The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-24

SWISDLE THAT NsTTED P0R.
~ NES lHOgr ENDED

Awmie 'teSsHJ. VIVA ttaae s5a,ROW Q VsaS
mi NJ N, = Watteg m . tsBey lalaaa
tHa'c ttaiI -atHep Primes NJ ne Name
m prisUH -PWstal iWspreteys llVehe n
~ tt'HehIJ AeisV AettiHa " NSsh
Tho arcen goosIs aame IL tasslne NJ,
that Tho definite end NJ ~ Ingenious and
slusive q awindle will 10 sean In the lmmedl
a,e future, hut the srheme that earned
Sraon . yrar Tor jimmse MoNaily. ths
ton King. Nv tho nld dsys and gave small
fortunes ~ mofr Fast Stde ward heelera
than New York viii ever feange, Il rapidly
passing into Tho misty distance ~ The 'con .
mans golden ngr.
Tho United states Post Ofice INSPECTORS
have ~ Last Uncovered an effective means
~ orippling thu green goods game. The
fact IL that the local lnapec,ora, under the
direction ~ Chief Walter \. Mayer, have
gone into the business Themselves In q
toodest wav, making shout 1000 q month
fur l'ncle Sam out n the operators Of the
game, And, the chances ~ a green goods
sharper's catching n tartar In the supposed
come.on and having 10 give up two or three
thousand dollars In real money 20 help
the Government a his board In Kings
County P~enitentiary are getting TO he 10
good that tho more discreet confidence
men are turning their attention TO fresher
and less dangerous fields,
Chief Mayer has accomplished this by
pushing two measures Of attack. In the
first place he has made IL almost impossible
for the sharpers to keep up communication
with their intended victim after he has re-
oeived the first circulars that made him
anxious to do business. This has been done
by the practical elimination OF that obscure
but Indispensable go-between, the tele-
graph operator-upon whose secret aid
depends the maintenance Of a receiving
address by the swindlers. In the second
place Chief Mayer has lone his utmost
to bag at once the swindlers and their bank
roll.
According to the police and the post Office
inspectors the green goods game is one Of
the few new things under he sun. 1t only
came into being, they say. around the year
1870.
Although many crooks lave claimed it
no one knows to whom the dubious honor
Of inventing the game is due-all that can
be positively stated is that one day a fash
OF inspiration passed through the cunning
mind of some Larry Summerfield Of that day,
and the germ Of the swindle was alive.
To make the man swindled an intending
criminal himself by inducing him to buy
supposed counterfeit money to pass on his
neighbors was the essence Of the new
scheme. 1t was not long in developing
into one Of the most lucrative and persistent
swindles ever known.
The most striking feature Of the business
during its early years was the ease with
which the victims were swindled. There
were no postal regulations then to prevent
the operators from using the mails, and
1t was almost impossible to punish them
under the State laws. In consequence the
business progressed with an old fashioned
simplicity, grimly amusing to contemplate
from a viewpoint twenty-five years dis
tant.
The circulars adv ertising for sale coun-
terfeit money. not to be distinguished from
the genuine, were simply dumped into the
mails by the hundred The addresses Of the
leading lights Of hamlets and towns not too
distant from New York were bought from