The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-12-24
How Farmers are Plucked and
Plundered.


say at the end of the year that he
has not been made the victim of at
least one swindle during the twelve
months may consider himself a
lucky man. The hard handed son
of toll is considered the legitimate
prey of sharpers and swindleTs, and
if they don't victimize him in some
way orsother it is no fault of theirs.
There are sharpers who make a
regular business of canvassing the,
country for the sale of trees and
vines. They buy or steal an illus
trated catalogue from some we'll
known nursery, have cards, bills
and receipts printed, and the game
they play is safe and successful.
When they make sale OF goods to-
be delivered four, six or eight weeks
hence, they demand an advance of
ten, fifteen or twenty five per cent
to pay freights and delivery. 1t is
seldom that thew are suspected and
rarely that they are unmasked.
They solicit such orders as viii give
them an advance of one, two and
three dollars, and when time rolls
by and the goods do not come the
swindler might be thousand miles
away. The farmer now realizes
amount, and, after unloading his
mind at the village tavern, he lets
the matter drop. This fruit tree
swindle has been practiced SO often
that genuine agents have the hard
est kind of work to take an order.
THE TWO-HANDED PUMP.
Within the last year sharpers
have brought forward the pump
swindle and made considerable
money bv the game. A stranger
with three pumps and supply of
pipe drives up to farm house and
offers to put one of his pumps into
the well and give the farmer the
use of it for a month for nothing.
At the end of the month he will
sell the pump for S.. The farmer
bites at the bait. 1t will be put in
without cost to him, and if he con-
Guides to take it the price is aston
ishingly low. The swindles are
practiced after the pump IS in. In
one case the farmer signs a sup
posed receipt, which is actually an
agreement to pay the bearer $25 for
the pump. This agreement is hand
ed to the swindler's partner to col
lect, and he manages by threats and
buster to secure from $40 to the
full amount. In the other case,
along comes a man who claims that
the pump is an infringement on his
patent, and he demands damages
under threats of prosecution. The
patent law is muddle to other
classes besides farmers, and the idea
of litigation brings chill. The
swindler is sorry-don't want to
make any trouble-hopes it can be
avoided, and makes the victim pony
up from $I2 to $40 for the right to
call the pump his own. One pumps
the well, the other the farmer; and
between the two they make fat
thing of it.
THE CARRIAGE SWINDLE.
Two or three years ago this State
was overrun with carriages and
buggies from the East, warranted
in every respect" and yet offered at
astonishingly low figures. While the
price of carriage made at home
was from $I75 to $500, these vehi.
cles were offered as low as $50
They were highly vanished, abun-
dainty silver-plated and went of
like hot cakes. "How on earth they
could be sold so cheap" was soon
made plain. The springs were cast
iron, the spokes pine, the tops
painted cloth, and the iron work a
swindle of the basest sort One
washing took all the vanish off,
and horse and thrills parted com
pany from vehicle and driver al
the first mud hole.
''SMUGGLED GOODS
A smooth talking man with a
peddling wagon made many vic
Tins in the eastern part of Michigan
last summer He had his wagon
loaded with boots and shoes and
dry goods, and wherever there was
a chance to make a sale he grew
confidential and softly informed the
farmers that the goods had been
Struggled from Canada. The idea
of buying struggled goods turned
no one away. Shoes made almost
wholly of paper found ready buy.
ers, and bolts of moth eaten cloth
were freely Sacrificed" at from &C
to 10 cents per yard.
A patent right has charms which
it is hard to resist. Let one have
the best of churns, washing ma
chimes or farm machinery, and he
will still give ear to the patent righ'
man with his washboard which
does all the rubbing, saves all the
soap, hangs out the wash and car
be converted into a cabinet organ
by simple twist Of the wrist. One
of the checklist swindles of the
past year appe4led directly to ava
rice and dishonesty. Strangers
travelled through the agricultural
regions with small model of g
bee hive and a sachel full of square
cakes of some dark stuff weighing
half pound each. If a farmer
had bees he was told that hive
constructed after the model and