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

| celVe circulars con-
| veying offers of counterfeit postage stamps
In large quantities at attractive prices.
| During the last few weeks such documents
have been scattered throughout New Ell g
land. They are marked Personal on the
| envelopes. Inside is typewriter note,
which reads as follows:
| Dear Sir: l have 100000 two-cent postage
stamps-face value S20O0-that 1 will sell
to any one VINO will not ask questions, and
who knows enough to keep his mouth shut.
| for $500, or l will sell $1,000 for 5000. These
| stamps are all in original sheets and in
| good condition. If this opportunity strikes
| you favorably and you are willing to come
to New York l will appoint place for our
meeting on receipt of the inclosed telegram.
Please do not send any letters, as the mails
are not desirable medium through which
to transact business of this kind. No in
suit or insnuation regarding your honesty
Is intended. 1t is simply clean-cut bust
ness proposition. So If you will kindly
keep this sacredly confidential whether we
trade or not. 1t will be appreciated. This
circular letter has been sent to others and
should YOU wire me and not receive a reply
you will understand that 1 have already
! found u customer. Yours respectfully.
SAFE THINE
The telegram inclosed with the circular
| bears the address of the swindler in New
YORK. The message consists simply of the
title of the post Office. county and state
as. for example: Huntsville, L!.chfeld
county, Conn" on receiving this 1oti;ca-
ton By wire the gang in the metropolis is
made aware that the postmaster at that
! town is anxious to bug counterfeit POST
age stamps. letter is mailed to him ac-
cordingly, making an appointment tor Il
meeting do business
Now, the syindlcTs have no counterfeit
postage stamps to sell. They are siilp,y
trying to lure the dishonest postmaster
some who will yield to the temptation are
sure to be found-to come to New Yorx IN
order that he may be fieeced. On his arri-
val they will show him a quantity Of real
| stamps which he will find most satisfac-
tory. and will purchase at the price stated
When he gets home he will discover hat
his precious package contains nothing but
sawdust or wad of green paper. II is the
same old green goods game in new shape.
DO Not Use the Mails.
The green goods men nowadays receive
all their messages by telegraph, because the
post Office authorities have succeeded 20
some extent in shutting them out of the
mails. Up to five years ago there was no
law under which the government could re-
strict the prosecution of this method Of
swindllng through the post. Accordingly
| no interference with the nefarious business
was attempted. But on March > lSS.i
Congress passed an act forbiddng the de-
livery OF letters to green goods men, and
declaring unlawful all correspondence IN
relation 10 the sale of counterfeit or al
legged counterfeit money. At the same time
the Postmaster General received authority
to demand the Identification of any person
addressed
This regulation was well calculated to an
noy the green goods people. Specimens OF
each batch of their circulars were sure To
reach the department at Washington al
most immediately after they We're sent out
Then the Postmaster General would in
struct the postmaster at New York to with
hold the delivery of letters from the ad-
dresses mentioned in the circulars. calling
on the parties addressed to appear for
ldentification. In seventeen hundred ca ses
OF that Kind no effort has been made nv the
addressee to identify himself. OF course he
could not afford to do So inasmuch as he
would be arrested at once for offering conn
terfeit money for sale. The swindlers tried
many ways to get around the difficulty.
necessarily, fictitious name was al
ways employed When the individual Tins
falsely. designated was called for ar RE
numher and street given. he was never az
nome. He received his letters in care NJ
sonieoody else very often hiring one of the
lettef boxes which are rented by the month
In many cigar shops in New York OR ner
haps he would bride a carrier to deliver r.,
MN matter directed to an address which
hao no existence. As quickly as delivery
10 one name was forbidden. another nan,e
was adopted. But when the govcrnment
look steps so quickly there was little chance
TO obtain any returns Thus the post no
peeh apandoned almost entirely by the
greep-goods men.
The Circulars.
However. that remark applies only "a
correspondence addressed to them. They
still employ the mails without restriction
Tor sending out their circulars. MANY
thousands of these are posted every dav In
new YORK city. Thus the clerks In that
post ONCE have learned to distinguish their
character by their general appearance
Inose which are deemed unmistakable. in
accordance with the recent order issued nv
the postmaster General, are STAMPED with
an inscription which reads:
The person receiving this letter IL warn.
cd against swindlers who pretend to deal
IN counterfeit money. If this letter relates
10 that subject, hand it to the postmaster
VINO Will forward it to Post Office Depart
ment, Washington, D. c."
This experiment has been so successruI
'Iat similar stamps are being furnished To
osner posi- offices where large quantities of
S,9en GOODS circulars are mailed. The frau
9uient business in question is mainly CON
quoted In New York, but also to some ex
tent In other places, such as Newark. EIiz
aoeth ana Easton, Pa. As a measure of
protection against this new move bv the
government the swindlers are now irving
10 disguise their letters in various WAYS
one method adopted being to inclose then,
IN envelopes bearing the names of real or
nctitious firms, such as Taylor Bros. Nov
elites, New York, in the left hand upper
corner "PPei
Postmasters can only use the warning
stamp where they are practically certain
OF the fraudulent character of the letters
obviously an honest man would be right
eously indignant at having one of his own
mfssives thus labeled. The safety of the
green goods men lies in the fact that the
seals which protect their circulars are alb
solutely inviolable. The contents of the
envelopes, however we'll known, cannot be
disturbed nor used as evidence by the gov
eminent This same protection shielded
the operations of the Louisiana Lottery
Company for years Even now the author
tiles are almost helpless against the swim
die. They have made a number of arrests
and there have been few convictions The
Industry is SO vastly profitable that. where
one man Is caught and sent to prison. a
dozen others are ready to take his place
and carry on the work.
10 punish the thieves when caught is no
easy matter. They have no end of money
behind them. There is always plenty of
bail, and the best legal talent that can be
procured is sure to be on hand for their de-
Tense. The profits of the business amount
to hundreds of thousands of dollars an
nually. 1t is conducted on a scale we'll
nigh gigantic, finding employment for a
great number of persons Of both sexes
~sf 1f