The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-10-16
/ PAWNBROKERS' TRICKS.
The Methods Upon Which the
Business Is Conducted.
How tho Law Rotating to tho rnteres.
Rates Is Evadsd Some Peculiar
Features of tho Loan Ofiicc
sat44 Dualuese

There nrc f1fty-three pawnbrol,crs,
shops In Chicago. They pay to the CITY
q yearly license of three hundred dol.
lars each. Under n state law they are
allowed to charge not moro than three
per cent, month upon loans, but a
great many cvade the law. The state
law also prohibits the brokers' from
charging for storage or insurance, or
making any charge whatever excepting
interest. Yet on a five dollar loan the
broker Will often get fifty cents instead
OF fifteen, the legal limit, says the Chi
I cago Times.
Inc broker is required to send to the
superintendent of police each day at
twelve o'clock n list of ill articles re-
: celved by him as pledges during the pre-
ceding twenty-four hours, the amount
loaned thereon, rate of interest to DO
paid, and the name, address and per-
sonal description of the borrower. The
broker complies with the law and vet
evades it. For instance: A man who
has been taking in the town and in
turn has been taken in wants five dol
lars on pair of sleeve buttons. They
are worth about twenty-five dollars.
The broker will lend him five dollars
redeem the buttons Mt five dollars and
nifty cents. The receipt reads loaned
i've dollars and fifty cents, when only
i've dollars was loaned.
1t is very difficult matter to get
convicting evidence against offenders of
this Glass;" said one of the detectives
whose business it is to look after them,
because the borrower is glad to get
the money, and equally glad to be able
to redeem his pledge, and does not want
to report the case. They are of class
who either do not care or wish to avoid
publicity
Another way of evading the law"
continued the detective, sis buying the
article with the express understanding
that it will be purchased again by the
seller. For example, if you were to
pledge your bull's-eye watch for TWEEN
ty-tive dollars he would charge you only
seventy-five cents n month interest.
But he will buy it from you ut twenty
five dollars with the understanding that
you repurchasc it within thirty days at
twenty-scven dollars and fifty cents.
He knows very we'll that you will re-
deem 1t, because the watch is worth
more than that and you know very
well that you will redeem it, even if
you have to get friend to carry it for
you, or sell the ticket for ten or fifteen
dollars. Tho sale is sham and an
evasion of the law. Those who 60 to
the pawnshop once generally go again,
and they soon find that the broker will
not lend three dollars or four dollars
and issue check for nine or twelve
cents. He wants at least TWENTY-FIVE
cents on two dollars and fifty cents
and fifty cents on five dollars So they
!. naturally fall into the system of selling
and buying back, or letting the broker
write i'll the ticket n larger amount than
that actually received"
The pawnbrolsers in this city arc per-
mitted to conduct business rather loose
~ as compared to the system in Paris.
In that city, which has the most effect
i've detective system in the world, the
pledger. must not only establish his
identity to the satisfaction of the pawn
broker, but, if he fails to do so, the
broker "seizes" the article and gives
the man ticket which states that the
article offered has been seized and is
held until the stranger can establish his
claim to it. The case is then reported
to the police, together with full de-
scription of the man offering the pledge.
If the article is very valuable and the
circumstances suspicious thcman is de-
tanned under some prctext and an officer
summoned. For loans of more than
three dollars there must be the sigma
lures of two honorable" witnesses. In
Chicago no witnesses or Identification
are required. pledger can give in q
hcticious name and address and walk
away with the money he has received
on stolen watch. However,, brokers
are prohibited from receiving pledges
from minors, intoxicated persons or
Persons having been convicted Of
larceny or burglary, or those known to
be thieves. The broker can shut his
eyes and roll back his memory and
evade these provisions as he does the
Others. But the system Of identification
in vogue in Paris would simplify mat
ters great deal and greatly aid the po-
lice and the public.
Some of the pawnbrolsers are guilty
of another evasion of the law. Each of
these shops has what is called q
hustler" who, for one dollar q day,
stunds in the middle of the sidewalk
and accosts passers with: my friend,
come in and let me sell you an overcoat
for almost nothing, or a watch or some
other article which the hustler thinks
will strike the passcr's fancy. The
hustler invariably catches the passer by
the arm, and if he stops or hesitates he
is literally dragged into the den, and
of course comes out shorn. If the man
passes without noticing the hustler he
is often subjected to some jcering re-