The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-06-04
GOLDEN FRAUDS.
Filled Jewelry Palmed off as
Solid Metal.
New Tricks to Deceive the Buy.
erS of Gold and
Jewels.

New York, May e9.-[Correspondencel
There are in New York q number of men
actually peddlers, though they repudiate
that designation-xhose business is almost
wholly confident to the poli,e force. They
sell jewelry, watches. clotaing, househsld
goods and other things, upon the "instal.
ment plan" TO members of 1.-THE finest"
The business is . good one, collections
are snre when the monthly PAYDAY comes
around and the expenses of the trade
are, to .hoee engaged In this line
much smaller than are borne by dealers
who have stoIe-rent and clerk-hire to pay.
Consequently the merchant who is his
own salesman and clerk, and whose peck
cts sre his store, or who, dealing in bulkier
goods than those he can carry, sells on
large commissions from manufacturers, is
very snxi Us, when he has made q profita-
BILE lie Of acquaintance and patrons In
the force TO retain their good opinion and
confidence. Hence, by reason of little ex-
pose, last week, one of these gentry is at
present on the verge OF distraction. His
business is in jewelry, gold watch chains
and watches mainly. During a month or
Two past be has been selling great many
large and heavy watch chains which were
represented as "sOlid fourteen karat gold, /"
in several New York station-houses. One
night an officer in the course of an agitat-
ed conversation with a tough citizen, got
one of those big chains broken and the
next day took it into q jewelers. on his
beat to be repaired. While doing the lit
tie job the jeweller innocently remarked /:
This is the heaviest filled chain / ever
saw"
"Filled nothin'," calculated the officer
With a snort of contempt, "that's solid
gold"
sob no." persisted the jeweler, it is fill
ed with silver"
Eventually the indignant policeman was
convinced, much against his will, that the
gold of his chain was really hardly as
thick as an ordinary business card and
that all the solid interior was silver. Much
more than half of the entire weight was of
the bsser metal.
The furious officer swore and fumed,
getting madden and madden until the next
payday, when the peddler came around to
the station house 20 collect another INSTALL
ment on that solid gold" chain. Then he
siered upon his creditor, shook him up
violently, reviled him, called him all
names that were common and uncIesn,
and wound up by swearing TO send him to
the penitentisry or the state prison for the
fraud Several other officers who were
equally victimixed and had been informed
OF the fraud, joined him In his denuneia.
tions and threats. The poor peddler was
overwhelmed with dismay, called upon all
the patriarchs TO witness his innocence and
swung his hands over his shoulders until
his wrists ached. emphasizing his protests-
lions that nothing could temps him 70
"swindle such honorable shenilemens unit
goot friends" He vac so earnest about il
that he even impressed his accusesrs that
it might not be altogether the fair thing to
show him at once to his dungeon cell"
Still he could not deny that the chains
two or three of which were broken upon
the spot for examination, were q fraud
Finally the ward detective took the ped
dler by the shoulder and marched him on,
to took up the facts. The FIRST evidence in
his favor was his bill of sale for the goods
Undeniably he had, according to that evil
dence, brought "solid fourteen karat gold
chains" Then they went down to the
manufacturer, in Nassau street
loft, from whom the chains
had been purch ssed, ossensibiy to get more
of them and In five minutes had clear
proof that he was knowingly palming of
The bogus articles as solid gold. The ped
dler, hot with the thought of what hole
he was in, imprudently said enough to
alarm the manufacturer, who demonstrated
that he was wise in his day and generation
by selling his place and skipping out for
parts unknown before they could get out a
warrant for his apprehension. Until he
can be found the affidavit will be kept DIS
quiet as possible, and it is even questions
bic If he would be prosecuted were he to
show himself here after few weeks, as
some of his victims will, by that time, have
compromised with the peddler, while 9TH
ers will have worked of" their claim upon
other persons and it will be to pobody's in
terest to stir the matter up. Even the ped
dler wi want the whole affair forgotten as
soon as possible, as it cannot be, even in its
best light, creditable to his business scumen.
Fourteen karat gold is worth, in the
crucible, 6S cents per heavyweight, and
chains were billed to him at 60 cents, which
would allow but 8 cents for loss and moth
ing for cost of manufacture. The loss is
generally figured at 10 per cent, and work
dependent upon mechanical appliances and
finish, is always heavy item. Consequent
ly the chains were bought ut what the ped.
dler must have known was much less than
their real value, less even than the cost oil
the material. He was not willing to pay
an honest manufacturer honest prices fol
honest goods, so got himself into rather
deep hole by his greed for illegitimate
profits. The question may be asked, why
were the chains filled with silver instead OF
copper. a much less expensive metal? To
bite the pawnbroker particularly, but, gen.
orally, anybody who might try them with
file and acid. Copper, when touched by
the acid, causes it to boil up vivid green
color, while silver only shows grey and the
green is what the inerpert are on the look
out for.
Doubtless very large proportion of the
cli aims made In that Nassau street LOT:
went directly to pawnbrckers who, employ.
ing their ordinary methods of testing, were