The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-03-06
THE OLD OLD STORY.
4 Brace of Bunko Worthless Open a
Game in PaIatka


& Son, manufacturers of planners, Iathes,
anvils, hoists, etc, of Philadelphia ar
rived in the city on Monday last and
registered at the Saint Johns hotel, from
which place he moved next day to
boarding house in that neighbOrhOod,
kept by Mr. Richardson. On Wednesday
morning Mr.. Harrington left his board
ing house and started down to the st.
Johns to pay a visit to an acquaintance
whom he had met and recognized at the
hotel on the previous evening. While
on his way he was suddenly accosted by
a well-dressed young man, of some
twenty-five years of age, who called his
name. and said he knew him well in
Philadelphia. Mr.. Harrington was
thrown off his guard for the time, and
conversed pleasantly with the young
man, who told him he was in Florida on
a pleasure trip. Had been as far south
as Havana, at which place, by the
by, he had invested two dollars in the
Royal lottery, and by the published
account of the drawing he saw that his
ticket called for two Volumes Of Apple
tons Encyclopedia, which he was just
then going to receivs from the lottery
company's agent in this city. Still unsus-
piciOus, Mr.. Harrington agreed to accom-
pany this affable acquaintance to the
supposed lottery Office on the assurance
that he was welcome to one of these val
liable works
Arrived at the building, in the neigh
borhood (which subsequently proved to
be Mrs Usina,s boarding house,, Mr.. II.
was ushered into an upper room, where
the nice young man had the trap ready
set. AccOsting the occupant Of the
room as the cOmpany's agent, the little
game was at once opened to rob Mr..
Harrington of every dollar of his holiday
money. The agent (so-called), referring
to his books, informed the young man
that he not only had two volumes Of
AppletOn's valuable work to present HIM
i'll exchange for his ticket, but that he
was likewise the lucky possessor of 1901
/
of in the advertised drawing. Not until
this occurred did Mr.. Harrington begin
to doubt his companions honesty and
his surroundings, but like a sensible man,
he kept his thoughts to himself, and
determined to watch the game through.
The so-called agent then counted 5000 in
bills over to the lucky youth, when a
controversy arose about the one dollar
remaining, whereupon the agent in
formed the young man that the company
never paid fractional parts of prize, but
permitted its investment in a little game
of draw, which they conveniently kept
at all their branch offices. Gradually
calming himeelf, the Marcus Aurelius Of
the game, consented finally to try his
| luck, when wide board was placed on
the table. with checks and stars and
numbers painted in seductive colors on
its face. The game was now fairly open,
and Mr.. Harrington stood by and saw thou
sands of bright, crisp bank notes change
from the treasury box of the company
into the pockets of his lucky aud newly
made acquaintance. Resisting all APP
peals to try his luck, " the enthusiastic
youth finally and in a spirit Of pure
generosity, threw a thousand dollars in
front of Mr. II. and asked him to go in
and help him wreck the damn Spanish
concern and be done with it. Feeling
that the time had come when it was no
longer safe for him to tarry III the den,
NJ. H. at this juncture hastily left the
room, and running down the stairway,
left the house in safety.
On yesterday he made complaint to
the mayor that an attempt to inveigle
and rob him had been made, but the
mayor, in absence of any direct charges
preferred, had taken no action for the
arrest of the thieves up to noon yester-
day.
From Mr.. J. II. Fry, who used to serve
the city as an alderman, and who has
had some experience in hunting down
this class of robbers. we learn that they
meet here every season, more or less Of
them, and ply their rascally practices.
One of the men who is charged by Mr..
Harrington has pretended to be an archi-
tect, and as such, rented rooms at Mrs.
Usina's, where he has paid his rent
punctually. No suspicion as to the char
acter of his business was aroused before
the facts regarding Mr.. Harrington's
experience got to be rumor 1t is said
that the man never occupied his bed of
nights, but as he has been visiting off at
Green Cove Spring, and possibly other
points, nothing was thought of this cir
Cumstance.
It behooves our police to be vigilant in
the detection of these men and bring
them to punishment
Small Change.
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