New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-18


The arrest a short time ago of blind beg |
gar in the shopping district who proved TO be
a comparatively rich man afforded many chart !
table people who give money to beggars with |
out investigation food for reflection The char !
ity organizations take every opportunity to |
warn the public against frauds of this kind and !
issue circulars and pamphlets for the purpose !
Of discouragIng promscuous charity. but the
frauds continue to flourish and the worthy
poor are deprived Of the help which is diverted
from them. 1t is believed by men and women
who make Oh irty study and the dispensing
OF assistance a science that the frauds less
numerous than they were before the days of
organized charity, and that they would vanish
from the scene entirely if people would the
same precautions before giving money away ls
they employ before spending 1t in the regular
course OF business
zone Of the strange cases of fraud that have
come to our knowledge" said an officer of the
Charity Organization Society. was that OF a
family in the upper part Of the city which lived
comfortably for many years and luXurously foI
a few money which was given to them by
people who believed that their donations kept
worthy people from starvation. Like most OF
the people of that class they had a system
which included writing plausible letters to peo-
pie all over the country. and in many instances
referring to clcrgymen. physicians and lawyers
who did not exist. The family had been rich
and had squandered their fortune but wished 10
keep up the old style. The daughters Of whom
there were several. dressed better than many Of
the people who helped pay for their fnery; they
save theatre parties. and paid large bills at
florists livery stables and confectionery estab-
lishments and their neighbors considered them
ftyan off, tipat inst ted nv of
fee finally unnasked the family. and they left
the city
A similar case that Of the Jennings fam
lily which opera cd from a small place in North
Carolina. Tho family also made letter writing
a specialty and received money in large sums
They wrote Acknowledgements of the donations
and promises to return the loans" and then
because Of sickness in thefamily" death of a
relative" the "incurabe illness of child.
Sudden blindness of the father Of the family
and various other pleas asked for further loans.
Hundreds of these letters are on file in the Of
fee Of the charity society
This family consisted of father mother. son.
nineteen years old, and a married daughter
twenty one years old. The whole family IN
Guiding the son-in-law. physician, to whom
people wrote for information as to the poor
family lived on what came to them in answer
to the begging letters. InlS gang was aiH'
broken UP when some of the letters reachei
the hands of the charity society officials
About the same time a Mrs. Stubenroll car
RED On a similar business with highly salts
factory results in New-YOrk. and Charles r.
HurIbut wrote thousands Of begging letters
from No 421 Macdougal-st. His chief stock III
trade was huge pile of directories fearful tales
of dire distress and restitution which he wrote
himself and the nerve Of a bunco steerer, SAID
p man who knew him, and he gathered IN
thousands of dollars from people who never
suspected that they were being swindled
Those are some of the members of the beg
cling aristocracy but there are equally interest
inc cases in the class which aims less hgh ana
;s satisfied with a frugal living. For years
man visited the business part of the city ABOUT
Christmas time and gathered money with whlch
q, onav rent" buy coal" or get something 10
=, ,ha moor children know ii Is Christmas.
He had regular route and collected niue"
-, nv accident it was discovered that the
.,;cL wife who was one of his trump cards was
a mvth His wife was a vigorous heai'h!
,o,na, who. with her three children. lived com
ffrtably on what the bread winner Oh the fanny
Gathered in New York at Christmas time ana
suburban towns at other times OF the year
Ono of the children was injured ana sent 10 d
hosnital where the beggar father insisted oh
hiro axtra accommodations for the little un-
rr,unate He was willing TO pay and demon
,a,a, that ne was able TO do 50, but his I'D
lit, and anxiety to make the little one com
,or,atIe mt an end to his begging business.
r,o professional beggdr is known among the
,,oonIa of NETWORKS Ghetto as schnorrer