Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-21

IN
wv manner of operation
Y y re1orted to by conf
dence men in securing victims
A call on Capt. Jas. 4. McDevitt, the de-
tective, was all that was necessary to OBJ
tain the desired information.
30 you want to know something in
regard to the methods of confidence ,nen
In the conduct of their business. said he.
wen. to begin with, they naturally rake
the simplest and most effective plan for
nndlng out the name of a prospective VIC
TIM They usually accomplish this through
the medium of the court clerk, to whom
they write for a poll list giving the name
anu ADDRESS or every voter in his county.
"A SohItoentiai letter is then written to sew
erai or them, stating that should they SO
desire. they win be furnished with counter-
Ieit notes that the treasury experts are I'M
aoie 10 detect, and In evidence of this state
Hheht they VIII incloSe a clipping from q
newspaper. usually enc of some prominence
Inc cnpping Is, % course, favorable to the
scheme, and is usually gotten I'D by the
eoniiuence men themselves. although they
can sometimes run across a paper contain
ing an article favorable to their business.
Inc clipping thus arranged by them usu-
any gives an account of some shrewd fel-
low who has been arrested charged with
having in his possession counterfeit nancy
he is tried and acquitted of the offense for
the reason that it cannot be definitely de-
terinined whether or not the money found
IN his possession Is genuine According to
the bogus story il Is afterward found ont
that the man Is notorious counterfeiter
anu paSser or spurious coin. The circular
SHOWS further that II Is folly to work hard
Tor money when the same can be procured
at very small cost to the purchaser. and
ne IS also assured that no evil consequences
will ensue.
When the Victim Bites.
VI course In hundreds of cases no re-
spouse Is received from these letters. but
occasionally favorable answer Is recety-
ed. and II the victim appears at all inclined
10 bite. he will be sent a genuine dollar
note. and told that that is a sample Of the
money sold by them. usually at about 10 per
cent or the face value of the notes. The
unwary countryman is instructed to mix
the Dill In with other money he may have
and pass it on some one. thus trying its
eHicacy as good imitation. The money
being genuine. Of course goes through ali
risnt- rms naturally encourages the VIC
Tim. ana more correspondence ensues He
IS cautioned about talking to any one, and
toid 10 De exceedingly careful in the conduct
OF his correspondence. A cipher ia sent
him to use in his correspondence. and he
Is told to mail his letters from some other
Town than the one in which he resides.
w men the matter has reached a focus the
victim Is directed to go to a certain civ
not Tar removed from New York. 90 to a
certain hotel. register under a certain name,
provided by the confidence man. and to re.
main closely in his room until visited nv
signal. -
In New York.
The agent upon his arrival keeps a strict
surveillance over his man, and cautions
him against holding intercourse with any
one. telling him that he is in danger Of be-
ing captured. and that he must conduct
himself according to directions or he will
have trouble. After the wouid-be passer of
counterfeit money Is thoroughly frightened
and In complete subsection to the will of
the agent he Is placed on a train and taken
to New York. He Is at once taken to some
obscure hotel, and. after being kept there
for period Of about an hour while the
agent Is arranging for his reception at the
headquarters Of the gang. he is led into an
out-of-the-way place and into a shabby
ONCE, as far removed from the street as
possible. Sitting In the office Is usually
found an elderly man reading a paper, who
after being introduced to the victim iapses
into quiet again, simply referring the party
to his son, whom he states attends to the
business for him. The son, a dapper young
man, Is then introduced, and after some
conversation is INDUCED in. and the victim
again reduced to a state Of fear bordering
on insanity, q large amount Of money,
varying In the sizes Of the notes from one to
nifty dollars Is spread out on the table and
the purchaser told to select the denomina-
tions which he may think he can use to the
best advantage. This usually results in his
selecting notes ranging in sizes from one to
five dollars. The money shown him Is, Of
course. genuine money. and an examina-
ton always proves satisfactory. After the
bargain is made. and the victim has given
up his good money for the supposed spu-
rious money. the amount purchased by him
Is placed in a satchel before his eyes and
carefully sealed. This Is placed on the
table which. hy the has al hot
tom. and conversation is again entered into.
During this conversation the victims atten-
ton Is attracted to something which re-
Quires him to turn his head in an opposite
direction from the satchel, and by the use
of an automatic spring attachment In the
table another satchel, containing sawdust
or some other substances Weighing the same
as the one in which the money is placed
Is substituted. The satchel being exactly
similar in every detail, no suspicion is
aroused on the part Of the countryman,
and he departs with the sawdust. not how
ever. before having been cautioned not
under any circumstances, to open the
satchel until after he has gotten outside of
New York. Ninety-nine out Of every hun
dred cannot resist the temptation to take
a peep in the satchel after they get back to
their hotel, and the deception Is discovered
II he has the nerve to squeai he has no
clue with which to capture the swindlers
for ne is unable to locate the place in which
the transaction was conducted, and even
should he be, the chances are very much
against his catching them, as they have
flown ere he can return. The police
knowing this, and also having very little
sympathy for the victim, don't usually
make much effort to assist him. Numbers
there are who. after having been thus
swindled. keep their mouths shut. fearing
danger themselves.
Professional Thieves.
There are a large number of profess
sional thieves in the business now. The
lo~ fhoc 20 ho 40 lx~v
burglary and other like crimes, and the