The San Francisco call., 1909-05-24

when 1 refused to compromise or
tell where I obtained my tip neither
the newspaper nor Raffies' manager
would do anything for me. So
went to the Post-Intelligencer and
told my story. At the time / decid-
ed to sue the Times for the reward,
but did not, as it would cost me
a lot of money and time. The
Raf1es people never denied that /
had caught him, but they objected
to having him discovered until
specified date, as per their contract
with the newspaper. The complaint
of the Times and the manager was
that 1 had received my tip from an
inside source, but the real reason
was that 1 caught Rafles before the
date when all concerned were will
ing to have him taken.
L arrived from Albany yesterday,
where I have been visiting my rela-
tives, and thought that the Raf1es
here now might be Donohue, but
see that it is another chap and that
Donohue is working San Francisco.
have been told by the Raff1es
crowd that they intend working Sc
system. That is all bosh, however,
for the game can only be worked
one way and that is by keeping
Raffies in hiding until his manager
is ready to have him caught and in
the meantime the assistants circu-
late in the advertised places"
Crooked Game Exposed
SEATTLE, Wash. May 18.-The
"Raffies" game was worked in Seat
tie in the summer of 1907 and it
came to a most inglorious end after
little more than week. For
coarseness, the Raffies swindle beats
ANY bunco scheme ever attempted
in this city. At the time, Raff1es,
whose real name is George Harris
Morning Times, which more than
year ago suspended publication The
refusal of the Morning Times to pay
the reward of $500, which was Of
fered for the capture of the mystic
rious Raffies, to W. Z. Davidson. an
employe of j. Aronson & Co, resulted
in the exposure of the crooked
game, in which were involved Raj
fies and his staff of associates.
That Raff1es was captured there
is no doubt, and the offering Of a
reward to capture the alleged elu-
sive man Of the name of Raff1es is
nothing but a scheme to swell the
- ~ n i0l1
he makes a contract His game was
worked in many cities in the east
before he came to Seattle and was
exposed.
Certain conditions govern the
capture such as the utterance of a
stereotyped sentence when the ar
rest is made and the production of a
receipt showing that the captor has
paid for the paper in advance for a
period of six months and that he
produce copy of the current issue
Of the newspaper when he makes
his capture. The only assurance af-
forded the man who undertakes to
capture the mysterious person is
the unsupported statement of the
newspaper that Raffles will keep in
plain view of the people, attend
places of amusement. and. without
resorting to disguise, will mingle
with the people during the period of
his liberty.
Instead of doing this, however. in
vestigation, at least in the Seattle
case. revealed that Raff1es does not
appear on the streets at all; that he
is represented by dummy, who
bears a strong resemblance to him;
that while the dummy is doing the
real work Raffies is in hiding in a
furnished cottage in some secluded
part of the city.
The exposure of Raff1es' game in
Seattle forms an interesting story
in view of the efforts of his asso-
ciates to square up with his captors.
A cottage at 124T Sixteenth avenue
North was rented by a man giving
the name Of James Smith. but whose
real name it later developed was
James Saunders, the dummy in
question. 1t was also discovered
that Raffies, through his manager,
w. K. Carruthers. was under con-
tract to the Morning Times to keep
out of sight until June Il, giving 20
days in which to carry on the game.
Monday, June 3, Raffles was sup
posed to be mingling with the crowd
of roller skaters in the Dreamland
rink. OF course, he was not caught.
Tuesday. June H. the mysterious one
was billed to promenade up and
down First and Second avenues,
the main thoroughfares of Seattle.
1t was on this day that Raffies met
his Waterloo. for he was held pris-
oner in the cottage in the northern
part of the city by young Davidson.
The Morning Times declined to pay
Davidson the reward, however, say
ing that he got a tip as to the
whereabouts of Raffies from an as
sociate of Raffies. meaning Saun-
ders.