St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-10-07
BUNCO TEN BUNCOED.
II. r.. stevens of -. Jehnsbury Centre
save. hi. Money in an Interesting
Episode.

Il. r., stevens of -. Jehnsbury Cent?
sayes his Money in an Interestin
Episode.
A couple of slick bunco men tried t
work one of our best known farmer
last week, but thanks to his uubelief i
their scheme he saved his money. Their
are many rumors about the whole a
fair, but these are the facts in the case
near as can be recalled;
September "a two men, H. B. Wood
and A. B. Cook from Boston, arrived OF
the 1915 train and registered at tn
Avenue House. About 1 O'Clock two
teams were hired at Frank N. Carr''
livery stable by these men who drove OF
with them about 20 minutes apart. Ont
team was hired to drive to the Centre
and the other about town. They were
gone a lew hours and returned to the
stable and paid their bills. At this
time one of the men called on Mr.
Stevens and represented that be was
looking for purchasable farms. He rep
resented that a woman had four sons
who wanted to buy Vermont real estate
and that Mr.. Stevens had been recon-
mended to him as being a good man to
look up property. Mr.. Stevens. suspect
ing no trickery, aquiesced to the plan
and the man promised to call again in
few days.
After the stranger left, Mr.. Stevens
made some inquiries about farms to
report upon his second visit. The same
men appeared in St. Johnsbury on Mon
day evening, Sept. %, and spent the
night at the Avenue House. On Tuesday
morning OF last week they hired separate
teams at Mr.. Carr's stable to ride about
town, and they seemed to be strangers
to each other. At 8 O'Clock one of the
men appeared at Mr.. Stevens house at
the Centre and asked what progress he
had made in finding desirable farms for
sale. After some conversation MIR.
Stevens was persuaded to put up some
money and he drove to local bank
with the stranger and drew out $4,000.
Coming back to the Centre they met the
second stranger who asked the way to
Lyndon. The two men then engaged in
conversation and the man riding with
Mr.. Stevens asked the other fellow what
he was doing. The fellow replied he was
peddling. On being further questioned
he said he was peddling toad skins and
upon request opened his bag and showed
thousands of dollars in bills, undoubted-
ly counterfeit.
The two men then endeavored to ex-
change his money for theirs and undobt-
edly would have succeeded if Mr.. Stevens
had not realized the crookedness in the
transaction. Speaking up in loud tone
he said, "Give me that money or | will
have you arrested in ten minutes" The
men gave up the money and rapidly
drove off, leaving Mr.. Stevens to walk
home. The men were unusually large
and could have easily overpowered Mr..
Stevens, but it is supposed they were
frightened by an approaching team.
Mr.. Stevens took the money home and
later returned it to the bank. The
men did not return the teams that day
and the next morning Mr.. Carr received
letter from Berlin, N. H., signed
Howard" in which it was stated he
would find one of his teams at Thayer's
and the other at the Richardson House,
both at Littleton. Mr.. Howard added
that he would receive his pay for the
teams the last Of the week, which latter
proved to be untrue.