Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-03


Fost offices elsewhere are utilized. For
example, recently a large trunk filed with
circulars was sent by express from New
York to large town in Ohio The person
who received it hired an expressman to
cart It to a dark alley, where it was OPEN
ed. The documents were then mailed at
the local post office. By accident the torn
envelopes of one of them disclosed the con-
tents. Accordingly all of the letters were
stamped with the warning superscription
before being forwarded to their addresses.
How 1t il Done.
The original circular incloses a telegram
written on a telegraph blank and addressed
to the green goods man. Part Of the mes
sage consists of a number. The swindling
gang keeps a set of books. in which the
names of all persons addressed are en-
tered, each Of them with number at.
| tached. Now, the kilograms of this kind
are commonly reported unbelievable, be-
cause the individual addressed cannot he
found. But in the telegraph ONCE is
secret employee of the gang, who gets SO
much week for keeping d record OF the
numbers mentioned in the messages and
transmitting list of them regularly to the
sharpers. Having secured the numters
they have only to turn to their DOCKS 10
find the names to which they correspond
Then they write to those names and pro-
coed with the business of fishing for the
dupes. Frequently they send a. quarter.
half, or sometimes the whole Of crisp
as a sample of their alleged counterfeit
money.
Dlsclaiming all guile the writer says: 1T
my goods are not all claim 10: them, ano
are not as fine as the Enclosed, will make
you a present of $1,000 in gold. and Will
also cheerfuly pay all the expenses OF your
journey to New York. Fair enough, Is IL
man, honest and square" With the orig
inal circular the swindler has inclosed q
forged newspaper clipping, speaking or some
wonderful coun terfeits recently turned out,
which even experts cannot tell from genu-
ire money. Sometimes they are stated to
have been printed from engraved plates
stolen from the bureau of engraving and
printing at Washington.
The latest edition of this alleged news
paper clipping describes an interview with
Mr.. Williams, chief of the bureau Of en-
craving In the course of which our re-
porter was allowed to examine one of the
bills in question" The supposi.itious cor
respondent, writing from WASHINGTON, goes
on to say: 1T certainly was in appearance
as good as any BILL and, as Mr.. Williams
limited, those scoundrels who make and
pass them will have no trouble in doing So
and thereby certainly get rich in a short
space of time. OF course said Mr. VIII
liams. the government sustains a loss
every year through counterfeits being taken
for genuine. But them he added, smiling
we have little margin to work on in
favor of the government, and that is that
there are lost every year by shipwreck fire
and otherwise, thousands AMI thousands OF
greenbacks, which are never recovered and
therefore do not have to be redeemed by the
government, as the people who lave the
misfortune to lose them must stand the
loss. 1t seems hard that a rich government
should have such an advantage over Door
people, but that Is the ,.tw Perhaps that
Is the reason that sometimes people of high
standing who were considered honest nave
been found engaged in handling counterfeit
money"
The circulars OF the green-goods man Of
Ter soNo OF counterfeit money for 500
and $4,000 for 81 1000. The letters sent ont
by them are varied in character according
TO the occupation and environment of the
persons addressed. OF course they have
no counterfeits TO show or sell. The Names
or people TO address they get to soma ,x-
tent from the directories of cities ana
towns. Others they procure from firms
who make business of furnishing what
are called live addresses" In addition
postmasters are bribed 20 supply the al
dresses of well-to-do citizens whose mail ls
received ut their respective offices Besides
each chle' or a gang is Il subscriber 10 n
commercial. agency.
Beaten at Their Own Game.
In Very large percentage of instances
the persons who seek dealings with tho
green goods people do So because they i'm
agine that they can get ahead of the lar
ter. In other words. they know that rhev
are conten1lrg with a fraud, BIZ, s,ppose
sTndiers. II goes without SAYING that az
rule, they go for wool and come away
shorn. But once in while il has happenoa
that individuals with real cleverness ana
determination have beaten the sharpers nj
their own game. For example no. l.,,.,
ago two Texans went 10 New York nrc-
pared for the sport of diamond Ont ,i.
mond. When the alleged counterfaiTs
which they proposed to buy We're exposea
10 view tnev grabbed the money. knou,ing
4 foll o-aa
the two men engaged in conducting the
cheat was shot mortally. The inteN.fe4
victims were put in Jail. but they ,urfcre1
no punishment. Any jury. indeed. would
be likely TO look upon the killing of n
green goods dealer as rather a commen5a.
bic performance.
Devices most original and subtle are EN-.
pioye1 by the green goods men for de-
ceiVins, their victims. In order to mislead
them, all artifices of seeming good-fellow-
ship and hospitality are resorted to- Very
often after he has lost his money the mn
fortunate is in doubt as to who robbed him
Some time ago an enterprising person made
the journey from Washington to New Yorl,
and purchased $1,000 worth of supposed
courterfeits. On getting back TO this CITY
his package of Doodle. which he had for
warded by express from the Inetropolis
proved to contain only sawdust He was
Convinced that the fraud had been perne
trated by some employe of the express com
pany, and SO wrote to the swindlers on the
subject. They generously offered to fur
nish some more of the same stuff at a re-
duced rate, and he swallowed the bait
second time. losing more of his money.
People often write TO the Post Office De-
partment. asking what rewards will be
paid for the capture of green goods men
The continued and even growing success of
the fraud furnishes most striking testimony
of the extent to which human credulity NAV
be utilized as a means of livelihood by per-
sons sharp enough to take ADVANTAGE
OF 1t. The swindle will doubtless remain
in active operation as long as there are
fools to play upon. II is a comfort to real
ize that the victims are dishonest persons.
who are caught in their efforts to victim.
lie others. Nobody need pity them
RENE BACHE