The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-04-22
ouR NEW YORK LETTER.
NEW YORK, April 20, 1874
BLACK-MAnLlNG

7
that nearly one-half the population
have no good reason for living. The
nj n'bcr of rumsellers, gamblers,
tia, yes, confidence men, and people
who steal living, would, if put to-
selher, make an army large enough
u nave crushed the rebellion. l now
speak of the male ulcers on the body
politic-t6ere are at least $4,000
women in the city who live by equal
ly disreputable means.
The meanest and most despicable
of all the scoundrels who infest the
city, next to the politicians, are the
PROFESSIONAL BLACK-MAILERs
and few paragraphs devoted to
them may be of interest to your read
ers. The blaek-mailer is a man, or
woman, who possesses, some knowl-
edge of another person which will not
bear open daylight, and then EFFORTS
money as the price of silence.
For instance, the professional black
mailer goes night after night to a
fashionable gambling house, and
watches closely the players. They
are admirable judges of human ma
ture, indeed this is the first qualiiica-
ton of the business. He fixes upon
some nervous player who is losing
heavily, and notes to dollar his loss
es. When the player finally quits
and leaves the house, he does not
know that he is being followed, and
that the street and number of
his residence is taken, nor does he
know that a watchful eye follows
him the next morning to the bank or
Office where he is employed, and that
by noon of that day every fact in his
history is in the possession of cool,
calculating merciless scoundrel, who
by knowing what he is, has a hold
on him that will ruin him. We will
assume that the victim observed in
the gambling house is the cashier of
q bank. From the moment the black
mailer spotted him he is not out of
his sight for an instant. His losses
are carefully noted, his goings to and
fro are observed and noticed, and
every incident that at all compro-
misses him is set down with clrcum-
stances. For, be it known, he who
sa.nbels his other vices-in fact the
most of the raw men at gambling
tables are those who have squander-
ed money not theirs on unlawful
pleasures, and they fly to gaming in
the hope of getting even by stroke
of luck.
When the black-mailer has got
points" enough on his man-that is
when he has facts concerning him
which if made known to his employ
ers or family, would ruin him-he
moves on him. He takes him aside
and tells him boldly what be knows
of him, and fixes the sum at which
his silence can be assured The vic
tim puts on a bold front and deties
him. Mr.. Black-mailer expects this.
and it doesn't move him. He pulls
out of his breast-pocket little book and
and be reads to him that on such night
he lost $4,000 at John Chamberlin's
on such another night 900; on anoth-
er be was at an assignation house
in 22d street, with wo nan closely
yelled, but whose name is So-and-So
that moreover he pays the board OF
Miss So-and-So, at such a street and
number; in short the black-mailer
reads to his victim complete his
tory of his secret life, so methodically
arranged as to make denial useless.
And after this no denial is made.
He willis and gladly pays the price
demanded
But it does not end here. Having
once paid be belongs soul and body
to his tormentor. Threats of expo
sure, SO efficacious the first time are
equally so the second. He comes
again and again, until the dupe be-
somes desperate and flies the coun-
try.
Frequently they do not waite for the
commission of crime. They select
timid, nervous man and threaten to
accuse him of crime if he does not
come down handsomely, and in ma
ny cases they succeed, tie victim
submitting to be bled rather than to
be accused. One of these gentlemen
met his match the other day. A
black-mailer, q graduate ofthe State
Prison, accused a clerk of stealing
from his employer, and proposed to
"hush the thing" for 5000 The in
tended victim gave seeming assent,
but privately made arrangements
with the police and had his black
mailer arrested with the money in
his hand. 1t was unfortunate that
the clerk had pluck. Had be yielded
to the first demand for money, he
would have found himself compelled
in time to pay over to his accuser
every dollar that be could save or
steal.
make the best game for these fellows.
If married women INDUCES in what
to her, seems to be an innocent fir
tation," and happens to fall into the
hands of one of these men, it costs
her dear So valuable is her reputa-
tion that rather than have it called |
in question, she will do anything. |
She pays the scoundrel money, sill
yer ware, jewelry, anything, as the |
price Of silence, for they imagine a
thousand evils where none could pos
sibly occur Next to women.
CLERGYNEN
are the iavorite victims of black
mailers, for their position is so pecu-
liar and uncertain. In their cases
the services of some fair but abandon
ed women are brought inte requisi-
ton. Some years ago distinguished