The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-08-04
THREAD SWINDLE
HURTS MERCHANTS
Ra8caIIy Agent Sold Them an
Inferior Grade
CLAIMED 1T WAS STANDARD
The Young Man Who Perpetrated the
Fraud Has Left for Parts Unknown,
Leaving Many Small Merchants
to Suffer Loss-compIalnts.

A number Of small merchants In and
around Birmingham who handle side
line of spool thread are up in arms over
a swlndle recently perpetrated on them by
a smooth agent who has been selling them
an inferior grade of thread and represent
ing 1t TO be Clark's o. n. 7. The swim
die has been successfully worked on about
seventy-nve merchants, and they have
lost from 40 cents to $40 each by the OPP
Grafton.
The fakir is a small man of Jewish cast
and he has left for parts unknown.
According to the merchants this swim
dler would go to one of the small mer-
chants and state that he represented
"Clark's" thread. The merchants knew
that clark's thread is one of the three
standard brands of America and there
fore they listened to him. There are three
of the threads, Clarks o. N. T.. Clark 5
| Mill End and J. & p. Coats, all of which
have been in combine for several years.
and known to the public as the three stan
dard brands Of America and sold through
the Spool Cotton company. The price was
IS cents per dozen spools. less per cent
trade discount.
This man represented that this was
Clark's o. n. T. thread and that they had
withdrawn from the combination and re-
duced their thread to As cents per dozen
| in order to introduce 1t In the SOUTH He
offered to sell 1t to them at 45 cents to be
delivered through a local jobber.
Delivered the Thread.
On the following day the swlndler called
at each individual merchant and stated
that he had a surplus lot of thread left
over from sample lots of thread shipped
here and just enough to complete the
order of each. and would sell it to them
at 40 cents less 10 per cent off for cash.
They all accepted this. and he delivered
the thread, which he had In a buoy.
On investigation they discovered that
the thread was John ]. Clark's three
cord thread, the regular jobbing price
of which was 25 cents Dozen and which
retails everywhere at two spoois for a
nickel The standard brand is clark's
six-cord thread the price the world over
being cents a SPOOL
The swindler invoiced this thread on
a bilhead reading. Independent Thread
company. Cincinnati" On investigation
of the spool cotton companies through
! Bradstreet's Commercial agency they find
there Is no such firm In Cincinnati.
Swnde Discovered.
John J. Clark has a representative who
travels in this district, and when he went
around to get his orders he found that
all the merchants were supplied. ]. F.
Mobley, representative here for the Spool
Cotton company. also discovered the same
trouble In making his rounds of the mer-
chants. and an Investigation followed, re-
vealing the above facts.
! The scheme has been worked generally
throughout the south, and the merchants
in and around Mobile have lost heavily
by II.
Among the stores in the vicinity which
are said to have been swindled by this
scheme are the following: Mcfarland
Grocery company. j. a. Garner, ]. M.
c. Parks, W. r. Oats, John Bearman,
Richmond Bakery and Grocery company,
George A. Church, C. w. Frobus, Grimes
Bros, II. Hall, w. II. cutclff, Charles
o Rourke, Davis Bros. and p A. Max
we'll
Customers Complained.
Mrs. Church, wife of George A.
Church, said yesterday: 1--WE bought
about sl8 worth of this thread, and 1t
proved so disappointing that all our GUS
toners complained of 1t. We did not notice
that 1t was not Clark's o. N. T. until
some of the customers came in and said
that 1t broke on the machines and was no
| good. We looked then and found that 1t
had on the spees, John ]. Clark" We
bought 1t for the other Clark's thread
the man claiming that 1t was as good as
Coats thread. / think we paid about 40
cents a dozen spools for it. and retaied
1t at cents a spool until we found
out what 1t was. Since then we have
not sold IT,
w. r. Oats stated that he had bought a
quantity of It, but had sold out his old
stand a short time after getting the
thread and had no complaints. He said
that he bought 1t for thread as good as
Coats and did not notice It when de-
liyered.
Said It Was Gust as Good"
w. II. Cutclin, who runs a store at 1870
Ninth avenue, said; '"rhis drummer came
to my place and told me that he repre-
sented John j. Clark and was selling
thread which was good as Coats. He said
that Clark had formerly been In the COM
bine, but that he had drawn out Of 1t on
account Of the trouble with the other peo-
pie. He told me the thread was In every
way as good as Coats, and l ordered about
ten dozen spools He showed me the
name Of the Independent Thread COM
pany on the top of his bill heads when |
ordered the goods. and the next. morning
he came around and delivered my order
for cash. I think l paid him about 40
cents net on the dozen spools. When
Coats agent came around he told me It
was three cord thread and not a six
cord thread as Coats apd clarks o. ~ 7.
and Mill End threads are. / was selling
this thread at cents a spool. but was
told 1t retailed everywhere else for two
spools for cents
Other merchants said they had bought
the thread under similar circumstances.