New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-16
DUpES IND DECEIVERS.

The verdant, shall we always have them
with usf Is the devouring swindler never to
be cut off from his cruel rationsf Cheating
began with the worlds it to go on till the
contamination of all things9 society does Its
share in protecting itself as society it passes
innumerable laws against ra5cals and rascal
tiles; occasionally sharper is caught and
conducted to the k-up, and sometimes he
is kept there for considerable period; and
innumerable tricks, more or less abomlnable,
are constantly exposed in the newspapers.
Yet Mercury. who ages ago stole the nam
mers Of Vulcan and left poor venus
without even grile to cover her, still In
spires prig and confidence man, the wholesale
pecuator and the petty pocket-plcker' the
fraudulent who write Honorable before their
names, and the furacious who for years nave
had "rOgue" written after theirs on the
police records. What astonishes US is that the
world is MT ashamed of its own endless
credulity. Such was the precOcity of mankind
in acute sinfulness that swlndling Is one OF
the most ancient Of accomplishments; and
there is hardly q dodge" of the modern
operator which was not known to the rogue
of Egypt ard to knaves who did business on
tho Seven Hills. No community was ever
made up altogether of those who were too clever
to be cheated and too honest to cheat. We
should have said that if such sweet state OF
things could exist anywhere in 1875 1t would
be found in Connecticut, o Commonwealth
renowned for both prudence and pictY. Yet
here we have in q New-Haven newspaper the
story of an operator in Connecticut town
who actually took in the schoolmaster of the
sol fn
brown state unprecedented in the annals
of reprehensible roasting. 1t was by
no means new method OF multi
plying the fragrant nutmeg; it was
no scheme for extracting sunbeams from
cucnmbers; it was plan for making the most
delicious golden butter out of suet Two
adventures with patent process for working
this greasy miracle proposed to sell the
dominic the right in those regions to turn
suet into butter, as aforesaid He bit even as
the hungry pike bites at o scrap of red
flannel; he agreed to pay the ingenious
strangers, who bore the ilustrious names of
Locke and Newton, $500 for a county
right; he abandoned the business of
teaching the young idea how to
shoot, mortgaged his house to raise
the money, paid it over to the possessors of
the divine secret, who rushed to unknown
parts; and having hired factory and ordered
a great number of tin vats in which to trans
mute the suet. he discovered, poor pedagogue!
that tho butter would not come, and that the
divine secret was diabOlically good for moth
ing! We hope that he finds consolation in
company, for the number Of the cheated in
that neighborhood is considerable. Not, IN
deed, and altogether by the oleomargarine de-
vice. In the other cases it is q Sewing Machine
Motor, which will not move, contrived
for the swndling of mankind by Mr.. George
Sherman Benson, an agreeable combination
of all the old mechanical powers, with two or
three new ones thrown In, and all for the in
significant sum of $5O Mr.. Benson exhibited
to his admiring victims photographs of the
machine-a fanciful selection from tho engrav-
ings in many old Patent Office Reports which
causes New Haven newspaper to rejoice that
"these Reports have been of sonIe practical
"value to at least one citizen" OF such
profit there can be no doubt Mr.. Ben
son received o great number of letters
by post, and each letter contained those
financial EDWARDS" which are so grateful al
ways to the man who gets them In return
the writers were furnished with nothing to
speak of in the way Of motor. And if they
had depended upon Benson for propulsion,
every sewing machine in the thrifty State
would long ago have ceased its cheerful hum
and stood still in cold obstruction. Mr.. Ben
son at present occupies an apartment in the
New-Haven JAIL and his facilities for con-
tinuing profitable correspondence are limited
by the rule which permissible turkeys to have
the first look at his letters.
We suppose that we are justified In saying
that ignorance and want of proper caution
rendered these swindles possible. And is it
not equally so with cheats of all descriptionsf
Why should a desperate schemer DO able to
set up lottery, promising every ticket-hOlder
the capital prize; to sell his worthless and
ghOstlike chances throughout the land to
pocket the money of his dupes and laugh at
their frantic yells for redress Why should tho
butcher be able to vend bad meat the gro
Ger sophisticated butter and coffee and spices
and teaf the liquor dealer logwood port,