Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-08-16

WARDS CORNERS. Aug. 10. 1877

| WARDS CORNERS, Aug. 10, 1873.
To the Editor Of the BULLETIN:
In spite of your warning few weeks
since, poor, foolish farmers will let the
lightning rod thieves swindle us. 1t is
not pleasant to confess how bad man
is taken in, but for the public good,
will tell how bad l have been bitten by
them. Their mode Of operating on me
was as follows: On Wednesday the 7th,
an old fellow with horse and buggy
came to where was stacking, and after
talking Of the crops, the weather
ETC.. said, | am an agent for the firm of
Rayburn 4 Co., John Street, Philadel-
phia, North American Star Copper Rod
Company, the best rod in America, etc.,
and as you have the finest house have
seen in the county, / would like to put
a rod on it. l told him I did not need
ii, could not afford the money; in fact,
did not want it any way. He stayed,
talking around all the afternoon, but
finally went away, saying, l shall call
again. The next morning the same old
villain came again, with another bigger
scoundrel than himself, and introduced
him as Mr.. Crane, the foreman of the
Company. This Crane came right to
the point, and said he would put rod
ON my house, if he did it for nothing; it
would be a card for his business: it
would get him lots of work, and would
show he meant to do a straight, legiti-
mate trade; people had been. bitten and
were afraid to trust stranger. In fact,
he talked and fattered till | did not
know whether stood on the ground or
the stack.
He finally said he would rod my house
anyway. asked him how much it would
take. (Fatal mistake on my part; com
mence to deal with the devil, and YOU
are gomez He asked the height of the
house, the length Of the rafters, and
then figured it up and said it would take
l45 feet Of rod; he would give me one
ball and yane and four points, and nine
ty. feet OF rod, and do it for $3.50, and
take my note for year without interest,
| had this bargain before witnesses. He
then drew out a paper, which he said
was to show what he had bargained to
do. 1t was: =, F. Crane, agree to give
ninety feet Of rod, one ball and vane,
and four points" and l was to pay 674
cents per foot for the balance. signed
my name to it, he also gave me copy
and signed his name to that, and away
he went. The next morning along came
two men with wagon, tools and rods,
and they went to work and in short
time, covered the house with perfect
network Of rods and points. They had
nearly finished, when up comes another
buggy, with two fellows l had not seen
before. They came up to the house and
went up to the workmen. and l saw one
of them slip paper into the hand of
one of these fellows, whose name was
Gardner. He came to me and compli-
mented me on my house, said I had
good job done, and efficient protection
from electricity, asked me for my copy
of the agreement, and the workmen how
many feet of rod they had put on, and
then turned to me and said we will now
settle up and | will take your note, as
per agreement. l find there are 25O feet
Of rod and two extra points. After ad-
vancing what Mr.. Crane was to give you,
there remains $126 due us. Is that so?
says |, don't you wish you may get it.
| told him the bargain had made with
Crane, called my witnesses and proved
it to him. He said that was nothing to
him, he meant to 60 by the orders had
signed. He argued, reasoned and threat
ened to me. told him I would do as I
agreed and nothing more, and would pay
when / was obliged to- Away they
went, vowing all kinds of suits. In the
evening they came back, and said they
were going away in the morning, and
rather than have any fuss, they would
take 500. I told them I would do as l
agreed and nothing else. They said they
could not do that. After great deal
of argument and threatening me with
law, drove off and came back; finally
gave my note for $65, on years time.
And now Mr. Editor, the next agent
that comes to my place, l will civilly
tell him l do not want any thing he has
got, and after that if he don't 60, he will
take the consequences.
Yours, +. w. YOUNG.