaWdust Game--The Sewing Ma.
chine Trlck-.The Marriage Method
of Raising tile Wind.

of Raising the Wind.
Many novel and ingenious methods
of earning a subsistence without labor
have lately been brought to light
The most notorious of them is what
has been called the''sawdust swindle,"
the exposure of which has developed
some very interesting and curious
facts. The originators OF this scheme
have for the past few years flooded the
country with circulars offering coun-
terfeit bills at a very low price. After
forwarding the purchase money as
requested, all the applicants receive
are small, neat wooden boxes which
contain small pieces of cast-iron
wrapped in shayings or imbedded in
Sawdust. When the dupes write and
ask for an explanation, they receive a
mysteriOusly worded circular, headed
caution" informing them that the
Police have obtained a clue and are
on the track, and the box containing
the iron and sawdust is merely a
"blind.h and the dupe is earnestly
requested to keep darkn for a time
TO save himself, and when the thing
has blown over, the real cOunterfeits
will be duly forwarded. This is a
trick, Of course, and is only resOrted
to by the swindlers TO keep their vie
time quiet while they others
in the same fold.
James Fisherand Charles Hinckley,
who carried on a very extensive trade
at No. 80, Nassau street, cleared thou
sands of dollars from country dupes
by this swindle. They traded under
the names of Fisher d Co., King &
Son, Owen Bros, sc. They occupied
five rooms on the top floor of the
premises. They started in September,
1870, and when ready they advertised
for good penmen 10 write addresses at
50 per thousand. They engaged ten
young men, chiefly new arrivals from
Europe. These young men were
locked up in n room, and supplied
with envelopes and bundles of letters.
Each man wrote, on an average, 500
addresses per day, and was kept at
work for five months. During these
five months I95. 600 circulars were
mailed all over the country, offering
to supply counterfeit money. In one
room nine young girls folding cir
culars, i~nclosing them, and stamping
the envelopes. These girls earned
about IS per week each. They were
also locked in q room where no one
but the principals ever entered. In a
small room was secreted the packer.
He Enclosed the iron chips and saw
dust, and sent the boxes offby express, !
He received SO per week for his
labor.
Next came the shop-walker, who
was kept constantly posted outside,
in the passage, ready to pump any
person who came to inquire for the
firm. Outside the sanctuary of the
two principals was a small office, into
which were ushered all the knaves
who wanted to purchase this counter
felt money. y clerk would receive
all the money he could obtain from
his visitors, and. under the pretence
that the demand was greater than the
mandatory could supply, would
state hat he could not then give the
counterfeits, but would send them by
express. He would vary this excuse
by saying that the Police were watch
ingevery person who left the premises,
and that 1t would not be safe for him
to carry any notes away. Many
applicants were thus frightened, and
neve- had the courage to venture near
the place again, and lost their deposits.
This clerk would sometimes show q
few new genuine bills drawn from a
safe, and swear they were counterfeits,
and such as would be sent to the
purchasers. The daily receipts aver
aged 81, 200, mostly by express. The
total daily expenditure, including
printing, stationary, and labor of the
whole gang, did not exceed $500;
leaving y profit to divide between the
two men-Fisher and Hinckley-of
5000 daily, and this immense swindle
had been carried on for five months,
when Capt. Petty made a raid upon
the establishment. Fisher and Hinck-
ley, however, got clear, and started
again in Cedar street. After making
many thousands of dollars they stop
ped the trade, and one of them, under
an assumed name, is often seen among
the bears in Wall street.
In the thousands of letters bought
up by Fisher & Co., some curious
illustrations of fraud are presented.
The Gem Family Sewing Machine
swindle. Messrs. Cately & Co., of
Fulton street, supplied some 10000
letters from dupes who had been
defrauded. This machine was made
of cast iron, and turned by a small
hand wheel. 1t wouldsew two pieces
of the finest fabric together, but any,
thing coarser would demOlish the
machine and render it useless.
Clergymen, agents and schoolmis-
were terribly Yictimized over
some $50, 900 before they closed their .
LTghnr l. ~ hnu1hN IN mn I
from a Miss Wilson, of Brook {
who advertised to supply every {
man or woman with the date of their
marriage and description of their
partners for life. J
Miss Wilson received ia nearly /
every one of these &c, 600 letters a fifty s
cent stamp, and no evidence was J
given by perusing the letters that she
sem 4 single reply. Indeed so
great was the harvest that some fifty
sixty of the letters had never been
opened by her, and still contained the
cen stamp, which fell as a per-
10 the fortunate clerk who
happened to find il. From Rev. DR..
of William ;burg, who adj
Fertised 4 " certain cure for cOnsump-
and received i'll each reply a
.hree-centstamp and twenty-nvec cents
IN currency, were bought two large
lacks of letters.
Next, we come TO 4 company styling
themselves Noyd & Co, of Wall
who advertised two beautiful
steel engravings of distinguished per-
,ons mailed free on receipt of one
lOllaF These fellows received some
.wenty thousand replies, with dollars
included, and sem in return twO ten
cent stamps OF the period. Fisher & :
20. also bought up letters addressed
quack doctors, dealers in obscene
etc, also some thousands from
Wagner d Co, of Marshall, Michigan,
whose advertisements are now seen
n many of the New York weeklies.
-NeW York Times. !
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