The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-04-28
IT'S the Fan Guy Burg of
the State Is the Honest
Confession Made by "A
CRATER, Recently.
NO.DIFFICULTY IN
GETTING LICENSES
In the Past Few Weeks Rich
mond Has Undergone. an.
Epidemic of the Free Pho
tograph" Graft.

"Richmond-a Mecca for con men
and petty grafters."
1t is hard and sudden blow to
have such criticism hurled at the city
which has long been heralded for its
high minded and intelligent people and
as center of art and culture, but
from the record of occurrences that
have happened here intermittently,
but with great regularity. during the
last year or SO Richmond is evidently
a favorite place for all kinds of petty
grafters.
Into Richmond seem to float every
now and then. a few persons, not al
ways men. who have an article or
articles, of good quality and great
value" which they present" to the cit
izens, but, despite this extreme gener-
osity. they always leave Richmond for
other less profitable fields with bulg-
ing wallets and pockets overlooking.
while many local residents gaze woe
fully at hattened purses and wonder
why they were so easy!"
A Successful Graft.
Perhaps the most successful graft
certain people here have fallen for is
that of free pictures or enlargement
Of photos purely as an advertising
scheme This ancient. but, locally,
ever new game has been aided to a
large extent by the practice of the city
in issuing licenses without thoroughly
Investigating the purposes of the ap-
plicants. THESE ffcenses are conspic-
uously displayed by the petty graft
ers evidently with view to impress
ing the victims with the idea that the
stamp Of approval has been placed
upon their schemes by the city.
Occurrences something on this or
der have been quite frequent of late:
A gentle ring of the door bell is
heard by the lady of the house of a
morning. She steps to the door and
confronts smiling gentleman ca
who, in suave and ultra-polite man.
ner, begins. to explain. Il am a rep
representative of the Greatest-Fake-on
Earth company and purely as meth
cd of advertising we are doing some
work Of enlarging photographs in or
der to more thoroughly acquaint the
public with our priceless product.
Now, If you have a picture of yourself
or some member of the family you
would like to have enlarged we would
be delighted to do 1t for you. Ex-
pense? oh. nothing at all, absolutely
free. We will be glad to do it just for
the advertising it brings us. Very well
we will return this photo and the en-
larged picture in a few days" And he
courteously doffs his hat and is gone.
All "Free" But Frame.
A few days pass by and the house
wife again meets the stranger at the
door When shown an enlarged pic
ture enclosed in a frame she COM
ments upon the good work and then
asks concerning the frame. She is
told that it is always the custom to
frame the pictures and ask the per-
son for whom the work is done to pay
for 1t. Just 81 or SIS for a so cent
frame; that's ALL The housewife ex-
1
postulates; she refuses to pay for the
frame, and the stranger announces
that he will hold the original picture,
sometimes an only photo of dead
member Of the family. until the price
of the frame is forthcoming. The
housewife grows furious: she de-
nounces such tactics; she threatens:
she demands the photo; she will start
trouble; she grows violently indig-
nant. But when the stranger taunt-
iingly says it would probably be bet
ter to avoid trouble she seems to see
the wisdom of his statement and the
frame is paid for. The stranger
passes on to another victim.
That is one game: many others of
a similar nature have been worked
here. There is the practice of pick
ing up children on street. placing
them on a pony. taken along for the
purpose. photographing them and
selling the picture to the parents of
the children on the grounds that they
were ordered.
The Quaek Doctor.
Then there is the quack doctor. One