Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-06-11
aBeware of Confidence Men :.

"Beware of Confidence Men,"
THE number of men who are "victim-
| lied" by and the amount of money
gained by confidence men" of one kind
or another in cities are surprisingly large
and do not seem 10 grow less, notwith-
standing the number of signs with the
above inscription and the frequent warn
| ings of the press. We attach very little
! importance to giving details of this or
| that particular trick by which men are
deceived. 1t is much safer to rely on
some general principles, for it is safe to
say that the cases are very rare in which
a man has lost money through conf
dence men" of any kind when the loss is
not attributable to an excess of cIedulity,
| ignorance of business customs, or de-
! sire to make money too easily or dis
honestly.
Among the rules it is well to bear in
mind when travelling or in large cities,
the following may be named: 1t is
neither the best of taste nor very safe
to be makinga show of large quantities of
money. Ordinarily it is not best to carry
large sums on the person. If this seem
advisable a sum sufficient for the ordi.
nary expenses should be kept separate
and the rest need not be exhibited nor
| spoken Of
| 1t is neither necessary nor advisable to
tell strangers your name, business, desti
nation and general history. One need
not shut bimself up like an oyster. The
little courtesics and talk Of civilized life
should be found among travellers, but
many man could trace his loss of money
to too free talk about himself.
While little. courtesies and favors may
properly be exchanged between stran-
gers, the cases are extremely rare in which
u stranger should propose or you should
offer fayors which require the lOaning OF
money or the purchase of property
When stranger finds himself In need of
a little or much money and asks you for
it, proposing to give as security or sell
at great sacrifice "a fine watch or val
liable diamond, or to secure you by Il
check, draft or bond, etc, it sperfectly
| safe to express your regret that it is not
convenient for you to accommodate him,
as some hundreds of men who have re-
ceived brass watches, glass pins or worth
less checks can testify.
| Proper inquiries will almost invariably
be eivilly and correctly answered by rail
road conductors, ticket-agents, police
men, hotel-clerks, etc AS a rule they
should be addressed to such men rather
than TO strangers, however friendly.
If in city you are addressed by some
" old friend" who calls you by your own
or some other name, but of whom you
have no recollection, there is no Objec-
tion to being as polite rs he is, but there
are very good reasons for not going out
of your way to oblige him, or acting
on his advice, however plausible-as a
| good many men who have stopped 20
"take drink" with such friend or
gone with him to see the sights" or to
look up "gOod chanceto make money"
have found out to their cost.
1t ought not to be necessary to caution
anyone against accepting invitations to
! patronize lotteries, cheap auctions, etc,
OF against betting with monte-men, or
gamblers of any kind, it is unfortu-
nately true that large numbers of men
who ought to know better have been
swindled" in these ways. For such
men il is not easy to- get up much sym
Ipathy. .JlsI.. -f5al
To sum up, the man who quietly attends
to his own business, neither seeking MOI
permitting too great familiarity on the
part of strangers, who transacts his bust
ness as far as possible with wcll-estab'
lished and reputable firms, and who is
not led away by apparent opportunities
TO make money dishonesty, will rarely
have need to complain of being swindled
by confidence men,-Westeln Rural.