Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-08-16
SWINDLERS BY MAIL.
often Exposed by Newspapers, They
Catch Old "COnstant Reader
Again and Again.

Again and Again.
Notwithstanding the fact that we
are generally credited with being a
newspaper reading nation, I am often
tempted to believe that there must be
many millions of intelligent persons in
the United States who never so much
as glance at the headlines of a news
paper" remarked an officer Of the post
office department. "At any rate, If
these millions to whom refer ever ac-
tually do read the newspapers. their
gullibility must be so profound as to be
unfathomable. The postoffice depart
ment is constantly issuing fraud orders
against individuals and alleged firms
engaged in getting rich in the opera
tion of schemes that it would seem any
shrewd child of 10 ought to be able to
see through without the least bother.
1.-The other day, for example, the de.
partment got after a chap out in Gin
cinnati who for some months had been
conducting what he called turf bu-
reau.' He alleged in his really admira-
bly, written circulars that he had pri-
vate and absolutely certain methods of
obtaining information as to the horses
that were slated to win races on tracks
all over the United States, and he guar
anteed returns in tremendous propor-
tions. Well, when we looked this fell
low up, he promptly skipped, and his
incoming mail was seized. 1t seems in
credible, but every days mail brought
in thousands of dollars. in amounts
ranging from IS actually up to $500.
and the letters inclosing cash and
checks were nearly all of them appar-
emily written by persons Of education.
The book in which the man kept his
simple account of cash received show
ed that since he put his scheme into
operation he. had taken In no less a sum
than $465,OO0, almost out Of the ques-
tion as it may appear. He has got
away, but. even If he is captured, very
much doubt if any very heavy punish
ment can be visited upon him. These
slippery chaps who work their lodges
by means Of the mails have the money
to employ first rate lawyers, and these
lawyers can generally successfully con-
strue their clients circulars as not
having really promised anything to the
gulls after all.
1.-The endless chain schemes that the
department runs down year after year
are all of them money makers for their
operators. 1t would actually seem as
if all a busted individual had to do
to get rich is to get lot Of circulars
printed and send them out, borrowing
the money for postage. and there will
always be enough gulls to start him OH
his way. The cherry tree scheme
worked by a gang of Southern men, one
of them a clergyman. was a colossal
success for it's promoters, and yet not
man in the crowd had a coin to bless
himself with when they started the
endless chain scheme in motion. The
more recent fountain pen fraud, work.
ed by a couple of Pennsylvanians.
yielded returns that went into the
thousands every day, and I haven't a
doubt in life that any number Of SINH
lar endless chain schemes are being
worked this very day that we shall
have to go after later on.
1.-The people who bite on these endless
chain schemes all obviously want a
whole lot for nothing, or little or moth
ing, and this, combined with their
strange simplicity, is at the bottom Oh
the success of the fellows who attempt
to make their fortune through the use
of the mails.
"You would naturally suppose that
persons sufficiently intelligent to pos
sess an interest in stock speculation
would be able to steer clear Of invest
ment agents whom they only know of
through circulars, would you not? And
yet the department is constantly in re-
ceipt of tales of woe from individuals
who have invested sizable sums of
money with New York and Chicago
swindlers claiming to conduct specula-
tive businesses, who operate entirely
through the mails. These outfits are
broken up by the United States post
office authorities as soon as their fraud
ulent character is clearly established,
but it seems impossible to drive these
fellows who run the alleged investment
agencies wholly out of business.
THE games too easy for them, and
they are fully aware of the great diff
Guilty found in convicting them. AS
soon as one brokerage firm that car
ries on it's business entirely by mail Is
smashed, the men who have been sue
cessfully conducting it simply move
down to another block and open upl
another firm name. The shift only in
wolves their getting out another batch
Of literature. The thousands and thou
sands of dollars which these sharpers
take in year in and year out from peo-
pie whose way of expressing themselves
on paper makes it patent that they arc
educated men and women, is perpet-
ual source of establishment to me.
THE smaller fry Of the mail swind-
lers are the fellows who advertise that
they will send solid gold watches and
all that sort of things upon receipt of
one dollar Now, doesn't it seem ret
sonable to imagine than any man or
woman sane enough to run loose in a
civilized community ought to know
perfectly we'll that a solid gold watch,
or whatever other article it may be |
perhaps a genuine diamond ring, cam
not be brought for the sum of one dol
lar? And yet there are responses to
these ads. reaching literally into the
millions and the promoters Of these
lodges nearly always get rich. Last