Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-09-16
SWINDLING BARGAINS.
CONFIDENCE GAMES WITH
DIAMONDS AND PIANOS.
"sacrihce" Sales ut Residences, Pawn
brokers and Warehouses-The
Buyers Pay Tremend-
ously High Prices.

instruments are for sale at sacrifice
at q private residence. Various
reasons are stated by the advertiser
for making the alleged sacrifice.
The sharper also works in with great
success the gag about being financially
embarrassed. There are many we'll
meaning people who would like 10
possess piano. and who haven't the
means to buy good one OF the maker
who imagine that they can get bar
gain by buying these sacrificed In
struments
They seldom discover until they
are several hundred dollars out of
pocket that they have been duped.
BY the time their eyes have been
opened the sharper has disappeared
to another part of the town to work
the same trick under new alias.
There is a regular organized gang of
sharpers in the business and they
reap a fortune every year from gull
ible persons.
The bait thrown out for the VIC
Tins who are called suckers by the
sharpers who work the game can be
spotted right off by any one who takes
the care TO study the decoy advertise
ments These all follow a certain
form. The firstis that used by crooked
storage men. 1t reads like this:
A MAGNlklCENr $1,000 U h,GhrPIANO,
~ $40 storage; blrsaiL. Address Storage,
West =. 1t.
lin nearly every instance the buyer
OF these instruments is made TO pay as
much and even more than the instru-
ment sold can be bought for new OF
the maker imagining ell the time
that he is securing a genuine bargain.
Often these instruments are secured at
cost price and sometimes the price is
increased. That depends upon the
gullibility OF the customer. Where
the customer pays $l40 for a piano
thus advertised it is safe to bet that
the sharper making the sale makes u
clear profit of $40 or 500 on the
transaction. The sharper getting
the instrument at cost price can
easily afford to indulge in the luxury
OF seeming generosity aud let the in
strument go at less than the retail
price and still be a big gamer Who're
this philanthropy is INDUCED in how
ever. the instrument sold is always a
second hand one, and the purchaser
discovers too late that he has got
something that isn't worth what he
paid for it. Stenciling a piano con-
sists in rubbing out the name OF the
maker and working in a standard
makers name with a stencil plate.
This business is Of course. illegal
but it continues to be carried on.
despite the strenuous effort OF the
Piano Makers Association TO break it
up. If generous seller OF an in
strument lets it go for $3.50. a quarter
of its advertising value, he will still
be at least so ahead on the transac-
ton and the purchaser will get an
instrument whose tone will crack in
less than months time. The
veneering will warp and crack too
revealing the swindle that has been
played on the TOO confding pur-
chaser. Obviously tae sharper can
keep the sacrifice sale up as long as
there are dupes TO buy. and. as a matter
OF fact the sharpers advertise day
after day these tremendous sacrifices
in the newspapers that publish such
decoy advertisements. 1t is simply
another form of the mock furniture
auctions in private residences that
the police have made it difficult to
carry on in the town.
IAN even bigger swindle and one
worked on a wider scale. said the
piano maker lis the sale of diamonds
that have been pawned. This bust
ness Is worked by the same sort of
bait There are about twenty sharp
ers working this particular game in
the city at the present time and
some of them keep the police busy
chasing after them. They each work
under at least half dozen aliases.
They often employ assistants to catch
victims so extensive Is their business.
Sometimes they have girls TO aid
them. The game is generally worked
through the connivance OF unscrupu-
lous pawnbrokers. Any one who is
foolish enough to answer the decoy
advertisement gets reply directing
them to meet the owner OF the jewels
at certain place. Where the sharp
er has advertised to allow an inspec-
ton OF the gems he sends confed-
crate to keep the appointment with
the dupe and take the ticket along.
The intending purchaser discovers at
the start that he has got to pay the
pawnbroker fee to examine the jew
els
If he concludes to purchase he
pays the full value OF the jewelry
every time instead of getting the
fancied bargain; frequently he pays
more than the value If he redeems
the gem or watch at the figures on
the pawn tickets for the ticket itself
has been made out by the pawnbroker
purposely to catch suckers The
pawnbroker as a matter OF fact has
advanced no money at all to the
owner and the owner in turn. has
merely acted as a capper for the
pawnbroker aud goes whacks' with
him in the price paid for the gem for
securing the customer The custom
err can easily test this fact for himself
by trying to repawn the gem at the
advance written on the pawn ticket
the broker will blandly refuse TO give