New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-07-28
WHY DON'T THE POLICE ACT2
IMMIGRANTS SWINDLED BY TICKET SPECU.
LATORS.
POOR PEOPLE CHEATED OUT OF THEIR HARD.
EARNED MoNEY-AN UNENFoRcED LAW
AGAINST THE BUSINESS OF

EARNED MoNEY-AN UNENFoRcED LAW
AGAINST THE BUSINESS OF
THE MSCREANTs.
welknown agent of large TRANSATLANTIC
steamship company said yesterday that the Police
Department OF this city could break up. If it
chose, heartess system of swindllng poor i'm
migrants which is carried By certoin ticket
speculators, 90 or proprietOrs of banks and pass
age Offices" in the Hebrew quarters. Some VI
these agents the meanest kind OF sc0undrels,
and their victims are among the poorest and
most ignorant immigrants who come 10 these
shores. IL is the custom Of these sharks to cul-
tivate the acquaintance Of lately arrived Russian
and Polish immigrants who are saving up money
with which to pay the passage of their friends
and relatives to this country. To these people
the bankers offer railroad and steamship tick
cts at a slight reduction in price and on the
instament plan.
Now when the conhding purchasers event.
ually get their tickets they don't always GET
their relatives and friends Some of the ticket
agents gamble and lose the money the poor im-
migrants haze given 10 them. To conceal this
the agents give their ignorant customers bogus
steamship and good railroad tickets. which are
sent to the old home in Europe. The railroad
tickets being genuine there is no trouble for
the poor people until they reach tie point Of
embarkation, Hamburg, for example There. Of
course, the agents of the steamship line rctAse
the spurious tickets. and the unfortunate immi-
grants are stranded. Days drag and the
anxious relatives and friends in this country
hear nothing. Finally letter comes from the
stranded people saying that their steamship tick
cts have been refused.
The banker is overwhelmed with inquiry,
but he slaves off his fate by assuring his
toners that the tickets were all right, but that
the agent in Hamburg made slight mistake
and that the New-YOrk house will correct the
error at once His excuses quiet apprehensions
for while. but after few more weeks have
rolled by the deluded people grasp the situation
and there is scene in the bankers Office
Perhaps the banker has fed the town. num-
Der have done so within recent years, when they
saw that they were found out
The other night Russian Hebrew ran into the
Eldridge-st police station and warned the ser
geant there that mob Of his countrymen were
going to lynch banker and his solicitor. De-
tective Reap hurried TO place at No. = Canal
ST., kept by z. Arnson, where he found Arnson
and his solicitor, Louis Sllikowltz, covering BE-
hind a counter, while an angry crowd OF Russian
ord Polish Hebrews were clan0rng at the door
Reap took Arnson and Siukowin into custody To
protect them, and as he led them to the station
house he heard men in the mob cry: Where are
our wives and children? Give us back our
money The crowd followed Reap 10 the station
house, and some of them preferred charges Oh
swindling against Arnson and Silkowitz. Ponce
Justice Duffy held Arnson in the sum Of S5,OO0
for appearance before the Grand jury.
Many people scrimp day and night 10 get suiii-
Gent money with which 10 bring their family ana
friends to the New World. only 70 be cheated Dy
heartless syindlers. One woman saved up SeV -
pay the passage of her mother and SM cnHareh
from Hamburg 10 this city. Her reward ior hf
deprivation was the information that tie ucAeUs
She had sent 10 Hamburg were worthless, and
that her mother and children were PNAAI'eSo -
Hamburg. , .t,,
stories like this come to light every now ana th'n
when the SPECTATORS get 10 sanpiIhs, ne 6nt liam.
ship companies try 10 prosecute the Ss'ais DuI uoA
succeed One police justice recently asked "IeIe
the fraud was when he had heard company
against one of these notorious s"lhuiSts' %, n"'
there is a law on the statute books oil TINS S'ale'
and a very good one, too, which was enacted 70
prevent just this kind OF rascallty' was
framed BY one Of the most experienced ana 9D.o
steamship agents in this city IL Was passeu IN
1860 and amended in 1870. Inc statute Is en-
titled: An Act 10 Prevent Frauds IN TIE SAG
Of Tickets Upon. Steamboats,, steamships aat
no person shall sell tickets OF steamship OF >'l-
ing line without the authority OF the COMPANY
Authorized agents are required TO keep III :
prominent place in their Offices or PAGES VI
business a printed certificate OF such authority OF
permission. A heavy penalty and me are 'AS
consequence for breaking the law.
The law Is violated with impunlty. and noDoly
kroys how much suffering is thereby caused 10
helpless and ignorant people who cant con'ehq
with man with a pull II the police ST 'uoLed
in the Hebrew quarters should make it their
business 10 require these spectators 10 sho"
their certificates from the company whose tlckels
they are selling there would be fewer complaints
heard there against hearLess ticket swlndeIs
Everybody has seen policeman ask a stIceo
peder 10 show his badge, and II Is a common
Sight TO see an officer arrest ped.er without
one. Ill i-,,o,,,,,
Efforts are now being made by some "ell-Kh0Wn
and charitable Hebrews 10 diminish tins s"indlin2
as much as possible. Kuhn, Loeb ~ Co.. jacob
II Schiil. Nyer ). lsaacs and others have esiaQ-
Ushrd bank at No. 206 Grand-st, where peopo
I'm that part Of the city can safely purchase th.r
drafts or make payments 10 Europe. The dnecrrs
Of the bank have authorized one Of their ceFNs
10 do passage business. IL has been sigSestei
10 DISPOSE entirely of ticket agencies, out IL -
Thought that if a test case could he made ol one
of these fellows the rest OF taeIp cou!l DC
easily s1uelched. There are some thirty OF ,I0rV
agenfs in the Hebrew district. some 81 tnfm
are honest men, and would be GLAD 10 see lher
rascallv colleagues in the tolls. No one. now;
ever according TO the law, has n rlght 20 seli
tickets for steamship or saIIln8 line "ItnouS
the authority Of the line