The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-08-26
SEWING MACHINE-AGENTs.
A Poor widow with FIVE Small Children
NiciimiIrd.

The position 10 the world Of trade former
" occupied by the lightnlng.r"d man has
been usurped by the sewing machine agent.
OF the two the lightning rod man was the
lesser evil; he would put a rod Un your house
in spite of your circumstances, but he never
took it away, and YOU always had something
to remind you of the fellows ln!mItabie gan
and adaman,lae check. Not 50 with The
sewing machine man Heoperates altogether
among poor women-particul"rly widows
with seven or eight cLlldrca. lie tells hts
unsuspecting victim that she can m axe from
$40 TO $40 per week with sewing machine,
and in year or two can lay UP a snug little
fortune for her children. II she say she has
no money, he will smile bandly aud declare
upon honor that he despises filthy lucrc, and
only seeks to bcfriend her from philanthroplc
motives. She can make herself mistress Of IA
firs,-cass sewing machine without money
and without price-that is, very little money
"a mere song; 50 month Will, IN couple
of years pay the foil price, ard this she can
make out of the machine itself. lie succeeds
in talking the widow into the notion Of buy.
ing machine, and he sets it up for her, shows
her how to run il, and gets her to sign pap
er promising to pay So month for the rent
He gets s. down; calls for two or three
months and collects regularly and then, per
haps, he disappears, and another man Of
sterner manners takes his place. The widow,
in the course of six or eight months, may
meet with some mistortune-her children
may have undergone course. OF the measles
or scarlet fever, or she may be sick herself,
or unable to obtain work, and consequently
she falls behind in her payments. This is
the sewing machine mans opportunity He
enforces the contract with a more deadly de-
termination than Shylock, or township con
stable in levying an execution. He takes the
machine away, although It may be more
than half paid tor, and the poor woman is left
without the slightest means OF subsistence.
case occurred the other day in which
sewing machine man took from woman a
machine upon which there remained but SO
to pay.
An instance of peculiar hardship was de,
veloped yesterday in trial before Justice
Young. \ poor widow named Schultz, with
five small children to support, purchased, or
"rented" u sewing machine OF an agent who
signed himself "Cannon"--a brass piece of
small callber, no doubt-anl after she had
made all the payments but one, another man,
who signed his name "COnklin," collected
the last installment and gave her final re-
lease Another agent called and demanded
more money, and when she told him she had
a final receipt he refused to recognize it, and
took the machine from her. Deputy City
Marshal Adams called at the Office of the
company with the last receipt signed "Conk-
lln," and was told that it was a forgery. lie
asked why the company did not take steps to
discover and punish the forger, The reply
was that the company lost many thousand
dollars in that way.
Mrs Shultz had been making $40 a week
by her industry, and when deprived of her
machine she was compelled to hire herself
out as servant, and place her little children
with charitable strangers. She brought suit
against the company for the value of the ma
chine, and the Justice gave her verdict for
800, and $50 damages The company raised
a point as TO the jurisdiction of the Court,
end will probably take an appeals. Louts
Rel