The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-11-24
MAIL swINDLERs.

axes anu llelF VlCIlIIlS, LIE JOu1AaA
told of the millions of dollars that are
taken from the people by various swind-
ling schemes conducted through the
mails, and of the determined efforts
government officials are making to
suppress them. 1t was said that these
concerns which are using the mails to
defraud are concentrating in New York,
having been driven out of other cities,
notably Chicago, where the Nutrlola
company, after an investigation, was
put out of business by fraud order.
At the time of the investigation the
manager, Edgar F. Hanson, admitted
to the inspectors that he had received
$1l4,OO0 from the public and had spent
some $65, 900 of that amount advertising
for further sales of the stock. No ac-
count was given of the funds expended
from this source for other purposes. A
memorandum by the Assistant Attorney
General for the Post Office Department
says further: "Much of the literature
uSCd Wy 1AdioOii III Si1S PAoAA1oeAhS Va SAAA0
scheme was profane and indecent.
A special force of inspectors has been
detailed to investigate the suspected con-
Germs in New York city and already four
arrests have been made. The first raid
was on the Ell Progresso Banana COM
pany and its fiscal agents, the Inter
national Finance company. The pro-
moters of the banana company sent let
tiers through the mails setting forth that
the company had procured fine lands in
Honduras and that men were at work
clearing the property. The post office
inspectors charge that the company own
ed no land, employed no men, and yet
sold stock at so cents share represent
ing its par value to be 81. The persons
arrested We're the president and secre-
tary and treasurer of the banana COM
pany, the president of the finance com
pany and Brooklyn clergyman, who is
charged with having boosted the banana
stock in letters to other clergymen, and
with recommending the president of the
company as "a clean gentleman" who
does not drink, does not smoke and is
interested in Y. M. C. A. work.
The New York raid on the banana
company and the finance company which
is said to have foated the stock is but
the beginning of a general crusade to
purify the mails. Hundreds of COM
plants have been pouring in on Postmas
ter General Hitchcock, and on Att y Gen.
| Wickersham setting forth that the writ
ers have been swindled out of hundreds
and in some cases, thousands of dollars
through glowing letters and pamphlets
sent through the mails. The postmaster
general and the attorney general are de-
termined that this misuse of the mails
must be stopped without delay. They
realize that there is no more ingenious
method of swindling than through the
mails, as a letter, sent under Uncle
Sans protection, is considered by many
persons to be something in the nature of
SoFC1hlicHCdi SuoA allICC VI hoiiSoIy.
Moreover, the scene of a mail swindle is
virtually unlimited.
Persons living in the country are most
liable to walk into the snare set by
swindlers through the mail. The post
office inspectors have found that all sorts
of schemes are being advertised through
the mails. They range from love potions
to the making of millions in Wall street.
One concern, said to be operating from
New York, has been advertising a new
method for securing an income of $780,
900 year, without doing stroke of
work. For love potions and all kinds of
advice great many persons will pay
literally in response to invitations sent
through the mail. Promise of an in
come that will make future labor I'M
necessary, merely on the payment of
few hundred dollars, is, however, the
best bait
Since the foregoing was in type two
more firms have been raided, particulars
of which were given IN Tuesdays daily
papers. Postmaster General Hitchcock
himself took charge of the raids. Shell
don H. Burr, president of Burr Broth
ers; Eugene H. Burr, secretary and
treasurer of the firm, and Frank H. To-
hey, its vice president, were arrested in
the first raid and held in $4,000 bail
each. The government charges that the
firm sold between $40, ZOO, 900 and $780,
000, 900 in mining and oil stocks worth
little or nothing. Charles L. Vaughan,
a director of the Continental Wireless
Telegraph & Telephone Co., Incorporated
in Arizona, was taken in the second raid
and held in $4,000 bail. Inspectors say
his company has sold stock to the amount
of at least 81, 100000 which has brought
no return to the investors. Vaughan is
treasurer of the Columbia Finance Co.,
which acts as fiscal agent for the CONT
mental Wireless Telegraph & Telephone
Co. and had charge of the Continental
Offices in New York city. Seventy eight
similar cases have been brought to
head during the year, and it is estimated
III al tho cNipdlinu oDera tions of those 70