The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-12-04

ber of applications for assistance. and
where they cannot look into them per-
sonally they send inquiries to the so
ciety, and the investigation is made for
them Last year 1874 new records were
opened by the society, and reports were
made in 5,SSS cases
AS i'm the Baltimore case, many Of the
applicants for charity proved to he
frauds. Here are some typical cases of
fraud which the society has invest
gated:
professional beggar who asks in
fluence to get his wife into a home or
hospital: does not ask for money but
says there is no food or fuel i'm the
house; claims 10 be of the religious
denomination of the person addressed.
fraud about so years DID, who has
lost his left leg and uses crutches;
claims to be a civil engineer and begs
for money to get IL Chicago or Savan-
nah, or TO buy a wooden leg.
bogus minister, who calls on cler-
gymen ostensibly to solicit their inhu-
ence to procure him German pupils.
A peddler who claims TO come from
Albany. who sells sewing silk which is
poor in quality and short in quantity:
pretends to be sent by some one known
talller and looks like a gentleman.
A tall young man. with a husky voice
and plausible manners. who procures
reports OF benevolent societies and vis-
its their managers. claiming to have
been sent from one TO another; usually
asks for money or clothing to enable
him To go To the Adrondacks or else
where for his health
A man Of about Az npntlv 1raSgad
who writes letters of coincidence to per-
sons in afIliction. claiming to be an old
friend OF the deceased; often incloses
an original poem and few days later
appears at the house with a tale of
distress and asks for clothing or mon
ey.
Almost every one has met one or
other of these frauds. They are types
which have representatives in every
large city. To guard against their inn
positions the Baltimore society pub
fishes a list of them i'm its journal. The
New York society also publishes a con-
fidential bulletin describing them.
which is sent To the society's members
and To other societies all over the coun-
try. The development of the other local
societies has not reached this point yet,
but there is "A national magazine called
The Charities Review, which is pub
lished i'm Illinois. IL is edited by Fred
II. Wines and Rev. Edward Everett
Hale. and n. Rosenau of the Hebrew
charities Is its business manager.
If last summers experience is an in
dex. the coming winter is going to. be
a busy time with the charity workers
all over the cohntry. New York re-
fleets the condition Of the country, and
last summer I'm New York saw an un-
precedentcd amount of suffering. Char
ity is associated I'm most minds with
winter weather. but the summer. too. Is
"A season of distress. So many men and
women go away from the cities that
there Us less work I'm summer than
there is In winter. and much suffering
ensucS During the three midsummer
months there were 1.3ii requests FOR
relief made at the New York society's
office. This was more than 90 per cent
greater than the number OF appIicn-
tions i'm 1896. During the winter before
the work OF relief was greater than It
had been Iva the winters Of 1895 and 1896
This winter there will probably be
more employment. bat this win be OF
set by the fact that many families ont