Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-03-23
MODERN PIRATES.
They Ply Their Trade on the Big
a.~.. ek>~-.k;a.

They Ply Their Trade on the Big
/ Ocean Steamships.
In spite Of the greatest vigilance on
the part Of the steamship officers, es-
pecially on board the big Atlantic IL
ners, with view to stamping out the
gambling evil, the win or lose instinct
still exists, and many thousands Of
pounds are annually lost and won on
the ocean highway. Indeed, the In
gratiating, though unscrupulous, gen.
tleman who Is ever anxious to take q
hand" continues to flourish, as ingen-
uity coming to his aid. all sorts Of
lodges are now practised-frequently
with great success-to victimize sea
travellers who seem to have more mon
ey than wisdom.
Quite recently an officer on one Of
the largest mail steamship lines be-
tween here and America informed ths
writer of case where a young heiress
was nearly trapped by one Of these
scoundrels. It appears the girl was
returning with her maid to relatives
near New York, and on the boat be-
came acquainted with man who had
every appearance Of being well to do.
| Attractedr by his manner, the lady
did nh attempt to discourage his att
tentions sSand by the end of the voyage
the twokappeared TO be fast friends.
Arrived In New York, the scamp-for
he was snbthing else-made violent love,
and then incidentally touched upon q
matter of business ne had In hand.
Eventually he persuaded the girl to
lend him large sum Of money. and
had It not been for the timely intervene
ton Of the solicitors, who called at her
hotel and hearing the tale stopped pay
ment Of the check. the confiding lady
would now have been several thousand
pounds to the bad.
Again, a good haul was made not
long ago by two Of these gentry--who
often work in pairs-on q big steam
ship in the South Pacific. Almost
without exception the passengers on
large boats arrange sweepstake ON
each days run, which eliminates to-
ward the end of the voyage In an
auction sweep" the chief differences
in the latter from the ordinary sweep
stake being that the allotted holders
are obliged to dispose of their numbers
again by auction. For this purpose
one of the passengers is chosen to act
as auctioneer, and the most fancied
run" often fetches f6 or more.
On this occasion one Of the rascals
conducted the proceedings; but. on OBJ
tanning the miles run from the captain.
Immediately placed the number against
the name of his confederate upon the
list In the saloon. In the meantime the
latter had induced the lucky holder to
exchange numbers for the sport OF
| the thing" and in this way the scoun-
drels came out of the bargains over
e 100 to the good.
| On another occasion the passengers
on steamer bound for Australia were
ingeniously duped. One Of the first
class passengers, who had every ap-
pearance Of respectability, represented
himself to be the secretary Of 8 char-
Iitable institution near London. and
gave out to all on board that he was
visiting the colony for the purpose Of
opening branch In Australia
| Whenever concerts were arranged In
the evenings the bogus secretary OBJ
tained the permission Of the captain to
place his collection box upon the saloon
table. Almost every passenger con-
tributed handsomely toward what APP
peared to be so worthy a cause, and by
the end Of the voyage the donations
aggregated large amount
| Not till too late was It discovered
that the tale about the institution was
a pure invention, the collection box.
which seemed perfectly genuine, having
been specially obtained and labelled
for the occasion. But once the man
set foot in Australia he was never seen
or heard Of again.
Similarly, the ingenuity of rogue on
one Of the German boats was well re-
paid. Aboard the Vessel were several
hundred emigrants bound for South
American port, who, Of course, were
anxious to obtain work the moment
they landed. They considered them
selves lucky, therefore, to find on the
same ship man who said he was the
agent Of an employment bureau in
the Argentine, and gladly paid the
fees he asked in return for certain and
apparently lucrative situations.
Though armed with full references
and credentials-all Of which were
false-the man turned out to be an i'm
poster, as no agency Of which he pre-
tended to be the representative existed
at all. Thus nearly all these people
were duped in heartless fashion, and
their not overburdened pockets suf-
fered accordingly.
Only few weeks ago the case was
reported Of an English accountant who
obtained q position as purser on
board q Swedish vessel sailing for the
Black Sea. One evening, shortly be-
fore the ship arrived In port a passen-
ger presented himself in the pursers
cabin and requested the latter to
change Russian bank note for
large amount. This the purser agreed
to do, and the money was duly handed
over.
On presentation, however, the steam
ship company learned that the note
was an exceedingly clever forgery, but
on questioning the purser were unable
to elicit the identity Of the passenger
to whom change had been given, as
the former appeared to have forgotten.
Several days later the purser signed
off, Eventually a clue was obtained,
and 1t transpired that the purser and
passenger were confederates, and well
known to the police in that part Of
the world as clever bank swindlers.-
Tit-Bits.
EleDhant's Strange Deafh.-An Agra