The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-11-14

THE GREEN GOODS MANIPJLATOHs
AGAIN m THIS SECTION.
Thcir METHOD. Have Been Improved,
hut II II stu the same Old
skin Gnme.

i II is quite likely tina, come people OF
Houston have OF late received green gpois
circulars, as the malipulatcrs OF this fake
have iehabll.tated their methods and are
now paying SPECIAL attention 10 the ua-
sophisticated people OF the South
The green goods swfndie IS as old as
the hills. AS everybody krows. the pres
pcctiye victims are invited to purchase
ceriain phenomenaily perfect counterielts
that have been printed on piaSss stolen
from the treasury apartment at Wasting
ton" or course. there are no counterfs5s
and 70 stolen plates. and IL the poot dape
is insane enough 10 come on ard meet
the gang. as per request. he is shown a lot
of perfectly good money. When he makes
his selection the box containing the bills
is shifted by sfcight OF hand and ne gers
about pint OF slwsiusi, neatly wrapper
up. by express.
That is al there IS 10 IT in rriAcspie but
the or. mai oyerturee are made more aiiur-
ing by the enclosure of fake newspaper
clipping, describing the larceny OF me
mythical piates and d.lstIns upon the
marvellous accuracy OF the coucterfei1s- Tee
sips seem 10 have been cut from the New
YorK daily papers, but are really prt1ted IN
a Job office, and the form o. article nssd
Tor many years is so crude and clumsy
TINT it Is astonishing that anybody was
ever deceived BIZ Il. In The last campaign
OF the swinglers the old form has been dis-
carded and new cEppi2g substituted,
which = NEST arsfplly wolded and partc-
ularl< We'll gotten up.
The fake article is really written with
greds adroitness. 1t describes the arrest
OF an alleged counterfe-ter who was re-
Lessee because the experts were unable 70
swear thar his money was bogus, aHa
while the incident is in itself highly pre-
poste,ous It IS narrated IL such a piausi-
BILE. natural style that IL might easily hood
wink the average reader. II seems 10 DC
cut from tho Top OF column and the clip
ping Is extended horizontally. so as 10 In
cluae the da;e line Of the paper. giving IL
Very realistic appearance.
The circular letter itself hos also been
revised. apparently by the same skiliful
hama, nd while the proposition is the same,
IL is put much more dsxuously. The new
letters are printed in type Initiating the
work OF a typewriter and have been given
al extra artistic touch with What Is known
es a 'b.urring machine" which produces
the slightly hiotted appearance OF a sheet
that hiss been through the copying press.
good many OF the more recent letters
contain a quarter section of new 81 bill
pasted on the head as a sample OF the
work" This is rather an expensive bait.
but IL must catch many guigeon.
The secret service department has al
ways been the great enemy OF the green
goods thieves. and special legislation hss
been enacted to facilitate its work in that
direction. Ii Is Handicapped. however, by
TIE fact that comparatively few of the
victims Of the sharpegs ever dare to make
complaint. They realize thar they have
tried to enter into league with gang of
criminals for the purpose of circulating
counterfeit money. and when II dawns on
them that they havo been duped they are
naturally reluctant TO confess their ras-
oaily intentions. Hence, evidence is hard
to get The new documentary matter makes
the game good deal more attractive than
ever before, and the chances are that many
NO enterprising gentleman viii be richer in
experience and sawiusr by the dawning
OF the glad New Year.