Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-12-08
a Glaring Swindle.

N'"Ni' - VIZ my tiIstl a. lOOi
Is born every second is verified by the
account OF how easily couple of
young men buncoed the people OF the
whole country short time ago by the
proiicr of impossible dividends from
money sent them for investment.
Such n bait as ten per cent. week or
30 per cent. n year was easily gulped
down by the gudgeons That it was
II gigantic fraud it would seem that
every man, woman or child should
have been able to detect at a glance,
but it seems that a glamour covered
up their iniquity, until the police were
set upon their track by the slow-go-
ing moneyed machines that were
plodding along content with three
and four per cent. year.
When the Brooklyn officers made
the raid on the enterprising duet, the
officers literally found money by the
barrel, for the receipts, at an carly
hour of the day, about $4,000, had
been deposited in these unique re-
cepticals for money, and the firm was
engaged zealously in the work of re-
plenishing them from a cart-load OF
letters just received by mail. The
World, which contains an unique ac-
count of the matter, says that one
day the concern took in $4,000.
They kept practically no books,
simply grabbed the money. 1t is esti-
mated that the syndicate has taken in
over $4,0OO,O00 in the few months it
had been operating. A day or so ago
the head mana mere boy, by the
way-drew $4,000 from one bank,
and it is also known that he has $780,.
600 deposited with the German consul
New York.
1t was called the Franklin syndicate.
1t protested to have the inside track
on stock-jobbing. 1t made its pres
ence known by circulars, scattered
broadcast over the country, and the
response was immediate and phe-
nomenal. Some small communities
went wild over the proposition to
double their money so rapidly, and all
classes OF people caught the craze. A
proposition that was reasonable in its
nature would have engaged the at
tention OF only those who depend upon
investments rs matters of business, but
when an extraordinary deal is pro-
posed there are always many who are
willing to stake money on the possible
turn of winning card although the
chances are that the pack is in the
hands of designing knave whose
interests are subserved by raking in of
the pot. Still people will bet against
professional skill; prospectors rush to
u HcWIy uloCOScIcu cluOIduO ~ Iuc
bare intimation OF a strike, and even
our staid and stolid pioneers may be in
duced to sink shaft several hundred
feet by the introduction of q few
pounds of Wisconsin coal in a drill
hole that was about to be abandoned.
Since the explosion OF the Franklin
Syndicate bubble, another fragile en-.
terprise, this one located in Gotham,
has collapsed, under the breath of pop
ular suspicion. A pair of scoundrels
named White had been plucking inno-
cent pigeons. under the same extrava-
agant promises, far and wide. 1t is
said that the first batch Of l." investors"
were awarded the colossal dividends,
and it had the intended effect OF max
lug many people wild to subscribe for
stock. The exposure of the Franklin
Syndicate led to the immediate col
lapse OF the other, and to open the
eyes of the credulous that they were
being swindled by operators who made
scarcely a pretense to honesty.