Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-25
SHARpS AND FLATS.
Men Who Live by Their Wits in New
York and Their Victims.
WALL STREET A DEN OF THIEVES.
Promoters and Brokers Who Rob Under
Cover of Sheet Iron Safes.
swINDLEs THAT ARE MORE BRAzEN
lconRrspoNpENcx OF THE p1srArcH.i

|
flats" are responsible for the "sharps," OF
the reverse is the case we need not stop long
to inquire. Perhaps there would be nc
hshers OF men il there were none to be
caught. My own opinion is that both are
the natural product of higher civilization
In London, Paris and other old European
cities the classes of men and women who
prey upon each other are scarcely more dis.
tinctly marked than In this American
metropolis. The nice shades of business
morals, where legitimate dealings fade into
robbery and innocence becomes indistin.
| guishable from crime, are unobserved and
unrebuked here the same as in the great
cities of the effete East.
New York has some 10000 dissolute fe
males, 30, 900 INDECENT persons and 5000 pro
fessional criminals, it is said. There i.
something inspiring in the fact that there
are about 1000 persons In this city while
write who would not hesitate an instant to clar
deadly sandbag to my head, or thrust q
| knife between my shoulders as I 60 along
the darkened hall if they felt any reason.
able certainty of realizing $40 by the opera.
known. No man falls into their clutches
knowingly or willingly. Their victims are
involuntary. The kind of robber now
have in mind to write about is not that sort
of man. He is good deal more numer-
Gus and good deal more dangerous. His
victims outnumber the involuntary sacri-
fees 10000 to 1.
A WALL STREET BROKER
told me the other day that there were more
suckers" in New York than in any two
other cities of the United States. A good
many of these suckers find their way to
Wall street and some of them are brokers.
Now ga Wall street broker" carries with it
to the verdant ea1 financially solid sound.
1 used to consider Wall street broker a
man among fuanciers, beyond the respecta-
BILE reach of other commercial gentlemen
and to be envied of his kind. Some merit
| this imaginative tribute of respect. The
most of them, are men of the mental and
moral grade which characterize the ordinary
banker--faro banker.
If you want the fairy edge taken off OF
your Imagination, go down on New and
Broad streets occasionally and cultivate
these gentlemen of the road. Or, 90 into
some of their bogus Offices with formidable
vaults and sheet-iron safes and try them on
flyer" OF course, you can have more
fun for your money at the races, or
sitting up over faro and roulette,
but 60 in the interests-well, let us say in
the interests of moral science. There are
more men operating in 'the street" literally
than have offices in Wall. The legitimate
and financially honorable brokers of Wall
street, who control the exchanges form but
small majority of the number reaching out
for business in the guise of the professiayf-
They are all gamblers. They are all sharps
lying in wait for the fats with more money
than brains. That the number of the latter
is legion is evidenced by the luxurious
Offices, expensive homes and colossal for
tunes of many of these sharps. When there
is any lack they turn upon and rend each
other. Like race-track bookmakers and
other gamblers everywhere, they have GER
tain rules of honor among themselves VIII ich
are scrupulously observed.
HOW THE ROBBERS WORK,
These rules, however, do not prevent,
they facilitate the robbery of their victims
There are members on the floor of the Stock
Exchange who have been convicted OF put
ting the money Of customer in their
pockets without pretext of equivalent.
This right before the mans face. In the
trial that followed they were only "cen-
sured." This was the case where a broker
had an office system whereby his partner on
the floor Of the Exchange was instructed by
telephone in the hearing OF the customer to
purchase or sell certain stocks. The floor
partner responded by telephone report; but
the deals were never made where a "fat"
was concerned, the money of the latter be.
ing promptly placed in the brokers' inside
pocket. They finally made mistake by
"szing up man wrong. He wouldn't
stand it.
But this is being done in Wall street
every day. Let me warn you against the
seductive advertisements of alleged Wall
street brokers who claim inside knowledge
and large and certain gains on small in
vestments. You have no more show for
your money than if you played it up against
brace game of faro or put it in the. .Louisi-
ana Lottery. On general principles dis
trust the man who offers something for moth
ing. The corporation with just a little
stock to sell, which will pay 500 per cent
(some day) is common form of the sharp
to catch the fat Lower Broadway is full
of them, and so is every side street below
Chambers. The electrical companies alone,
having nothing but their patents, samples
and Office furniture, can be counted by the
hundred. They exist on the proceeds ofthe
stock they can sell and not on legitimate
earnings.
DIRECTORS THAT DON'T DIRECT.
''There are probably thousand such cor
porations in New York. They are duly in
corporated and pay taxes, sometimes, and
often have imposing offices in big build
ings down town. Their seductive adver-
tisements can be read in all the leoding
newspapers in the country. Their corre-
spondence is conducted on engraved letter.
heads containing long list Of officers and
directors. or course, these usually have no
financial interest in the concern-they are
purely and simply dummy officials, with
say one share of stock each. There are men
in New York who make a business in d.
rectorships. They are negative quantities,
attend board meetings regularly, register
the will o. the controlling stockholder and
are not too inquisitive.
These professionals get from S. to $40 for
every attendance and frequently a good
dinner into the bargain. If the man hae
enough directorships he can pick up a very
com lortable living. Is this fraud on this
business public? Well, it would be if the
public didn't know all about it. There are
some people, perhaps, who are fat enough
to believe that directors direct, but those
are getting fewer every year. The recent
check-kiting operations of certain bank
wreckers in this city caused visible fall
ing off in believers of this sort.
HOW PROMOTERS WORK.
Hand-in-hand with the corporation of the