Telegram-herald., 1891-06-28
BLACkNAILERS' TRICKS
Disclosures OF the Craft by Q Re-
Retired Professional.
WAYS AND TRICkS IHaT ARE DARK
A Well Regulated systsz Of Espionage
''blssdfnx" innocsnt Victims on the
strsssth OF Compromising Letters
- Tim

Recently q contributor TO the London
lid Bits" interviewed . man who gains
his livelihood by isvyins blzckmaii, and
who, by his appearance. certslaiy seemed
10 have prospsrsd in his profession
'-Yoa ask me how l work. he said
swell, perh aps there can be little harm
done by exposing my tactics. for | think
nay banking account is sufficiently large
to keep me in competence. ard there srs
times when l really feel sorry for my
dnpss.
ITO make bisckmailing pay great tact
Is necessary, for, as you are aware, 'whsn
a mans eotched he's sent to pris'n.'
The intended victim must be
thoroughly studied and understood before
he is operated upon or the consequences
are likely TO be serious He has then to
be approached ia very carefal manner
made it rule TO ascertain as much as
could about my victim, and IL l could
ascertain that he had In his younger days
committed sorsc iudiscreet action-and
how few men are there who have not at
some period of their lives been indis-
creet.-my way was made smooth.
"Once lad obtained clew / ferreted
out the matter 20 lis root, and then com
menced to work. A short letter In which
the act was remotely limited at and an
application for a small sum to assist mo
in unforeseen difficulties generally had its
effect. IL had asked for large amount
1t is more than probable that l should
have met with blank refusal; but a
small amount seemed reasonable, and
then it was charity, besides stallinS of
exposure.
''Once my victim acceded to my re-
quest / had him secure. Periodically l
renewed my application for assistance. l
seldom met with refusal-one reason be-
ing that / never asked for largo
amount, but principally because he recog
nized that had claim upon him, for
seldom failed to refer to the scandal OF
which had command, and which to him
might mean social disgrace.
Zone man underworld to shake OF my
shackles and even threatened to COM
municate with the police and prosecute
me. but l silenced his threats with q note,
Of which the following is copy:
DEAR SIR - Yours to hand. am sorry to
hear that you intend institutiny proceedings
against myself. The money have from time
to time asked you TO lend me have always in
tenden to repay. II you take the case into
court / shall certainly appear and ask you 10
produce all my lett.rs and shall also produce
the documentary evidence OF which am pos
sessed relating to the affair in which you were
concerned some years ago. trust you will bc
-. kg-l-Y
asked in my previous communication. l am
your obedent servant.
up. ST. may add shat in view OF proceed
ings am about to enter into negotiations with
prominent society paper for publication OF
the documents referred to in order to realize
sufficient money for my Defense
"rhis letter brought the man upon his
knees. The next day brought me a reply
ter quiet, and enclosed was a note for the
amount asked for. After a skirmish of
this character l increased the amount
asked for and it always came to hand.
"Tn my best days had no fewer than
eight men on my list, and from these l
received regular sums of money.
"a young gentleman studying for the
Church once fell into my clutches, and
for many years he paid me money to alb
stain from proclaiming an act on his
part which, IL made known, would have
provoked amusement as a lads trick
rather than blame.
81 once held some compromising let
ters-they were got from me by a smart
trick-written by q prominent gentle
man, and used them as a lever to OBJ
tain n foothold in society. Not only did
he furnish me with considerable
amount of money, but he also had ms
elected as a member of the select club,
where / was enabled to pick up other
business. But one day he asked me to
bring the letters up to town in order to
make extracts from them. l foolishly
took mp the original letters, the result
being that the wine in which drank his
good health was drugged, and when I
recovered from my stupor / found that
the letters had been taken from me.
Strange rs it may appear, ] have my
spies and agents, TO whom / have to
make an allowance according to the
value Of the information they bring me.
Many of these are women, who visit the
best houses in mental capacities and
elicit whatever information they can. II
there Is no scandal in the family-that is,
IL some member has not n skeleton in his
or her cupboard-a change is speedily
made to another house. Some of these
people make largo ircome in the course
OF q year, and I may tell you tha. not
only are they employed By me, but they
also have dealings with several other pro-
fessional hlackmailers. and when they
have obtained any specially valuable in
formation they send round to us all, and
ton receives it.
Through one Of thess spies once oh.
tanned two letters which n lady, who had
the misfortune TO be married TO n gentle
man Of very Jealous temperament, had
thrown into the wastepaper basket in
stead Of destroying One was from 2
gentleman her scspegrace brother, j
sftsrwari sscertsined-andt the other was
her reply. a letter she had written but
not posted. They were both couched in
loving Language, and there was nothin q
In them which would lead stranger to
know that they were written By relative
TO relative obtained an iaterv lew
with her, produced my letters. and
gave her to understand that, a.
I was o poor mao, she cared
to asesss me With money. which she
could we'll spare. they should be sup
pressed. She did her bess, and was con-
tinusIiy forwarding money to me. But
OF last her husband r-ceiv.d letter from
a solicitor respecting an account which
she had neglected 80 pay in order 10 pro-
vide me With funds An explanation