Smyrna times., 1882-02-01
Wash-rag Seeds,
THEJEREMY DIDDLERS' LAST FRAUDULENT
SCHEME

One afternoon last week spruce Young
man visited a cottage in the suburbs Of
Newark, n. j., and offered for sale seeds
of the aInarylis and what he called the
washrag plant. He was goOd-looking and
Il fluent talker. The lady Of the house
was amused by his witticisms and his
gentlemanly impudence. lie said that he
had recommendations from several we'll
known florists, all of whom had purchased
his wonderful wash-rag seeds. These
seeds, he said, would develop fine stalk
after being planted two days in dry soil.
If no water was thrown upon the soil the
stalk would in several hours put forth IL
red, Il white, and yellow flower of ex-
quisite loveliness.
WAsHRAGs OF FINEST TEXTURE.
As each of these three flowers burst
into bloom a wash-rag of the very finest
texture would appear. This Wash-rag
could be used, he said, in hot or cold
water without injuring it. and grease or
dirt would not adhere to it. the wonderful
material of which it was composed being
incapable of getting soicd. The lady
knew there was no such a thing as wash
rap plant, and therefore, She was suspi-
ci0us that the fellow was swindlcr or
sneak thief. She quietly bowed him out
of the house. He then went to another
house in the vicinity, where he induced IL
woman to pay one dollar for six seeds,
after he had guaranteed that each one of
the seeds would develop three wash-rags.
Another lady whom the fellow attempted
to swindlc notified the police and then it
was discovered that several of the wash
rag swindlers were operating in the city.
On Saturday afternoon detectives en-
deavOred to entrap one of them, but they
were not successful.
THE WONDERFUL SEEDS.
Zone of the swindlcrs called upon me
or Saturday morning" said the wife of II
prominent citizen, and exhibited the
wonderful wash-rag seeds. They re
sembled pumpkin seed, but they were
black and not half as large. The swindcr
was about 20 years old, Of medium height,
and was handsome. we'll dressed and a
charming talkcr. He criticised the paint
ings in the room, praised two of Rogers
groups and was as enthusiastic as an
esthete over some flowers in vase. He
was so gentlemanly and accomplished that
| would have been deceived had he not
represented that the seeds would produce
plants on which flowers with Wash-rags in
them would bloom | inquired if he had
seed that would grow silk or lace hand
kerchiefs, and he replied that he knew
nothing about the properties of the plant
except that peculiar wash-rag was found
in the flowers. thought for a while that
some Of my friends had been playing a
practical joke, but few hours aftcrward
a lady friend related to me similar ex-
periencc. But my caller was evidently
not the one who visited her, although she
said that her visitor was entertaining even
in his impudencc We had hearty laugh
coming from church when we compared
notes Of our experience and learned also
that the sccdmen had piled their trade in
ROscville, WoOdsidc and in the fashiona-
bic ncighborhood at South Park"
GROWING LACE HANDKERCHEFs.
The swindlers varied their tactics in
different parts of the city. On the Hill
they represented that wash-ragS would
appear in the blossoms, and on the Neck
they said that the flowers would produce
lace handkcrchicfs. In the central part
of the city they said that the seed was
from celebrated Indian plant, which
filled room with pleasant aromn while
growing and the seeds of which sweetcned
the breath and were scrviccable on cloth
ing. They asked 50 for half dozen seeds
The gentlemanly fellow WEo called
here" said lady, asserted that he had
charged one dollar for each seed in New
York, and that he and his agent had
sold several thousand seeds to the first
families. | did not buy, but | believe
quite a number did"