Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-12-25
AN EYE-OPENER.
Tho Shares of Vicious Swindlcrs Who Seek
Their Victims Among Western Farm

Tho Shares of Vicious Sw'indlcrs Who Seek
Their Victims Among Western Farm.
ers.
"Ncver sign q paper for a stranger"
is a bit of advice we have often given,
and the more We hear of tricks of swind-
lers in country places, the more wisdom
we see in these seven words.
Most of the Western States, especially
Indiana and Iowa, are infested by sew
eral sets of swindlingrascals who should,
whenever met with, be introduced to the
watchdog or the calaboose. We have
several reports of their operations, and
| all represent them rs s~lick-looking, glib
tongued, plausible fellows. They rep
resent themselves as agents for a COM
bincd corn-shcller and fced-grinder made
in Cleveland, Ohio. Their method of
| swindling is always substantially the
| same: though there are, of course, vari-
| ations in details. Here, in brief, is
! what a farmer in Knox County, Indiana,
says of the gang who tried to cheat him:
"One morning a slick-looking fellow
drove up to my place, represented HIM
self as the agent of a splendid combined
corn-sheller and fced-grinder, for which
he wanted me to take the local agency.
1t would sell very readily and l would
make Il good thing of it. On my m
phatic refusal, he begged me to allow
him to set up one on my farm so that,
while canvassing for it in the neighbor-
hood, he might send farmers to examine
it, and that l could use it and make
what ! could out of it, and that it would
not cost me a cent. TO this | consented.
Then he showed me a card on which
was printed in small type, the follow
ing:
I own, In my own name, lo acres of land
worth s. per acre, clear Of all incum.
brances.
He asked me to sign my name at the
bottom of it. merely as an acknowledge
ment that l had some property, and 1
did so. He her drove off, and said the
machine would be here in u few days.
A few days later l received from the
manufacturers a postal card advisingm me
that the machine had been shipped to
my address, and urging me to remove it
Immediately on it's arrival, to avoid
charges. About a week later another
man drove up and asked to see the ma
chine. | told him that it had not vet
arrived. He said he had conc to settle
for it. l told him l had nothing to settle
for; but he insisted that | owed the firm
for it. On my emphatic denial, he
pulled out q card. which read as follows:
~GESrLEMEN: Please ship me by freight.
via E. & 7. IL. X. r., to 49, Station, Knox
Cnnntv Ctokn ~f lsn ,,, 49, ;.a
corn. shelter and iced grinder for all further
shipments / am to pay the above named
company seven eighths the retail price when
combined mill when 1t arrives, and pay the
freight, whi>h the company Is to allow me
on settlement; Retail price OF combined
IS each. ! own in my own name, lG0 acres Of
land in the County of Knox, State of In
diana, worth S. per acre; clear Of all in
Any verbal Understanding differing from the
above will not be recognized.
And to this my name was signed. I
denied very forcibly that l had ever
signed any such order. The stranger
declared that he had my obligation, and
wanted me to sign notes for four hun
dred dollars to pay for the purchases 1
had made. I asked him to let me see
the card bearing my name. After a
WOIlu VI pciSuiiSloN, Hc Hciu III uP, dllu
l snatched it from him and pockcted it,
and, pulling out my revolver, told him
to go at once or l would make a riddle
of him. He begged for mercy and inn
plored me not to expose him. I told
him l would show him up, and that if he
'idn't 90 at once he would leave tn.
township with a coat of tar and feathers.
He went, and l have seen none of TIL;
gang since.
How are such swindles perpetratcds
Why, bless you, there is nothing easier.
The paper offered for signature has al
ways been prepared beforehand with a
special view to swindling the signcr.
Generally it is so folded that only a part
of it is exposed to view, though there
are no signs of folding. Frequently ii
is in the following innocent-looking
manner: