Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-07

tackle the brokers'. as a rule just after the
lucheon hour. when she knew that most
of them had been addressing themselves
to the moist features of the menu OF the
Cafe Savarin or elsewhere. She Cleaned
thousands OF dollars, u Is said for her
little fake fresh air fund. She invested
a considerable portion OF the "rake-of' to-
ward providing fresh air for herself She
was captured. as a matter OF fact, on q
roof garden. One OF the brokers who had
given up a goodly sum toward the fairy
tale fresh air fund saw her there, some
what hilarious. with male companion The
broker gazed at her rather sharply as
he passed by the table at which she sat,
and she recognized hem and laughed CUR
glingly.
"One of the cute old good thingsr' she
exclaimed. good humoredly. to her male
companion, nodding in the direction OF the
sore broker. But" turning to the broker
and laughing in a real arch way, don't
you care. old top-look at the fun 1 am hav-
ingr'
She was removed from the roof garden
and placed In cell few moments later.
but the broker who had caused her arrest
on the charge of swindling didn't have the
nerve to appear against her. and she OBJ
tained her release.
Coincidentally with the serious Illness. a
few months ago. Of famous New York
cemedfenne who, in addition to her success
as stage funny woman, had also won her
way into the hearts Of late-dining New York
men as "a good fellow" couple Of ex-
tremely pretty young women OF the chorus
girl type, whose Identity has never been
disclosed for the reason that the police
Were never able to get them, discovered that
they needed money.
So they stepped into a victoria and had
themselves driven down to the cage of
all the good things" as the contracted
fiancial region is affectionately termed by
the female grafters and ''braced" the brok-
ers in the name of the sick actress. The
actress had been improvident. they said
which the brokers knew-and her creditors
were pressing her In her serious fll-
ness, and the two young women, intimate
friends of the sick woman, had set out to
gain financial assistance for her. The the
atrical people, they said, were going to
give benefit for the ill actress, but the
date Of the benefit hadn't been fixed. and
the actress was in imperative present need.
Made Rich Haul.
It was estimated that they got several
thousands of dollars In the course of their
two days whirl in their hired victoria. The
men of finance. hundreds of whom were
well acquainted with the sick woman. gave
up all the way from $40 to 500 apiece.
This. of course, was a singularly mean and
heartless swindle In the name OF charity.
but the two women who worked 1t took
some of the sin off the trick by. sending
anonymously, a $500 bill out Of the rake
of to the sick actress, who really did hap
pen to be in need of funds. The detectives
secured the town for these two women, but
These gentlemen of New Yorks money
district are habitually regarded in many
quarters as the shrewdest and most blase
men in the world, and yet, year In and year
out, they fall to- the rawest and most
transparent schemes of the grafters. male
and female, who make a regular and prof
liable business Of preying upon them ex-
clusively. Every year the crooks who
purvey bogus tickets for the French ball
at Madison Square Garden make their big
gest haul from the moneyed men who do
business in the region of finance. They sell
the bogus tickets for the ball by the hatful
to the brokers and bankers although the
dodge has been exposed In the newspapers
every year for the past two decades AT
S. per ticket the graft is great, and there
seems to be no particular reason why the
crooks should abandon it so long as the
so-called blase ones Of New York are Will
ling to bite.
The trouble with the majority of chari-
tably inclined New Workers Is that they
rarely do any questioning or investigating
until after they have given up their money.
There seems to be no initiative among them
in the direction of grafters They wait for
the other fellow to stumble accioentaiiy
upon the fact that he has been swindled
by a charity masker
Disasters a Boon to Grafters.
It is a fact well known to the police OK
New York that this town contains scores
of smooth chaps who take advantage OK
every great disaster to extract big money
from the generous fellows whose offices are
located in the financial district. These
swindlers "get in" early. Their KIND or
grating began with the Johnstown nooo,
when the minds Of men all over the country
were in a state Of deep sympathy for the
victims On the very day the disaster was
announced a number OF oily chaps. Win
bogus credentials, circulated in the money
district and picked up thousands OF dollars
for the Johnstown sufferers" A much
greater number of these unspeakaby mean
thieves covered the town at the time OF
the Galveston disaster, which really 40
counted for the rather poor showing wnlcn
New York made in the tabulation or money
given toward the relief Of the afflicted
Texas city-the bogus collectors or money
for Galveston had got in their hne WORK
first. 1t was the same way at the time OF
the Martinique cataclysm. Inc town was
successfully canvassed by the swindlers be-
fore the genuine relief associations got
down to work.
Even the children of New York, hum
dreds Of them, have entered Into the game
of swindling by the methods of the charity
grafters on a small scale. Little boys and
girls of ten years or less obstruct the SIDE
walks all over New York during the sum-
mer months, beseeching passersby to buy
tickets in aid of the babies fresh air fund.
The tickets are for the babies barge ex-
cursions and they are neatly printed. me
police found that fellow up IN Harlem
made a business of printing these tickets,
ana IOunu tHtiu d sooo tiiAhS- Inv
beg pedestrians, first, to pay a quarter for
the tickets, then 10 cents, then Nickel
and finally, penny, as they follow AFTER
the people on the street and annoy them
with their painful solicitations. The po-
lice put lot of children away for this sort
of thing last summer, but the number OF
them on the streets did not seem to de-
crease. Investigations by the detectives
showed that the children's grasping par
ents were in most cases behind this dismal
kind of Juvenile swindling in the name OF
most deserving charity. Z. L. &.
EnoIish the Language.