The Portland daily press., 1894-04-03
GREEN GOODS WITH 4 VARIATION.
A Scheme That Shows Ingenuity and
Phase That Proves Tempting.

A Scheme That Shows Ingenuity and a
Phase That Proves Tempting.
Another and most tempting phase Of
the green goods scheme has made its ap-
pearance. A stranger comes to town and
selects his victim, usually a saloon keeper
He makes the saloon his hangout and
spends money freely. The proprietor soon
notices, if he is at all observant, that ev.
cry time the stranger pays foranvthing he
passes out crisp, unwrinkled bill. The
stranger becomes very friendly with the
proprietor, and one fine day he says:
sWell, must say goodby tomorrow.
But before go wish you would give me
back those new bills. Twill give you Other
money for them"
"Why, what for?"
aWell, I'll tell you. That money I've
been spending here is not right, see? I've
grown to like you, and don't want you
to get into trouble"
The victim is astonished, probably goes
to his cash drawer and examines some OF
the money. He swears that it is real, but
the stranger laughs at him.
s'Reals Why, I'll sell you cords of that
stuff for $50 S100l'' Then the strange,
goes on to explain the same old story, but
with this addition:
stYou've seen this exposed in the papers
a hundred times, and how man is bound
to lose his money if he runs against the
game. Well, if you'll do business with me
I'll put the money right in your hands be-
fore you pay me cent?"
That certainly looks reasonable, and lie,
us suppose the victim bites. He agrees to
lido business" He says he will buy 500
worth. The sharper then tells him to
meet him the next day with 800 in Sc
bills. They meet. The sharper produces
large envelope. They count the money
and place it in the envelope. The victim
is directed to seal the envelope. The stran
ger then says:
'sNow, will mark this envelope in youl
presence" Suiting the action to the words,
he takes oat a stylographic pen, spreads
out newspaper on the bar to write upon,
writes number across one end and three
initials in tho middle; then, as he blota
the writing with the newspaper, says
"Now, you keep this envelope, with youl
money in it, and when our agent calls on
you tomorrow he will count the goods
into your hand. And when you are con-
WINGED that it is just as represented, not
before, hand him this envelope. He will
recognize the number and initials and re-
ceive it as payment"
With these words the stranger hands the
victim his envelope, bids him goodby and
takes his leave. 1t is needless to say that
he Immediately leaves town, and that when
the agent fails to arrive the next day and
the victim opens his envelope he finds it
filled only with pieces of blank paper cut
to represent the IS bills
A few words will suffice to explain The
trick, for it is as truly a sleight of hand
trick as any Jewett or Hermann or Keller
can do on the stage. The crook has two
envelopes precisely alike. One he prepares
by marking it with a number and initials
and filing it with the required number OF
blank sheets Of paper. This he folds in
side of newspaper and puts it carelessly
in his side pocket.
The other envelope he keeps in readiness
to produce at the right moment to receive
the victims money. When he has seen
the bundle safely inside and sealed, he
takes his newspaper, spreads the envelope
upon it, writes on it, opens up one corner
of the paper and puts it underneath and
blots it. Then here comes the change,
which is simple enough. He takes out tbs
dummy envelope and hands it to the vic
tim. 1t is all SO natural that any one
might be deceived. The victim thinks that
his money does not go out of his sight fol
a moment, but it does-very much so.-
Hartford Times.