The morning news., 1897-08-16
PEBBLES ON THE BEACH.
SOUTHERN EMPRESS COMPANY'S
AGENTS FIND THEM.

How n Shrewd New Yorker Works
a BuncO Game Through the EN-
press COmpanies-Pretend to Be a
Drummer and Sends Packages to
Hotels Cash on DeIiVery''-Iw wO
Packages For Americus.
The pebble on the beacn" game which
has been played successfully lately
. Throughout the country by some shrewd
fellow in New York calling himself Eek
stein has been detected in several in
stances by Mr.. F. L. Cooper agent for
the Southern Express Company in this
city.
The game seems to be a scheme in which
hotels are selected as the victims. The
man who has been working the game has
never yet been caught, but his little play
is well understood now by the hotels all
over the country, and those in this region
Of the south will be careful not to be taken
in any more.
Mr. Cooper tells how ne came to find out
the trick of the man who calls himself
Ecxstein. He says not long ago there was
a package received at the express office
from New York billed c. O.D. to Americus,
Ga. 1t was addressed to one of the lead
ing hotels of the city. The package rat
tied considerably and he thought that it
would bear inspection. TIE agent who has
in hand the exchange Of shipments from
one line Of railroad to another reported the
package to the agent for Inspection, deelar-
ing that it seemed unsafe. The agent open
ed the package in the presence of wit
nesses and found that it contained moth
ing but pebbles from the seashore, rocks
and other things of this kind. He saw
that there was nothing valuable in the
package and ne took the case up with the
authorities of the Adams Express Compa-
NY through which the package was orig
inally shipped.
The scheme of the man who played the
game consisted in sending out such pack
ages to all the leading hotels of the coun-
try and writing letters through the mails
at the time the packages were sent say
ing that he was a drummer; that he had
sent his watch to Ecxstein, New York, 10,
be repaired and that he had ordered it
sent to the hotel in question. He asked
the hotel 70 please take the watch out
of the express office and pay the small
amount due on it and hold the package
for him. BY this scheme he could get the
hotels throughout the country to take the
packages out Of the express office, pay
the amount due as cash on delivery and
the cash would be sent back by the eX-
press company to the address of Eckstein,
as given on the bill, and the fellow would
pun in his money from the hotels. In
the packages there would often be no
watch at all, but simply pebbles from the
beach, rocks and such things.
The cunning worker of the game would
fill package with these rocks and peb-
bles and send along a bill made out on
nicely printed bil-heads as though the
package had been shipped by a regular
jeWeler or matchmaker. The package
would be addressed to the hotels in the
various towns and cities OF the country
and letter would be written at the time
the packages were sent, telling the pro-
prietor of the hotel that the drummer
would be there in the near future on his
regular trip, and that he hoped that the
hotel would take his watch out of the eX-
press company's office, pay the c. O. d.
charges and hold II for him until he came.
Several hotels were caught in this way
Mr.. Cooper says he has seen two pack
ages of this description very recently,
which were going through the express
companys traffic, though, of course, there
have been many which he did not notice
The game is such a shrewd ONE that il
would be difficult for the express men to
detect it. Except for the rattle and SEEM
ingly insecure condition of the packa ges
which fell to his lot to inspect Mr. Cooper
would not have observed the game as it
appeared in the bundles he has thrown
out. Mr.. Cooper says that when the bum
dies We're brought to him he thought at
once that they were tricks. He examined
them and found that a bill for watch
had been sent in both cases
which was to be paid at the end of the
line by some hotel. He investigated the
packages and found that so far from con-
tanning watches, they contained nothing
but pebbles and rocks. Then he knew
that some game Nas being played and
he took up the matter with the officers
Of the express company above him.
The matter has been thoroughly inves-
tgated by the express companies and
others, but the guilty party has never
been caught by the officers of the law 1t
is said that his little game has been work
| ed on hotels in every city and town in
the country. The drummer's letters are
4 on file at the hotels which have been bun
/ coed in which he asks i'm the natural style
/ of a drummer that the hotel take up his
4 watch, which he had sent off 10 be repair
/ ed, and pay the charges due on the pack
/ age. or course, when the cash on delivery
/ was plauSed down, the money was put in
4 an envelope by the express company and
! forwarded as per the bill accompanying
/ the package TO the firm Of Eckstein. and
/ the man who was working the game be-
/ hind the scenes got The money when it
/ was sent on TO the Eckstein address
The case has awakened a great deal
/ of interest throughout the south. for there
/ are few hotels which have not received
/ the packages. Some of them have not
/ paid the bills and taken out the pebbles.
/ but there are many which did make the
+ ante. and are now holding packages OF
i pebbles from the beacf for the arrival Of
/ the much-delayed drummer who wrote
/ that he was coming soon on his southern
4 trip.
4 In this connection IT is said to be won
+ derful that the hotels Of the country are
4 not make the victims Of such schemes
/ oftener II IS said by travelling statesmen
/ that the hotels are very wiling always
/ TO accommodate them by taking up cx-
/ press packages. paying for kilograms ana
such things in advance of their coming.
/ whether they are known to the hotels or
/ not. II is common practice among
4 drummers TO have their mail and such
! things forwarded to them at the hotels
8 tt nfsrs no