Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-01-25

pawn his watch for the twenty dollars.
"When the syndicate arrived al
Havre de Grace they opened the bag
supposed to contain green. goods with
great secresy and ceremony. 1t held a
coupling pin and some cotton waste
such as is used to clean locomotives. The
men were furious. They wrote to the
green-goods man and received court
eous reply, suggesting that railroad men
must have rified the bag on the road.
I The syndicate hadn't mentioned the
contents of the bag in their letter, so
that the green-good's man reply looked
like inspiration. More correspondence
ensued and finally the three gullS came
up to New York again and were
swindled by the same gang that had
worked them before.
1T looks like good business, doeSnt
il. Five million dollars has been made
in this city alone out OF such games.
But more stringent laws and greater
vigilance have spoiled the fun. There
are only two active gangs in New York
now, and their profits are nothing to
what they used to be-"
Mr.. Purdy didn't say anything about
the connection of the police with the
green-goods operations, though a good
deal might be said on the subject. When
the two Alabamians came up TO the
metropolis a few weeks ago and beat the
green-gOOds men at their own game
there is no doubt that two policemen
were hanging around outside the crib
ready TO give aid TO the wrong side. II
was done not long ago in the case OF a
man who brought but one pistol with
him. but the AlabamianS had four, and
the policemen discreetly retired.
After my talk with Mr.. Purdy, |
called upon Anthony Comstock. post
Office inspector and secretary of the So
ciety for the Suppression OF Vice. He
corroborated my opinion that the green
goods industry was in the sere and yell
low leaf-which doesn't mean, of course,
that it will totally vanish from the
path of crime, but that it is no longer
flourishing and can never flourish again.
The three most prominent gangs in
the city are the rarmalee. the Mcguire
and the McNully gangs. OF the Ma
CURES, Mr.. COmstock informed me, four
are in the Tombs. Brock" Morton :
gang is badly broken up. "BrOcky's'
brother and w. c. Byrnes, another
member OF the gang, are in Jail. The
johnson Porter gang has been hunted
almost to the destruction Of its business.
Perhaps the most active of the gangs in
recent days has been the Parmalee.
1t takes its title from the middle
name of its distinguished head.
Edward Parmalee Jones. 1t has tray
cling companies" besides its metropoli-
tan stock company, to use theatrical
language. Mr.. Jones himself recently
opened an office in Jersey City, where
he received mail under two hundred and
fifty aliases. He had one or two young
men with him, but his most trusted
companions were a bulldog with an al
most Infinite jaw and big navy revol-
yer. When he gotta ''hayseed" into the
den he frightened every dollar out Of
his clothes.
THE principal diScOuragemcnt to the
business" said Mr.. ComStock, lis the
law making it an offcnSe to use an alias
in transacting such business by mail.
We can now seize letters addressed TO
green goods men, and thus cut oil the
profits of the business. We recently
caught one of 'Brocky' MOrtOn's men
out in Abba, Mich, and seized five hun
dred and fifty letters. 1t is much more
expensive than it used to be for these
follows. They have to do large share
of their business by telegraph and they
are so well watched that they cannot