The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-03
GREEN GOODS GAME
THE FRAUD STILL EXTANT AND
ITS DELUSIVE WILES ARE
PRACTlCED
CIRCULARS FLYING AROUND

Several Prominent st. Paul Men
| Have Received Them Within the
cation Showing the MOdus Oper-
| andi of the SwindIers - Secret
! Service Authorities POwerIess.
The threadbare and often exposed
green goods game" is stf1l extent. 1t
may be that the delusive wiles of the
green goods men have failed to find
| profitable returns from the agricultural
| localities, and they have selected a more
| metropolitan field for their operations.
but the fact remains that a coterie of
swindlers have been operating in St. Paul,
| and endeavoring to corral the shekels
of st. Paul business men.
| Several prominent st. Paul merchants
have received within the past ten days
| circulars purporting to be from one
james P. White Allentown, Pa" max
Ing propositions to supply them with
| green goods that cannot be detected
! from the genuine greenbacks. So far no
| one IN st. Paul has been trapped by the
| absurd proposition, and in most cases the
| letters have been Immediately consigned
| to the waste basket. Last week a Sixth
| street merchant received a long commu-
| nlcauon, which shows up in detail the
| modus operandi of the swindlers. While
the correspondence all comes from some
| where in the East 1t Is almost certain
| that one, and perhaps two, of the trium-
! Vlrate OF rogues are located in st. Paul.
| 1t is said that the secret servfce eu
lhorltles are powerless TO locate and
break up the gang, and even should thev
locate the rendezvous they would not he
able to prosecute the crooks on this score
aS II cannot be proved that any counter
lett money is used in the transaction, in
TACT the victim when allured to the ap-
pointed place is shown real new crisp
greenbacks, and then the Old old story
again. He sees them placed in yalise.
his attention is detracted and the valises
changed on him. Laboring under the
strain of nervous excitement he is eau
toned not to open the valise until safely
out of the city. This gives the swindlers
time to make good their escape.
The gang that has been trying to allure
up-to-date business men by their char
Ia tan devices is said to be the same that
Tor several years. and while they cannot
secure their conviction for commemorative
the advertisement of their schemes
through the mails is Illegal The follow
ing Is a copy Of the circular which has
oeen received by several ST. Paul bust
ness men:
CONFIDENTIAL,
MY Dear Sir: Your name was sent ma
ny my son (Who is my travelling repre-
SemetdtelVel as shrewd. reliable and trust
your vicinity. and 1 therefore take the he
lIDerty OF making you a proposition that
ninety-nlne out of a hundred up-to-date
n I,fgs MGT5d gladly grasp if they could
convincing themselves of the absolnte
safety of my Offer
ne writer is an expert engraver hay-
ins Tor twenty-five years been employed
n the bureau of engraving Washington
u. 2, and for twelve years was superfn2
oenuent OF one of the largest bank note
companies in the country. During nv
leisure l took up as a side issue tba an,
pilcatlon Of ones, tives and tens. and "a
Inc baeSe were. were the original denominations |
I-et eav "4 IRE up you can believe me when
NOW, my dear sir, 1 am fully aware Of
the suspicion and prejudice that you nat
al s" Wy, Will VIII, entertain for my proposition
coming IRON green goods or saWdust
sWlndIer, but If you viii Iay aside that
pte ~. apply common sense and look
dt my proposition from business stand
point compare it with the methods of
these petty swindlers and you will credit
me with not being fool enough to waste
gence and standing in the Community
The methods of the so-called green
goods sWindlers have been exposed from
Clme 10 time IN the daily press. They
send out seductive circular letters to 10
norant farmers, with a newspaper clip
ping in regard to counterfeit money. etc
falsely pretending they are the parties
spoken of in the article and Offering to
sell that which they have not. Inducing
them to send on their hard-earned money
and sending them a valise of sawdust or
brick or some such in return
The reason these rascals find il profita
pie TO work this game is because they
know and they take it for granted that
the people IN general know that there are
terfeft- In circulation, and as men have
no moral scruples against increasing the
money IN circulation Qn fact the major
tty of people are in favor of doing if bv
law, as witness the late greenback craze
and the present silver agitation they are
induced to send their money on the very
liberal terms held out to them-five cents
buying a dollar or some such absurd
price.
No intelligent man would do it. for
| the very proposition is ridiculous not
alone the buying Of pig in bag" but
| man has only to stop and consider the
cost of engraving, presses, printing, pa
per ETC., to see the absurdity Of the
offer.
Now, compare these methods with my
proposition: Firstly, I am not address,
ing an ignorant farmer Secondly, I do
not want you to send me one cent. What
[ want to know is whether you will be
willing to cooperate with me in the dis
posal of my goods. providing l prove to
you beyond all doubt that my work is
all I claim for it, that it cannot be told
from the genuine, even by experts. In
| derstand, do not want you to invest one
dollar until you have examined my en-
tire stock from one to one hundred thou
sand dollars, compare them with the gen
you see fit, then after you are thorough
ly satisfied on every point, you can de-
eide whether you accept my proposition
or not. The fact is, an Investment of
that lifetime of toll in your present
business would not do; this without in
juring friends neighbors or your fellow
man. To convince you of the safety Of
| the business | will, upon receipt of tele-
gram-as per enclosed note-send you a
sample Of my work and 1 will also ap-
point a place to meet you. so that you
can personally examine my entire stock
| If for any reason you decide not to CO.
| operate with me, l trust as an honorable
| the word "Confidential'' insures to all
| communications, and not be so heartless
| as to destroy my life's work, so kindly
burn this and let the matter drop. Trust
| ing however to hear from you immedi-
| ately, l remain, conf1dentially yours,
P. S-For obvious reasons have omit
| ted all names, dates, ETC., from this let
| ter.
Inclosed with the letter is a slip Of pa
per Of the same mimeograph copy as the
letter, but is numbered near the top in