The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-07-25

Wireless Telegraph ana
they will hurt the stock. l have ~
500 invested in it.
AT the sa me time a young girl on
the opposite side of the table, a clerk
in the Treasury, aid L hope so. too.
I have got $50 in Wireless. 1 took it
as a flyer
These people thought waSa clerk
in the Postotfice Department, and they
had no idea that | was connected with
the prosecution. They lost their
money, of course. and that like
thousands of others who invested in
his stock.
SwindIing by Mail.
Can you give me some idea of the
swindles carried on through the
mails [ asked.
Their name is legion. We have
farm option sWindles, mail order
swindles and rubber plant men. We
have fraudulent Employment bureaus,
fake correspondence schools and fake
patent agents. We have sWindles run
by individuals and swindles by cor
poratiOns. and in short all sorts OF
swindles under the sun. AS it is now
we are striking at the big men. and
We hope to wipe out a great part OF
the business. We have a score or
more of schemes which are being car
ried on all over the country. some of
which we are rapidly eliminating. We
have the SWindler syndicate by which
the SchemerS try to induce unsuc-
pecting to buy green goods or gold
bricks. We nave sWindlers who pre-
tend to sell counterfeit money, and for
good hard dollars give the wOuld-be
rascals green paper or sawdust in
stead. We have diamond ring swim
dlers who pick up diamond rings near
jewelry shops and sell them for half
value. SO changing the ring that the
victim gets only a cheap imitation. :
we have also ~sWindling loan
agents and ~swindling real estate deal
ers. Among the latter was Clarence
d. Hillman, of Seattle, who made
about $4,000 900 in land schemes and
town lot schemes, often selling land
to which he had no title at all. He
laid out towns and published pict-
ures Of the improvements, including
railroads M factories. which a 10
existence. He was considered one Of
the largest real estate operators on
the Pacific coast, but we exposed his
fraudulent methods and he is now in
the penitentiary for over two years"
Fake Prize Fighters.
How about the fake prize fighting
schemes, Mr.. Inspectors
They are among the singular
frauds carried on through the mails
was the reply. They are usually
backed by men who pretend to be mil
lionaires and their victims try to make
money by swindlin9 the s%windlers.
Take Mabray, who together with his
organization made something like S.
100000 out Of that game. His victims
came from all parts of the untr
and each was robbed of from 81, 900
to $4,000. In these cases the victim
was approached by one of M~abray'S
confederates, Who confidentially told
the man that he was secretary of a
company of m%illiOnaires who had a
prize fighter with them whom they
were matching at the various places
in such a way that the result was a
dead sure thing. h confederate
claimed to have charge Of the bets and
he got the victim to bet some money
for him and at the same time to put
in a lot of his own money on the
fight. During the fight some unfore-
thing always happened and the
money was lost. In some cases one
of the prize fighters held a. rubber bag
of blood or red ink in his hand which
burst as he struck his opponent, Civ
ing claim to the statement that the
man had a hemorrhage and was,
therefore,. defeated. We convicted
and made them pay a fine Of $4,000
as we'll as to serve two years in the
p~enitentiary."
B~urglarizing the POstOffce.
rs much money stolen from the
Yes; we have professional bur
glars who seem to "a only with post
offices. They have stolen great guam
titles of stamps and at times consider
able money as we'll. Not long ago a.
robbery occurred in the postofice at
Minneapolis. where 500, 900 stamps
were carried away. The thieves en-
tered the p~ostoffice at night and open
ed the safe with a diamond drill. They
took their plumber to Chicago and
disposed Of it there through men who
acted as postage stamp fences. They
had still about 81. 900 worth of stamps
left when theyS were caught and con-
Victed.
One of the largest post office rob-
berries of recent times" continued the