Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-03-01
AN INGENIOUS sWINDLER.
How One Frenchman Used the EXPOSE
tion Season in Paris.

How One Frenchman Used the Exposi-
tion Season in Paris.
Many wideawalle knights of industry
in Paris regarded the Exhibition
season. as most fitting season for
raising the wind" at the expense of
unsophisticated persons from rural or
foreign parts. Among these sharp
witted, but utterly obnoxious citizens,
must be reckoned man named Sou
quelles, who has just been tried by the
correctional tribunal for having obtained
money under false pretenses. Souquelles
was an assistant in the shop of a grocer
called Haricot, living at Auberviliers,
outside Paris, but he was dissatisfied
both with his meager salary and
his subordinate position, so he resolved
to make bold stroke in order to set up
in business on his own account. Ac-
cordingly, he threw off his grocer's
blouse, changed his name to that of
Duret and organized in is-although
innocent of capital-a scheme for en-
abling persons at distance from the
metropolis to come up and see the ex-
hibition at moderate rate, and to find
reasonable accommodation during their
stay. By promises to pay at an early
date, "Duret" induced printer to set
up in type his wonderful prospectuses,
which, with the aid of two or three
small boys, he distributed at railway
stations, having also posted some of
them to the provinces and Algeria. In
these documents the ingenious Sou
quelles assured people that, owing to
the exhibition, Paris was overcrowded;
that hotel-keepers were charging vis-
itors twenty francs head for cup
board-bedrooms and starvation break
fasts, while some strangers in the city
were actually glad to sleep on billiard
tables or settees. To remedy this state
of things Souquelles, or "Duret," estab-
lished what he called his compton,,
which was to enable everybody visiting
the exhibition not only to see the show
and the sights, but also to live comfort
ably, and at the same time cheaply,
while staying in the city. The first VIC
tim was an honest colonist from Algeria,
who sent the organizer of the compton
a sum of six pounds sterling as an ad-
vance fee for defraying the cost of his
journey to Paris and his stay in the gay
capital. The colonist, M. Vauclan,
waited in vain for his ticket and, at last,
wearied out, placed the matter in the
hands of the police. Souquelles, alias
"Duret," was exposed. His Office was
in "sky-parlor," furnished with ia
BILE, chair and an inls-stand. There
were also round about the place a few
empty wine bottles, which had beeu
sent to the sharper by minor wine-mer-
chants in the country, whom he was
also endeavoring to fleece. AS regards
the scheme by which the artful person
hoped to rival the great tourist agencies
it was ascertained that Souquelles had
hired two small rooms in a third or
fourth-class hotel, in which he lodged
some miserable victims. The sharper
was condemned to three months impris-
onment.-London Telegraph.
"A Minneapolis inventor is about to
introduce to the public slot machine
that for nickel will present the payer
a photograph of himself in just three
minutes from the time he drops in the
5-cent piece.