Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-09-30
CRAFTERS PREY ON PUBLIC
Enormous Sums Gathered BY swiAdlsr,
q, from Gullibls People NV
CENTER OF CROOKED Ac1mrYM CHICAGO
Schemes of Innnite variety and How
they Are worked-BiE RinBs
and Little Rings Out for
Easy MONEY.

Easy m0meys
Not a few Omaha people and some near
by will agree with the statement of Chi
cago detective that Chicago Is the center
OF get-rich-quick swindlers for the middle
west. They have distinct recollections OF
the gentle touch OF crooks OF pretended re-
spectability and integrity, who vamoosed
from these parts with all the coin they
could gather in and turned up in Chicago,
whence the victims received promises Of
big dividends and printed hot air.
In an interview in the Tribune the detec-
tive estimates that 5o,OoOoO is annually
contributed to safe investment and get
rich-quick'' swindiers in the United States.
continuing. he says: In the past the OPP
erations OF the big rings of these grafters
have conferred in Chicago. but L believe to-
day that the clique has been broken and
that the swindlers have scattered. During
the last two years l have participated In
closing upi $50 of these concerns. The last
two police Administrations have followed
up this evil closely and no amount Of in
fuence has stopped the swift prosecution
that has followed the discovery OF the
! swindling schemes. f>5t
Were the census enumerators of the
United States to compile a list Of the
sucker" public the gulible ones would ag-
gregate tens Of millions. There Is not a
township in this great nation that does not
contain its portion of conhding persons
who are ready to believe anything from
the rankest catch-penny advertisement to
fallacy in theological dogma.
AppaIIIns Faith.
My Investigations for years past into the
innermost secrets of swindlers impel the
belief that their faith passes into the do
main OF imbecilityN Thousands of men are
| willing to throw money to the man who
| proclains that for a few pennies he Will
impart the secret of raising the dead, or
| how to make one dollar make a million, or
how to bafie the savants OF science after
| a days research. Every mail car out OF
| Chicago groans under burden of "get-rich-
quick" mail to be scattered in every dtrec-
| tion. The operatives of these schemes are
| the most dangerous of criminals. They are
received with open arms in social and
| business circles. They contribute to the
churches and their wives and daughters
visit In automobiles and dazzle at social
functions by their silks and diamonds
Every time a "get-rfch- quick' bubble
bursts there follows long. dreary story
Of misplaced confidence. But as soon as
| active publicity ceases the dearly bought
lesson Is forgotten and the sucker" is
ready to spring to the next tempting bait.
A majority of the enterprises secure their
victims through the newspapers. of the
vast sums annually wrung from the thrifty
by false pretences about s20.oOoOoO are
spent for newspaper advertising, an equal
amount for blackmail, attorneys fees, cir
culars. booklets, stenographers and the
maintenance of handsome suites of offices.
The victims are numbered among all
4 he. las
the merchant to the clergyman.
| Cases Now ON Criminal Docket.
There are now more than twenty cases
of get-rich-quick swindlers on the dockets
of the criminal courts. The postofficet has
several men working up evidence all the
time. Every mail that takes out fancy
literature of the swindlers brings in COM
plants from the remotest parts Of the
country and each complaint Is investi-
gated Every federal and county grand jury
has a number of these cases to hear. The
police department, represented by Detective
Sergeant Clifton r. Woodbridge and his
squad, keeps up a constant warfare upon
these concerns. The police. however, are
content with raiding and exposing and driV-
ing the operators from the city.
Schemes to defraud by means Of elaborate
imitation of business methods and forms
have become 50 numerous in Chicago. de-
spite oil these agencies working against
them, that they not only induce thousands
of unsuspecting men and women TO part
with their small savings but also seriously
impair the confidence between men In their
ordinary dealings with each other and
constitute a menace to the business world.
Every Day Victims Complain.
One can take at random any issue OF
a daily paper and find scores of advertise
ments which offer employment at large
salary require cash bond or deposit or
Offering for sale a partnership in lucra-
tive business, or some Investment In mining
or oil stocks.
Scarcely day passes that victims do
not appear In the police courts to tell
the loss of insurance money. etc. at the
hands OF these shrewd swindlera The
swtndiers always are represented by
LAWYERS who are familiar with the techni-
calities of the law, and who. II their clients
are charged with obtaining money by false
pretense, insist that the victim invested
money as result of promises OF misrepre-
sensations as to the future returns from
THE business IL charged with confidence
, game, these lawyers claim mere business
transaction, and that conversation merged
to a written agreement. or at the most,
false pretense and a. misdemeanor The
schemes are so cunnineiy devised that false
representations scarcely ever can be proved.
The field opened up by the raids upon
these concerns has been so far without
an end. There are hundreds OF companies
attn in existence selling stock on fase
holdings and trusting to few years aud
blind postofnee inspector to escape TO an
other country or city with a fair share OF
loot The same group Of men. in the ma
jor1ty OF cases uncovered, start from three
10 dozen companies having various Of
Aces in the downtown district, and fitting
from one to another with the activity Of a
three ring circus.
CreduIaus People Always Ready.
The public is stable quantity 10 the
mind of,a prospective millionaire No mat
ter howl wide and scathing the publicity or
how conyincins the proof, there always
are meh's and women who come to the
lbait regularly, some being swfndled three