Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-11-13
PICKED UP BY A sWINDLER.


IF I thought I was the only man in
York county who needed a guardian, I
would keep my mouth shut; but as lam
satisfied that my experience, If pub
lished, will at least serve as a kind Of
warning to some of the more pru-
dent, I am going to tell you the whole
story as to how 1 was done out Of 50
by slick sharper a few weeks ago."
The speaker was Mr.. J. D. Land, a
well-known citizen Of the Beersheba
neighborhood. It was thus that he be-
gan an interesting recital to the report
er on Wednesday morning. The laugh
was against him and he knew 1t; but
In order that the moral Of the story
may not be lost, 1t Is proper to re-
mark, he Is not the man to hold back
important facts on account Of little
thing like that. Mr.. Land Is one Of the
representative citizens Of his neigh
borhood, and In point Of intelligence,
or otherwise compares favorably with
the best citizens Of any other portion
Of the county.
YES" Mr. Land continued, II was
picked up just as nice as you please,
and as the saying goes, while I was
looking right at him."
1T was about three weeks ago. He
was a nice looking fellow and came
around by my house, representing him.
self as the agent Of a big medicine
house in Galveston, Texas. could not
begin to tell you all he said, for there
was too much Of It; but boiled down,
his concern had found an absolute
cure for Indigestion, and he was en-
gagged in spreading the news. The con-
sulting corps at the home office in
cluded the finest medical talent In the
world, and with knowledge Of the Pc
culiar condition Of a given patient, this
staff could give advice which, taken In
connection with a little powder he had
along, would certainly do the business
within a short time-six months at the
very longest. The treatment had never
been known to faii and the agent
was safe in not only offering return
of the money; but binding himself to
big forfeiture in the event an alb
solute cure was not effected.
THE wonderful remedy was too good
thing to give out to everybody at
nominal price; but In order to intro
duce it, agents had been sent out to
hunt UP and cure ten cases in each
county in the United States. He had
already found eight subjects in York
county and needed only two more. He
showed me the names Of several Of my
neighbors and went on to explain that
In addition to the cure the company
was making present Of a dress pattern
to every female patient and a mackin-
tosh coat to every male patient. If
Mrs. Land and myself were suffering
from Indigestion; and were willing to
submit to cure, all We had to do was
to take a box Of the powder, fill out
the answers on question blank for
the doctors at the home Office. and pay
three dollars to cover certain expenses
and We would be admitted on the
ground floor.
We'll, it happened that Mrs. Land
had long been a sufferer from indiges-
ton, and would pay any reasonable
amount for relief. Although the fellow
was very plausible, wonderfully slick,
I would like you to believe that I was
at least a little suspicious; but any
how I told him he could put Mrs Land
on his list. I went on to say too, that
as Mrs. Land was to get the benefit OF
the medicine, he could send me the
coat. That was all right, he said, so
gave him the three dollars and my
breast measure, and he turned over
box Of his powder together with
question blank, and receipt for my
money.
"And that receipt! Why 1t was just
as good a receipt as you ever saw. He
had a whole book Of 'em, printed with
stubs, so there could not be any mis-
take as to the amount paid or as to
who paid 1t. My.receipt shows how
have paid the far away Galveston med
icine house, three dollars Of good
money, and the agent has the record 80
he can never forget that am the very
same man who paid him.
"The whole transaction was business
like and deliberate, and If was not
impressed with the fact that had
been the recipient of an unusual bene-
faction, it was certainly not the fault
the fellow who sold me the powder and
things.
But after the man was gone, I got
to thinking and it occurred 10 me to
tell Mrs. Land that I would not take
any of that powder until we heard
from the questions. I kept on think
ing and the more I thought the more
satisfied I became that I was not going
to hear from the transaction any more;
that the fellow had just picked me up
and that was all there was Of it.
Have you ever been picked up that
way? If you have you know how 1t
feels. With that coat that never came
still on my mind. I went to town and
bought one. Pretty soon afterward, 1
ran across a neighbor whose name 1
had noticed among the favored ground
floor people Of the indigestion man.
You could tell he had indigestion from
the woe begone expression on his face;
but when he saw my new coat he
frightened up somewhat and asked:
Where did you get it?'
"'Ah, reckon you might say found
it, replied 1 banteringly; but it