Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-06
SCIENCE OF APPLIED CRAFT
Marvellous Schemes for Separating Fools
from Their Money,
BARNUws tPleRAM RIPE FOR REVISION
People Seeking TO Get Rich Quickly
worked to - Finish-variety OF
Schemes Revealed by the
PostOmce Department.

reading nation I am often tempted to believe
that there must be many millions Of intelli-
gent persons in the United States who
! never SO much as glance at the headlines Of
a newspaper" relates an oficial Of the Post
once department in the Washington Star,
AT any rate, II these millions to whom l
refer ever actually do read the newspapers,
their gullibility must be so profound as to
the unbelievable. The Postofhce depart
ment Is constantly issuing fraud orders
against individuals and alleged nrms en-
gagged In getting rich In the operation OF
schemes that It would seem any shrewd
child Of 10 ought to be able to see through
without the least bother.
The other day, for example, the depart
ment got after q chap out in Cincinnati who
for some months had been conducting what
he called q turf bureau He alleged in his
really admirably written circulars that he
had private and absolutely certain methods
Of obtaining Information to the horses that
were slated TO win races on tracks all over
the United States and he guaranteed returns
OF tremendous proportions. Well, when we
looked this fellow up he promptly skipped
and his incoming mail was seized. 1t seems
Incredible, but every days mail brought in
thousands Of dollars, in amounts ranging
from IS actually up to $500, and the letters
lnclosing cash and checks were nearly all
of them apparently written by persons Of
education. The book in which the man kept
his simple account of cash received showed
| that since he put his scheme into operation
he had taken in no less q sum than SASS, 900,
almost out of the question, as 1t may APP
pear. He has got away, but, even II he Is
captured, l very much doubt IL any very
heavy punishment can be visited upon him.
These slippery chaps who work their lodges
by means Of the mails have the money to
employ nrst-rate lawyers and these lawyers
can generally successfully construe their
clients circulars as not having really prom
ised anything to the gulls, after all.
Endless Chain Schemes.
THE endless chain schemes that the de-
partment runs down year after year are
all of them money makers for their opera
tors. II would actually seem as II ali a
busted Individual had to do to get rich Is
to get a lot Of circulars printed and send
them out, borrowing the money for post
age, and there will always be enough gulls
to start him on his way. The cherry tree
scheme worked by a gang Of southern men,
one Of them a clergyman, was g colossal
success for its promoters, and yet not a
man In the crowd had a coin 10 DiesS him-
self with when they started the endless
chain scheme In motion. The more recent
fountain pen fraud. worked by . couple Of
| Pennsylvanians, yielded returns that went
into the thousands every day. and I
haven't q doubt In life that any number
Of similar endless chain schemes are being
worked this very day that we shall have
to 90 after later on.
THE people who bite on these endless
.A.a 1885,. III ahvtoualv rva0t 4 uvhnlo
lot for nothing, or little or nothing. and
this, combined with their strange simplicity.
IL at the bottom Of the success Of the fell
lows who attempt to make their fortunes
through the use Of the mails
"You would naturally suppose that per-
sons suf1ciently intelligent to possess an
interest In stock speculation would be able
to steer clear Of Investment agents whom
they only know Of through circulars. would
you not? And yet the department is con
stantly In receipt OF tales Of woe from In
dividuals who have invested stable sumS
Of money with New York and Chicago
swindlers claiming to conduct speculative
businesses, who operate entirely through
the mails. These outfits are broken ~
by the United States pOstofhoe authorities
as soon as their fraudulent character Il
clearly established, but 1t seems impossl'
BILE to drive these fellows who run the al
legged investment agencies wholly out o
business.
Educated
THE games too easy for them. and the,
are fully aware Of the great diniculty founI
in convicting them. As soon as one 'brok
erage' firm that carries on its business en-
tirely by mail is smashed the men who hav
been successfully conducting It simply NOV
lA0wvn % anANhaR Alark and imam mn annfha
brokerage ONCE under another firm name
The shift only involves their getting on
another batch et literature. The thousand
and thousands OF dollars which these sharp
ers take In year in and year out from pee
pie whose way Of expressing themselves o
paper makes It patent that they are edu
Gated men and women Is q perpetual sourc
Of establishment to me.
9TH smaller fry Of the mail swindleI
are the fellows who advertise that they WI
send solid gold watches and all that sol
OF thing upon the receipt Of 81. Nov
doesn't IL seem reasonable to imagine this
any man or woman sane enough to ru
loose in 6 civilized community ought I
, know perfectly well that q solid gold watcl
or whatever other article II may be, pei
, haps a genuine diamond ring cannot
bought for the sum OF 81? And yet theI
, are responses to these ads, reaching liteI
ally In the millions, and the promoters
. these lodges nearly always get rich. La
|, year we routed out q fellow In Boston WI
advertised in a very elaborate and splurg
fashion throughout the country that he hs
got hold Of a lot OF lucky stones on b
travels through India. which he was willir
i to purVey by mail upon the receipt Of
per stone. The money that chap got wi
n something fabulous. The dollars Fere iuI
raining in when the inspectors swoops
4 down on his once and cleaned him out. +
/. didn't care then whether he was cleaned o.
e or not. He had got the money.
Game of a shrewd Woman.
I Something over a year ago the depsr
d ment nailed q clever woman who wi
operating her little dodge down in Florida
a woman of tremendous Shrewdness IN
one was, sure enough. She advertised n
sent out circulars TO the effect that s
was q natural born healer Of any old al
y ease that was ever included IN q medic
book, mental or physical. and she .
=" forth the fact that, II anything, she VI
some better as an absent healer than 81
Was as a contact healer. All the persS
afhicted with any sort OF disease had to
was TO hike a IS note along TO her. Al
y she Would spend I'VE minutes at q certa
kaur ~ The dav mr. nlaht fhNnEIm~ ~ Al