Wichita eagle., 1889-03-05
FLEECING STRANGERS.
Confidence Men and Some Of Their
Most Popular Tricks.
"reminiscences of a Detective-How Wen.
Dressed Young Men Impose on Unsus-
pccting Visitors A Minister
CleyerIy Victimized.

Dressed Young Men Impose on Unsus-
pccting Visitors Minister
CleverIy victimized.
cts hard to understand" said Detective
Raft to Washington Star reporter, " how
! so many smart persons hand over their
! money to confidence men. But then the
confidence men are pretty smart"
How do they manage to succeed so
! oftens'' asked the reporter.
They do it very easily" replied the de-
| tective. "They first make up directory
! of the principal cities and towns in the coun-
/ try. This directory contains the names Of
/ number of the most prominent business
men Of each town, and also a few we'll
known characters about the town. Then,
when they catch victim and learn where
he is from, they refer to the directory.
/ When the confidence man mentions q few
names the stranger thinks he surely must
have come from his town. They also fire.
/ quent hotels and look over the registers,
! picking out names They then search their
/ own register, and, il successful in meeting
a victim, they are ready to converse with
him and make him believe that they are
from his home.
Only few weeks ago. continued the
detective, "a confidence man successfully
played his game on the pastor Of a religious
congregation not far from the Capitol He
called on the reverend gentleman one morn
ing and introduced himself as a wealthy
merchant from the South. He said that he
was here on business, and that before re-
turning home he wanted to get married
He was a stranger here and thought that
the pastor would introduce him to some
good young lady who would make him
suitable wife, and Of course he was conf
dent that none but perfect lady would be
selected. He promised to pay the minister
two hundred dollars for his services if he
succeeded. The pastor was impressed with
the sincerity of his visitor, who not many
hours afterward was introduced to hand
some young woman. Whether the pastor
explained matters to the young lady or not
is not known. Her mother consented to
board the young man, and for two weeks he
spent pleasant time visiting the young
lady and the pastor. Of course he was
pleasant talker, they Away. are, and could
entertain whole party any evening. After
boarding at the house for a fortnight he
found it necessary to visit Norfolk for the
purpose of settling up some business mat
ters, and he left to be absent only day or
two. He was in the pastors company dur
ing the day, and in the afternoon the latter
accompanied him to the steamboat wharf.
On the way the young man explained his
business, and said he would marry the
young lacy upon his return to the city.
He was well satisfied with his court
ship and was ready to settle up. 1t was
after banking hours, so he made out
check for two hundred dollars and hand
ed 1t over. There was a crowd on the
wharf, and for fear thieves were among
them, the young man did not care to take
his roll of bills from his pocket, because
some dishonest person might notice him and
give him trouble after he had left the boat.
He thereupon requested the loan of ten dol
lars, which was readily granted. and ten
dollar note was handed over w lille on the
boat between here and Alexandria the con-
fdence man addressed to the pastor post
al, and telling the latter to take care of his
darling Carrie until he returned. The
next morning the postal card was received,
and no attention was paid to it until the
check was presented at the bank and found
to be worthless"
- suppose you arrested the confidence
man"' said the reporter.
"No, did not arrest him. said the de-
tective "He probably went to Norfolk by
the boat, but the Rext morning the rever-
terribly excited, and was anxious to follow
the man to Norfolk, but, of course, that
would have been useless
:" About three years ago. said the officer,
"a smart confidence game was worked in
this city on wealthy citizen of Ashtabula,
o. He was sitting IN the depot waiting to
take the train for his home, after havin
settled up some business in the South, when
a neatly dressed young man appeared and
introduced himself. After conversing some
minutes, the confidence man was pleased to
learn that they were from the same town
and both were going home on the same
train. The gentleman was travelling alone,
but the wife and sister of his new acquaint-
ance were at a hotel The latter thought it
would make the journey pleasant for the
citizen Of Ashtabula to travel with his faIni-
", aud the latter kindly accepted the offer
They started for the hotel, where the intro
duction was to be given On the way to tho
hotel the young man explained to his newly
made friend that he had made some pur-
chases, and that the goods and bill would be
sent to the depot. Here he is now,' said
the young man, pointing out an old man ap-
preaching with bill in his hand. The bill
was for S2l2, and the young man handed over
a check for 800. which the old man could
not change The banks were closed. aud
the supposed merchant suggested that his
friend, the Ohio man. might loan him ths
money until he could get the check cashed
The young man then requested lean, say
ing his wife had his money in the hotel. The
Ohio man took the money from his pocket
and loaned the young man S2l2, with which
he paid the bill, and then started toward the
hotel to refund the money and give the in
PRODUCTION. The merchant here remarked
that he had seen the young mans wife and
sister in the depot. The merchant then told |
the young man that he was too careless in |
transactlng business, for he had not asked |
for a receipt. Then the young man de- /
scribed the ladies 10 the Ohio man, and told |
him if he would 90 to the depot and wal. |
with them that ne would be there as soon as
he got the receipt. He went TO the depot, |
as told, but failed to find the ladies' He /
called upon the ticket agent to learn whether /
any tickets had been sold to Ashtabula and /
learned that there had not He explained /
his transaction TO the agent. and the latter
advised him to go to the police. He came to
headquarters and reported the case. We
soon found both the young man and the /
merchant on train ready to leave the city.
They were prevented from leaving and |
were taken from the train as il steamed !
out Of the depot, and a short time afterward /
they were on the same train going TO Al
bany."
Five Thousand Mistakes in Webster.