The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-01
FRAUDS IN THE MAIL.
Some Of the Swindles the Post
office Has to Fight.
5HE cRAYoN PORTRAIT swINDLE.
New Departure in Green Goods
suppressing Immoral Literature.

= wAsHrNGToS CRY, April 25.-rSpecial
Y Correspondencel Nineteen thousand
n photographs were captured by the post
| ofHce department the other day in Brook
Tim. They were entirely respectable and
Z. smobjectionable portraits of people resid-
ing in all parts of the country. 1t was for
5ths purpose of securing their return to
| their owners that the government laid
~ hands upon this extraordinary number of
vctures at a single establishment engaged
n n the manufacture of iikenesses in crayon.
This industry, as carried on by the con-
B. cern referred to, is one of the most remark
II sble swindles of modern times. 1t is only
vary recently that the authorities have
y succeeded in controlling it to any extent.
Brooklyn is the chief center for enter.
prises of this description. In Chicago.
u also. they are conducted on a large scale.
Al Having done business hitherto with i'm
4 punity, they have undoubtedly reaped
i enormous profits. Their methods
/ have become somewhat familiar to
the public through their circu-
4 lars, which have been scattered so
j. widely through the mails that there is
hardly household in the United States
: which has not received one or more of
n them. Each of these documents conveys
= to the addresses very attractive propo-
u sition, to the effect that the undersigned
"Art Crayon Company" will make, free of
charge, a life-size portrait in crayon from
any photograph of himself or member of
his family which the person written to
- may care to forward. This liberal offer
holds good for thirty days, and the only
rcompense asked is that the recipient
shall recommend the firm to his friends
and keep the picture carefully"
Inasmuch as it Is guaranteed that the
u portrait shall be ga as to resemblance,
Al artistic treatment and beauty of finish
q value $25," the individual addressed not
| unusually jumps at the offer and sends on
the photograph. A few days later he re-
ceiyes word that the portrait has been
made; but he is informed that it
cannot be shipped without a frame
4 lest it suffer damage. An illustrated
h price list of frames, costing from SO to SIS,
Is inclosed. By this time the victim is
very anxious to get the picture, and he is
4 not unlikely to respond with the money
demanded. Otherwise, he replies with
more OF less Indignation and demands his
photograph back. In the latter case,
though he may write fifty letters. he will
never get his property again, for the rea-
son that it is the most important point in
the business policy of the crayon company
never to return a photograph unless a
frame is paid for.
The 1900 photographs captured by post
Office inspectors in the establishment
spoken of had all been held in this way for
fraudulent purposes. Necessarily, many
Of them were of great value to their own
irs, being likenesses of dear ones dead
Or for other reasons not to be replaced,
ind in a large percentage of instances
people would doubtless have been glad
to ransom them eventually by the
payment of the money demanded. OF
course, in no case was the crayon portrait
actually made until the sum asked for the
frame was received. To produce it then
was a simple matter, the manufacture of
the "art work" requiring probably not
more than fifteen minutes. There are
well-known mechanical methods employed
in this industry which save labor wonder
fully. The affair amounts to no more
than throwing an enlarged "sun-print"
from the photograph upon sheet OF white
paper filling it in with crayon in an ex-
peditious manner familiar to those skilled
In the trade. Any one whose has seen a
real oil painting" turned out in three
minutes by the watch will understand
something of the nature of the process.
The way in which the postoffice depart
nent finally succeeded in getting some
control over this fraud was by selZing all
letters addressed to the firms practicing
\ IL, and by declaring its intention to prose-
cute them unless all photographs received
by them were returned to the owners.
Furthermore, it has now obliged them 10
include in their circulars clear state
ment to the effect that portraits will only
be delivered on payment for frames. Thus
the swindle is scotched, though not killed.
IT can still be carried on with great proht,
because the frames supplied at from IS to
us each are of the most trunpery descrip-
ton, the best of them not being worth
more than SIS So long as firms engaged
In the business give some sort OF quid pro
quo resorting to no methods of actual dis
honesty, the government cannot interfere
With them nor forbid their using the
mails for distributing circulars. To
Illustrate their boldness, it is worth
mentioning that the postotflce de-
partment has been prevented from
publishing them in its fraud list by
threats to sue the postmaster general per-
sonaliy for damages. They scatter their
Il advertisements broadcast by taking di-
rectory after directory and addressing
every household included in them. How
ever, their most profitable field has always
n been found in the rural districts. where
people not knowing much about art, con-
slider the pictures they produce very salts
factory.
Country people, whose comparative Sc
elusion far from the more crowded haunts
OF men ought to afford them some protec-
ton, seem always TO be the chosen victims
Of swindlers of all sorts. Nearly every
species of fraud preys upon them. The
"green-goods industry depends almost
wholly on their patronage. Respecting
this most important of all cheats con-
Quoted through the mails certain develop
ments have recently come to light
that are very interesting. The in
dustry is managed exclusively in
and from New York city, nothing
OF il being known elsewhere and the post
office department is now convinced that
the whole of it is being carried on by a
single gang. including large number of
\ individuals, which constitutes an organ
lied conspiracy of a most formidable char
acter. Its chief is supposed to be a GER
tain well-known sporting man. formerly a
resident of Washington City. Although it
has been operating actively for so many
years, its doings have been rarely inter-
fered with by arrests, because of the great
difficulty of capturing and conyicting the
offenders.
1t is only recently that they have been
effectively shut out of the mails. SO thor
ough a system of defense against them has
been elaborated by the postotfiee depart
ment that their circulars, which used
formerly to flood the post, conveying in
vitations 10 rural residents 10 invest in
counterfeit money, have been practically
excluded Each of these documents must
+. necessarily give some address whittier cash
may be sent, and within forty-eight hours
after a batch of these has been distributed