The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-01
A LITERARY GOLD BRICK.
HOUSE IN LONDON NEAT
LY USED TO SWINDLE AMER
leans.

Our Ambassadors Taken Ina Syn
dicnte That Was Formed in Lon
don for the Purpose of Dealing in
Fake" Real Estate.
Copyright.
New York, NdT. 3O-London in general
Is having no end of merriment in what
is now facetiously termed the Carlyle gold
brick trick. Just played upon the Ameri-
can public Numerous as have been the
gold brick tricks of a similar. nature of
which literary lotteries in the United
States have been made the victim. this
latest dodge" is looked upon as having
neatly capped the climax of them all.
A lot of youths dubbed literary bucks by
Mr.. Henry Labouehere have made a lot
of money out Of various American asses,
and are preparing a similar game for the
. plIrpose of increasing their gains. The
Young fellows live in London and are be-
ing congratulated upon the fortunes they
are accommodating by the swindles they
perpetrate upon the entire public in the
United States.
The game they are working is so very
novel and ingenious as to indicate a high
order of natural ability; the trick, how
ever. is one which could be played only
,Ipon the American public. To explain it
lucidly it is necessary to dwell at some
length upon recent events in the world
of letters
About a year ago it was announced
with suspicious detail that Carlyle's house
in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, was about to
be sold This house is in rather mean
neighborhood, one of a row of plain three
story and attic, brick dwellings. The
property had no particular value. IL ala
not rent well. No one had any particular
knowledge of it. No Londoner could tell
an resided there
doner ever dreamed, no matter how inter-
airy his tastes, of attaching any particular
value to the house because Thomas Car
lyle had formerly made it his stopping
place. In short, this house. like so many
others, was a drug in the market.
1t was at this time that the young rear
estate SPECTATORS came into the business.
1t is a notorious fact in London thaI
when a house is found to have sheltered
some nobility land there are thousands
of such houses in London), it Is made
matter of special real estate speculation
The real estate agents first get pnoto>
graph of 1t, print circular descriptions,
and then have para graphs appear in the
weeklies to the effect that such and such
a great ones home is to be sold. This
method was pursued in the case OF the
Carlyle house. The young bucks caused
their little notices to be printed accord
ingly Now, of course, no imaginable
quantity of such little notices would have
any effect upon the British public.
This peculiar variety of gold brick trick
is so thoroughly understood in England
by it, The end aimed at in the notices
is to attract American attention. The
American weelxlies of literary turn
naturally copy these items with comments
of their own. That is the bait. The next
thing one hears is that Lord this or Lord
that has kindly allowed the use OF MS
name on the committee formed to secure
a memorial subscription in the premises.
of course, Lord this or Lord that is not
such a fool as TO put up any money. his
name-he may have an interest in the
property or an interest in some one VINO
has an interest-helps TO secure the name
of some literary man as colleague, and
the two names head a list of names of
small fry in letters. The next thing is To
write a letter to the American ambassa-
dor. telling him all about the great IDEA
of this or that memorial museum in the
dilapidated house once the home Of the
immortal who has been selected as most
convenient for the end in view The
American ambassador Casually green,
and glad to show a friendly interest in
schemes he knows nothing whatever
about, Immediately pens a howery re-
ply, pointing out that this immortal was
a link in the mighty chain uniting the
two branches of the great Anglo-Saxon
race with much similar rhetoric.
Now the trap is laid. The ambassadors
letter is widely printed, and the United
States is copiously favored with cabled
extracts. The next step is the formation
of the American committee. This latter
IS almost wholly made up of snob million
aires, who are approached by literary
emissaries in the secret.
The Americans, of course, provide the
money in the game The immortal house
is sold for fancy sum to the dummy"
corporation formed for the purpose the
owner has sold a rotten and crumbling
piece Of real estate and the agents divide
snug commission.
This trick was very humorously dealt
with by the late James Russell Lowell,
who admitted that during his first year
as American minister he fell a victim to
II: But he soon found out the meaning
of the game.
Two noble lords are said to be RESPONSE
Die for great many of these transactions.
Both noblemen are owners of immense
blocks of real estate, and they are always
willing to part with small lots at fancy
rates when they can get them back again
Tor next to nothing-for it is not to be
supposed Tor moment that these non
descript museums, with their accumula-
llon of trash yclept memorials of great
Qeparted, are taken seriously. In very
lew years the gullble Americans grow
ured OF their white elephant, and it is
sold at dead loss.
It is positively amusing to note the
SInld-lke good faith with which the Car
lyle gold brick trick is accepted by the
americans. Indeed the devoted Great
ures with all the seriousness of inno-
cence, have actually photographed the
wall papers in the rotten rookery, and
restored fire places to their former con-
from literary weekly. THE number
OF visitors who have already visited the
carlyle Museum since it has been opened
10 the public should be gratifying to the
70 make the neglected and dilapidated
mouse worthy memorial of a great man
ana suggestive place of pilgrimage. The
Intelligent Scottish carertaker proudly
shows her visitors book with its more
than six hundred entries in three weeks
a large proportion of the names being
american, of course. The committee have
zone their work speedily and well, by the
ana OF personal friends Of the Carlyles
with good memories; the late Mrs. Alex
ander Carlyle, so long an inmate of the
mouse, having been of special assistance.
AS nearly as possible it has been restored
10 its condition of fifteen years ago. The
Old Wallpapers have been photographed
ana reproduced, even old fireplaces traced
ana restored; bits of furniture and a few
pictures have been brought back to their
former places. Indeed. judging by the
length of time visitors linger over the
relies, the house for all its baroness,
would seem to be already very sugges-
tive"
Meanwhile all London looks on and
laughs. For London has seen the rise
growth, and decay of the Keats museum
the Walton museum, and ever so many
other American toys. Every Londoner
knows that there are thousands of prop
critics in the metropolis in which some
immortal or other has resided. Nobody
ever dreams of laing silly OVar fhqr,a