El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-22


for its copper. silver or gold. This
agent is instructed to get some land
near the gold mines, and he, perhaps,
spends 800 or so to buy the side Of
mountain. He then has a fraudulent
mining engineer make a report on the
property, and he may even dig a few
holes and put up derrick or so. He
takes out claim and goes through all
the operations that he would with a
legitimate enterprise. There may be
some photographs taken and money
gotten out at 81 per share. and the
advertisements are put in the paper.
Some such schemes are sold for mill
lions, and then report Is made that
the gold lead has played out
cit is the same with rubber planta-
lions in Mexico, many of which are
paid for in instruments until the time
the trees are supposed to come into
bearing. Often the title is no good
to such lands. and the photographs Of
the plantations are those of other
rubber districts, perhaps far away.
mot infrequently the man who han
bag, where he carries the seal of the
company, and moves about from place
to place One man tried to sell me
$4,000 worth Of stock in a fake min
ing scheme. He came here to Wash
ington. and we afterward found that
he had the seal with him, and that he
signed with his own hand the names
of both secretary, and president on
the certificates We had a draft for
$4,000 sent to him to Chicago. and he
went there straightway to receive it.
In the meantime 1t was so directed
that someone else opened it. You see.
we never open a mans mail except by
mistake This draft was on bank
which did not exist in Chicago. and
we had our men there to arrest him
He is now serving a term in the peni-
Tertiary.
side Lights on the Wireless.
ct is impossible to know how wide
" these fraud schemes extend" said
inspector Sharp. They swallow up
the savings of army officers. the in
surance money of widows and the saw
ings of all classes. even to the gov
eminent clerks. Take the Wireless
Telegraph company. 1t has cost the
people millions. One of the first evil
dences 1 had of its extent occurred
shortly after / came to Washington.
We had already begun to draw our
nets around 1t and the Washington
Post came out with a great scare head
saying that the scheme was fraud
and would be investigated. At that
time 1 was living in a quiet boarding
house here, and I was eating my
breakfast when the paper was deliv
cred. An old lady sitting next to me
took the Post and held it close to her
eyes. She then dropped 1t and put
her hands over her heart, saying:
81 wish the government would stop
meddling with legitimate business
They have attacked the United Wire
less Telegraph company and they will
hurt the stock. have $500 invested
in tt
cat the same time a young girl on
the opposite side of the table, a clerk
in the treasury, said: I hope so. too. !
I have got $50 in Wireless. 1 took it
as a flyer
These people thought I was clerk |
in the postoffice department, and they !
had no idea that I was connected with |
the prosecution. They lost their
money, of course, and that like thou
sands of others who invested in this |
stock.
SwindIing by Mail.
Can you give me some Idea Of the |
swindles carried on through the |
mails?" 1 asked
Their name is legion. We have farm |
option swindles, mail order swindles /
and rubber plant men,. We have fraud
ulent employment bureaus, fake cor
schools and fake patent /
agents. We have swindles run by indi-
viduals and swindles by corporations,
Ind in short all sorts of swindles I'M
Ter the sun. AS ii is now we are strfk-
ing at the big men, and we hope to
wipe out great part of the business
We have a score or more OF schemes
which are being carried on all over
the country, some of which we are
rapidly eliminating. We have the
;windler syndicate by which the
schemers try to induce the unsuspect-
ng to buy green goods or gold bricks.
We have swindlers who pretend to sell
money, and for good hard