The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-29

e.
Altho most Of the grafters are men
there are many women who think it a
disgrace to- get dollar by honest toll.
business men who occupy offices In the
large buildings Some will have
printer mako several hundred tickets
advertising rattle for poor widow
who has been left destitute. These find
a ready sale among the tender-hearted
men, and one woman, Mollie Black, is
known to have made $50 in one day at
this business.
Other women advertise in the daily
papers for kind and loving husband.
The ad Is answered and a meeting ar
ranged. Everything progresses nicely
and the. wedding plans are soon made
and the trusting young man il asked to
put up for the wedding dress. Usually
he is tickled to death to part with $a5
or $59 to see the girl dressed in style.
He goes with her TO q department. store,
but they became separated in the
crowds and day or so later the un-
lucky wooer tells his troubles to some
smiling policeman,
The petty grafters, as rule, live
comfortably, tho never in luxury, no
matter how big the haul. Any show Of
prosperity would arouse suspicion. In
former days these men banded together
on the eommunistic plan and lived in
little houses along the river bank and
railroad tracks. There are still some Of
these houses in use and altho the ex-
teriors are rough looking, they are often
fitted up cozily within.
In these places many Of the eleverest
schemes that the police have struggled
with have been planned The grafters,
&o1 that %
these places nor do they take any Of
their earnings there. The police might
search the house night and morning and
never find anything discriminating.
Ono of the best-known of these places
still stands near the railroad tracks
near Third avenue n and First street.
It has the record Of having sheltered
than any other building in Minneapolis.
It is still in use by this same class.
All Of the men mentioned and many
others equally successful have lived
there at times and today It Is used as
the home Of q CRATER who was once
WE'LL on at attorney This aaattosney
every petty CRATER who was hauled In
by the. police. For some reason. the life
Of the idler appealed to him and he
now makes his own living thinking out
con- games for others and occasion
ally working them himself. This Is only
one instance that proves that the graft
er's ranks are not recruited entirely
from the uneducated class.
i. r f.
This class Is rapidly becoming an eco.
nomie problem; their numbers are in
creasing daily. They produce nothing,
and but one case is on record. where
they were ever Of any benefit. That in
stance was in connection with the down.
fall Of the Ames administration, when
Charley Howard and Billy Edwards,
leaders among ''bigmitt" men, led the
way to the reformation of the city.
Caught and prevented by honest de-
! tectives from obtaining police protee-
,. tion, which had been promised them,
they told all they knew, but it was to
save themselves, for they had gone at
!, ter big game and long term would
have been their lot had they remained
silent. It is needless to say that the
revelations were not made thru patri-
otto motives.
, The grafters, altho able to provide
for themselves, often help to create q
dependent class. Their victims are
sometimes led completely from the right
, and in the end become burden to the
) municipality. Men appeal to the city
poor department. daily, stating that
! they were "feeced - and asking fol
) public aid.
The richer the city becomes the more
) fertile becomes the field Of graft and
T police and other city officials say that
in few years this increasing worthless
:. band will retard to 9 certain extent the
best Development Of * Ss' O. s't Marshall.