The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-15

Wives Are SWindIed by the Work to-
Do-at Home Racket-The eaIdheaded
Remedy Scheme and the Fat Boy Game
Of Unloading Worthless Stock on Your
Friends.
Mary Gay Humphreys in the Boston
Transcript writes entertainingly of one
Of the meanest swindles on record, name
ly, the fraudulent advertisements offer
Ing farmers wives and others work to
do at home" The scheme is to sell the
innocent party an outfit at a ruinous
rate, under the inducement that their out
put will be bought and marketed for
them. An interesting case is cited Of the
offer Of an embroidery needle, price ST. so,
with remunerative work at home The
postal order was sent and in return
came the embroidery needle, strip of
yellow cotton with group Of stamped
rosebuds and three yards Of pink and
green worsted. When the rural Free
| brought this package to the farmhouse
| it was an event. There were no points
about this embroidery needle different
from other embroidery needles that sold
| at cent apiece, but that disturbed no.
| body, since it was to be source of in
come The three sample rosebuds were
embroidered and sent back to a certain
| address. Days passed and days length
| ened into weeks but no answer came.
An inquiring letter brought no response,
and the embroidery business at home has
suffered decline.
Another scheme is the "crayon por-
trait outfit for 81. You send your money
and you draw some charcoal, a dab of
cotton and an old photograph. This
photograph you "do,'' send it on and
never hear from it again.
Another game is a IS typewriter with
the opportunity to do typewriting at
comes; the opportunity not
+ There is also an opportunity to get in
structlon at home in glass painting for
VI. The 81 brings only printed instruc-
tlons. The addition Of SO cents brings
two photographs by second mail. Ac-
companying these is the demand of 81
for the ''outfit." Sometimes you even
send this 81 on. That is the end
r. You would be surprised at the immense
number of "come-ons' that there are in
the United States Tens of thousands of
people are daily giving up their 50 or So
Tor an "outfit'' of some kind or other, for
a patent medicine, for a bald-headed cure,
for mining stock or for something to put
on the coal and save half of it by maxi
ing 1t throw out twice the heat at half
the "combust''
4 T., There are Internal scoundrels in costly
I and comfortable offices in nearly every
Guy IN the country who are handing out
bogus stuff and drawing in good money
IN return. The postoffice department
has routed out a good many of them, but
| there are a whole lot left
Then there are the "fat boys" come-or
games the marketing of some particula,
stock like steel common, on your friends
at 40 or so and helping it go down to II
or II, when they are filled up-and variou.
other schemes known only to the initiated
Under present conditions the public i!
MIXED about every once in so often ant
Will continue to be MIXED until presen
conditions are changed,
The mayor of Council Bluffs, Iowa, ha
started a, clean-city crusade. Barley, tn.
Britt, Iowa, editor, tells Of it thus:
Council Bluffs has a mayor who cugh
to be obliged to diet the rest of his day.
on bean soup and eat it out of jug will
a 4gimlet. He notified the leading news
paper of that city to clean its front win
doWs. The editor obeyed the order ant
tnen got mere than even by calling upol
the mayor to clean the streets.
1.-The brilliant light since the office win
doWs We're cleaned has now made six o
the newspapers compositors blind am
melted all OF the rollers on the press be-
Sides that, no one could find the office TO
three days, 1t was SO changed. The sun
rays exploded the office towel, and the inl
!, on the towel catching fire, melted the typ,
In the office and it ran out of the second
story window onto the street car tract
and soldered the switch solid, so that :
!; man starting to Lake Manawa to swim
went to Omaha and was run in by the DO
lice.''
Paris is to- have a cock Growing con
test. The French Bantam club has tn
matter In charge and great prepare ton
are made. The birds are fed in a specia
manner peculiar to each owner, the secre
OF Which is jealousy guarded. For tn
three weeks prior to the competition tin,
1ood is carefully dosed, and made as slim
ulatlng and exciting as possible. The
blrd is then sent to the show. During tn
Growing contest timekeeper with a chro
, nometer stands in front of each bird an,
marks the number Of crows and the vara
ton OF notes in a given time general,
fifteen minutes.
: Sometimes in the weeks before the com
petition the ROSTERS voice is stimulate,
by leaving him in the dark fifteen hour!
out or the tWenty-four. = He is then. 81
pleased to see the light that he throw
nearly an extra horsepower into his crow
, Several overturned roosters have spra Inc,
themselves in their efforts and care ha
to be taken to hold the cock down Il
about what he can do without overstrain
There are number of birds any of which
can enunciate whoop that can be hear,
for a mile or better, while several high
class boys are able to work in a trill O,
one of the notes.
7 Much interest is being taken in tn
competition
Tom Austin Of HanIey Falls. MINI.
! was walking home from town the othe
night after a pleasant and profitable cal
on his best girl, when two hoboes lyin,
near the Great Northern track Jumped OF
him. They wanted his money and pro
posed to take it by force But Ton
needed the money, too. a fearful figh
arose. The air was full Of hobo and Gus
r language and when it cleared it wa
found that Mr.. Austin had given one G
them a black eye and thrashed the othe
so vigorously that they did not dare t
tackle him again. Mr.. Austin went t
Y town the next morning, still full of wrath
and secured the arrest of one suspicion
character with a black eye, but he wa
unable to identify the would-be thief t
the entire satisfaction of Justice Fender
t CAST. The hobo was given a strong tall
r by the justice, who presented him wit
;, ten minutes to get out of town in III
: used them. "A. J. r..
:. ~ CHARTER TALK