The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-25

I y
Wantt In good proportion Of cases hs
wants all that he can get, and he comes q
/ New Yerk after it with the usual result
''In the old DAYS, and even now, for that
matter. the greater part OF the victims
were from the south. They naturally
hadn't The same deiicacy OF conscience
about cheating Uncle Sam. for the war
feeling Sill survived. / went through the
| south in 1871, and at many railroad sta
! tions / saw plscnrds with the advice: 'Don't
send 70 New York for counterfeit money.
| IL is all q Yankee sBindle-' In those days
there was q fortune in it. The leader Of
every New York gang has made himself
ric1. Tho game was worked openly, COM
pared to what Is possible now. These green
goods men we're not devoid Of humor either,
and there are many funny incidents mingled
| with the tragic.
| ''For instancs-and Il illustrates what
/ said before about the permanent gullibility
| Of fnen--I defended the hand shaker Of q
/ gang which swfndled a syndicate of three
men from Hsvre de Grace. The hand
shaker you know, is the man who meets
the victim when he arrives in the city.
| Tho man who finally does the trick is
usually young fellow disguised 10 look
about 60 years old. In this case he sat
right behind mo in court while the wit
nesses were telling about the old fellow OF
| go who had sWindled them, and he was not
recognized.
1.-The three men from Havre de Grace
had pooled their resources; had come mp to
the city; and had been steered into the den
of the green goods men. They sat on ons
side Of the table and the operator on the
other. The gods were exhibited; the bar
gain made; aud the money planked down.
The operator ran IL through rapidly. BE
paused at a $50 bill 'Where'd you get
that, ho seid. From the bank at Havre
dc Grace was the reply. Well, it's no
good said the operator, throwing IL upon
the floor, Z! made it myself He actually
made one OF the men 60 out and pawn his
watch for $50.
"When the syndicate arrived at Havre de
Grace they opened the bag supposed to con-
tain green goods with great secrecy and
ceremony. II held a coupling pin and some
cotton waste, such as is used TO clean loco
motives. he men were furious. They
wrote TO the green goods men and received
a courteous reply. suggesting that railroad
men must have rifed the bag on the road.
The syndicate hadn't mentioned the con-
tents OF the bag in their letter, SO that the
green goods mans reply looked like inspira-
ton. More correspondence ensued, and
finally the three gulls came up to New York
again and were swindled by tho same gang
that had worked them before.
ut looks like a good business, doesn't it,
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 10 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 q good deal might
be said on the subject. When the two
Alaoamians 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. 1t was done not long ago in
the case Of q man who brought but one
pistol with him, but the Alabamians had
four, and the policemen discrsetIy retired,
After my talk with Mr.. Purdy ] called
upon Anthony Comstock, postoffice in
spector and secretary Of tho Society fer the
Suppression of Vice He corroborated my
opinion that the green goods industry was
m the sore and yellow lsaf-which doesn't
mean, OF course, that IL will totally vanish
from the path Of crime, but that it is no
longer hourishing, and can never flourish
again.
The three most prominent gangs In the
city are the Parmalee, the Magulres, Mr..
Comstock Informed me- four are in the
tombs. "Brocky" Morton's gang is badly
broken up. "Brocky's" brother and w. G.
byrnes. another member Of the gang are in
jail The johnson Porter gang has been
hunted almost 10 the destruction Of its busi-
ness. Perhaps the most active of the gangs
in recent days has been the Parmalee. It
takes its title from the middle name
of its distinguished head, Edward Parmalee
Jones. 1t has travelling companies" be-
sides its Metropolitan stock company, TO use
theatrical language. Mr.. Jones himself re-
Gently opened an Office in Jersey City,
whore he received mail under $50 aliases
de bad one or two young men with him,
but his most trusted comDa Mons were q
bulldog with an almost infinite jaw and a
big navy revolver. When he got a ebay
seed" into the den he frightened every dollar
out OF his clothes.
"Tbe principal encouragement to the
business said Mr.. Comstock, lis the law
making it an offsnse to use an alias Ia
transacting such business by mail. We
can now seize letters addressed to green
goods men, and thus out off the profits of
the business. We recently caughs one of
"Brocky" Morgan's men out in Abba,
Mich. and seized $50 letters. It is much
more expensive than it used to be for these
fellows. They have to do large share of
their business by telegraph and they are SO
well watched that they cannot work their
game openly as they used to. Now they
meet their victims at some suburban hotel
and briag them in closed carriages. Alto
gether, the more stringent law aud the bet
ter enforcement of it are the means by
which this bad business has been reduced
to its present comparatively meager pro-
portions
By the way, Mr.. Comstock also told me a
curious fact which might be of interest to
students OF Psychology. 1t was this; The
den OF the sawdust gang is almost always
an opium joint What is the connection
between opium and buncoa and does the
eastern drug account for the flights of poetic
imagination frequently noticeable in green
goods circularsi Howard FIELDING.