Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-09-02

Count F~rankenburg, a Silesian mag
nate, received recently the following
letter.
Dear Count F~rankenburg:
First OF all, drink a good CLASH Of
b~randy-no cheap German stuff, but
a glass OF your own old 1854. Youn
want IL before you W. Q h
follows.
"The fact is, some of US have de-
cided to execute a little blackmail
on you. We want you to send 1900
marks ($1, 000). to the address OF x
T., Poste Restante, Verona, Italy.
You will not, OF course, refuse, be-
cause, as o know, the Black
Hand is not = be trified with, n
you would not like to wake up some
morning aud find your pretty wife
a mangled corpse"
AT the same time Count S~chaffgOtsch,
another Silesian magnate, got a letter
in exactly the same terms.
Fortunately they were men of iron
nerve, and the letters wen to the po-
lice, who soon caught the members OF
the so-called Black Hand. Two OF them
were Italians, and one was Count
Schaffgotsch's gardener,
Bride Is Intended Victim.
A commissary, who has charge of tho
investigation into blackmail cases in
Berlin, says that this kind OF crime In
becoming appaliingly ommon In Ger
many. He gave some examples. Said
he:
when a wen known Berlin imam
cier and his beautiful young bride
were on their honeymoon recently the
wife came to her husband very angr
one morning and showed him a letter.
The missive ran
Dear Mrs. --- You have
doubtless forgotten that little In
discretion of January 10. Well, then,
there Is some one who hasn't. If
you want to avoid having your
husband told about 1t, send 500 ru-
bles ($200). to X. ", at the ad-
dress below
The finaEcier laughed Inc sent the
letter to the police. The writer proved
to be a feminine street porter. When
confronted with the lady, the woman
had the ~effrontery TO exclaim:-
Good gracious; you're not the lady
81 January is at ali. 1 thought II WAS
the other Miss X. your husband had
married
"This little mistake cost the woman
sever years imprisonment. Her ex-
clamation was rough on the other
Miss *
Foreigners Are Easy.
Foreigners often get badly done In
the Prussian capital. Tho other day
an American travelling through Berlin
came to us about a Dockethnok he satd
he had lost. After a few questions I
suggested he see me privately. He did
so, end then admitted he had not lost
the pocketbook. He and some friends
had been seeing a little OF Beriin's
night life. A woman followed him to
his hotel, and next day left him a note
saying that IL he would leave his
1 nnpkafbnnlr mall alIaA gt N onrfnfn ~ -
a letter already written to his wife
would not be mailed. He left tho peck
etbook as requested and then had TO
pretend he lost II.
TT is a favorite trick with women
OF a certain class In Berlin, after hav-
Ing induced some foreigner to give a
little dinner for two to write next
jewelled necklace lost while in hts
company. Nine times out OF 10 the
man pays up rather than face a row.
This Letter IL the Limit.
"A little while ago a well known In
dustrial magnate in this city received
q cool letter which shows how far the
blackmailer will dare to go. The letter
read:
Dear Sir--I nave a l~iaison; been
a~ssociating with your wife. I am
afraid / must ask you to add a IittlS
w yOhA "hA0 htNdGA0 b1uAAAy khO
or else I shall be obliged TO let the
world get wind Of yOur little matri-
monial difficulties. n I am sure you
would not like that
1--WE caught the scamp and then thn
matter was hushed mp. lest II he were
prosecuted ON might believe what
he had written. There are dozens OF
cases every day that depend on a par
ticular kind of crime, for which Berlin
Is a yeritable plague SPOT. Occasfon-
ally a man has the courage to give
information and we break the gang up.
But all Berlin rogues are not
blackmailers. Thieves delight In work
ing what they call in the American
style'-the old gold brick trick. The
man sets himself up as a theatrical
agent, say. Actors and actress no
engages have to deposit caution
money. He takes II and goes with
them to place Ii in a safe at a bank.
or course the envelope left In the safe
is a dummy"