Evening star., 1904-02-27

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informed by the polce department. that the
salty atmosphere of New York was not
nisely 10 prove beneficial 10 her amy longer.
Another Singular Game
A still more singular game which has
been worked successfully over here a num-
ber of times during recent years, but which
is about played ont now, is the alienation
of the affections scheme This. OF course,
is dodge which requires the cooperation
OF man. or. better. an imitation of one
With the female figurante, the two eDacting
the role of husband and wife
The victim is carefully selected. and the
male crook waits for the opportune mo-
ment 10 enter suit for heavy damages
against the victim on the ground that ihs
latter has ''alienated his w.fes affections
a headquarters detective who knows n
good deal about such matters says that
few OF these cases ever reach the courts
at all, the victims compromising, not only
willingly, but eagerly. in four cases cut Of
I'VE, in order to save their regulations. even
if they be utterly guiltless of wrong dong.
The cases that do reach the courts, how
ever, more often go to the plaintiffs than
not. Juries over this way have natural
sympathy for abused husbands. and the
abused husbands who figure in these
cases have been. as a rule. rattling good
actors of their roles.
There is, besides. a large class -of COL
ored professional litigants over here who
get the money" as the phrase runs.
right along, in and around little old New
York. In this and adjoining states the
civil rights cases almost always go to the
colored plaintiffs.
Civil Rights Case Game
1t cost a 9th avenue druggist $1,000
only few months ago to hesitate over
serving one of these colored professional
fitigants with a glass of soda water. The
druggist didn't really decline to serve the
man the soda water. He told him in ad
vance, however. that soda water cost 50
cents the glass at that establishment.
The negro said that he wanted the soda
water. whether it cost so cents or $50 a
glass, and. thus cornered, the druggist
had to pass the soda water over.
The colored professional litigant drank
il and two days later the druggist was
served with a summons for a suit for ex-
tortion. The druggist maintained that
as an independent business man. he had a
right to fix whatever prices he chose
upon his goods. and that, after he had
fixed the prices. his customers were at
liberty to buy or to walk out
The court didn't dispute this but when
the colored professional litigant intro
duced incontroyertible testimony that a
dozen white persons had got soda water
az the same counter for the sum of r
cents on the same day that the Jo-cent
price had been fixed for him the suit
went his way,
The great telegraph companies with
headquarters in New York have been vic
timized by the professional litigants to
the tune OF many thousands of dollars
during recent years. but it is not likely
that they will have to stand for any more
of this sort of thing. since inaugurating
the rule that MESA ges offered in an IL
iegibie hand must first be typewritten
by office clerks and then signed by the
senders before being accepted
Work Telegraph Companies.
1t was the scheme of the professional
litigants who picked the telegraph com
panies out as good things" to file mes
sages that looked as if they had been
scrawled in hot haste. but that had really
been concocted with great elaboration
These kilograms in addition to being
more or less Ilegfbile. if not pretty nearly
undecipherable, nearly always related to
scme hurry-up matter of brokerage busi-
ness, and We're so framed. besides as to be
capable OF a couple of different reaSiiugs on
the part of the telegraPher sending them.
as well as on the part of the receiver
A.day or so after filing the telegram the
eraI'er would appear with great roar
over the way he had been forced to stand
for 10000 or $4,000 loss or some such
matter. owing to the mixing up of his teie-
gram on the part of the compsny's en-
pioyes. and 'phony" brokerage houses at
the other end of the lines would then come
forward with substantiation of the grafter's
claim of n big loss
II is surprising that the telegraph con-
panies fell to-, this scheme for years be
fore they began to balk and to look urou1d
them.
man who was sent to Sing Sing last
year for being mixed up In a shady gei
rich-duick scheme is said to have gouged
one of the great telegraph companies in
New York and Chicago to the tune of SGl-
600 on two different occasions through a
scientific working of his scheme. on both
occasions beating out the telegraph com
pany in It's contention that It assumed no
responsibility when the kilograms in ques-
uon We're not repea ted. c. L. G.