Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-04-12
FOR ARMsrRoNa,s ARREST.
An Irate st. Louis Lady Wants
the Manager Pulled for Dun
ming Her.

Thief GLOWING item from Mon
days Chronicle explains itself:
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
Dierkes has issued a warrant for
the arrest of A. e.. Armstrong, of
Mexico, on a charge of sending a
libellons dunning letter to Mrs.
Mary Vineil, formerly of Mexico,
but now a forewoman in one of the
largest stores in the city.
The letter was enclosed in an
envelope bearing the legend, "bad
debts collected" and is to the
effect that unless she pays the debt
az once she will be dunned merci-
lessly until it is paid.
The young lady says that she
paid the bill and does not propose
to pay it over again.
The gentleman referred to was
seen at Kabrich's dry goods store
Tuesday and when shown the
above item by a reporter, said:
pretty rough, isn't it? but the
facts in the case are these: For
quite a long time this lady has
owed our firm a small bill, of
which we have repeatedly sent a
statement. Time and again our
letters were returned, unopened,
and, finally, we sent one register
ed, in care of Scruggs, Vandervoort
g. Barney, for whom Mrs. Vincil Is
working. This time we got a re-
.ceipt and of course our notice was
opened and read. But no money
came. l am a member of the
sprague Collecting Agency, Chica-
60, and / at once sat down and
filledout one of the blanks furnish
ed US BIZ shat concern, sending it
to Mrs. vnaal"
Here Mr. Afsostrong showed one
of the blanks Nssa molten
sive looking a9ar wita-a neatly
printed heading o flee 3 prague's
Collecting Agency, Chicago, lncor-
porated." The names of the
officers r given and, altogether,
the little sheet is a very business
like document. A few neatly
worded lines urge the payment of
the debt.
"That's what l SENT" continued
Mr.. Armstrong, "and still no
money vas forthcoming. I then
resolved to place the matter in the
hands of the agency and sent Mrs.
Vincil's name to Chicago. 1t was
not many days until 1 received a
singing letter from the lady, OF
several pages. She denied the
debt; and from the tone of her
letter l was constrained to believe
she had received a 'chromo' from
the agency. These 'chromos' are
immense envelopes, all over
which is printed in glowing black
letters, Bad debt sSprague Bad
Debt Collecting Agency etc. As
for her denial of the debt, that is
merely her opinion. Our books
show it 10. be unpaid; it is just and
we want our money"
The envelope in which Mrs.
Mary Vincil, of st. Louis, re.
ceived dunning letter from the
Sprague Collecting Agency, Chi
cage, bears besides the address, the
following, in very bold, black type:
"Sprague's Bad Debt Collecting
Agency, 21S La Sale street, Chi.
cago."
A very neat littlesprinted shee,
contains a brief statement of the
account written in ink. Following
is a verbatim copy oft:
SPRAGUE's BAD DEBTS COLLECT.
ING AGENCY (Agency's fourth let
ter CHICAGO, 1926, 1888.
Mrs. Mary Vincil, DR..
To A. G. Armstrong, 500
We find that the account which
we notified you of some time ago is
still unsettled.
Can you afford to have the pub
lie know that you refuse to pay this
bill?
You may need credit again,
sometime, but as long as this &C
count remains in this unsatisfactory
manner, it win be hard for you to
obtain it.
If you desire to have credit with
the merchants in your locality and
maintain a reputation for honesty
and fair dealing you will adjust
this claim.
Call on, or write the party and
make some kind of a settlement at
once.
If you will pay part of it now
and make some arrangements fol-
the balance, we will not crowd you
for awhile.
Have the party to whom the bill
is due write US at once, stating
what arrangements you have made
before we publish the delinquent
list of you town.
Very Respectfully,
SPRAGUE COLLECTING AGENCY.
per-
P. S. Should you positively re-