Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-01

and have them tested of their own vol
ton. And there are some dealers who
do this. Unfortunately, however. there
are others who not only do not do so. but
who shun the office of the seeler as they
would pestilence-and with reason.
These the harder detectives must seek
out and round up.
They must visit the stores or stalls
kept by the men or women and examine
their scales without seeming to do So
Sometimes they can find something wrong
almost Immediately and can right IL as
promptly, with disastrous results for the
dealer. At other times. though. the
trickery of the dealer is SO clever that
they must visit the store over and over
again. posing as customers. OFTEN sew
eral OF the larder detectives work to-
gether, visiting the suspected place al
ternately in order that the dealer may
not become worried by the too frequent
presence of a new customer for whom he
cannot account. For your average deal
ed crooked or honest. is apt to know all
his customers. where they 1--we ana what
they do. Even the most honest dealer Is
naturally curious abouta new customer.
and a dishonest dealer. troubled mayfap
by his own conscience. but most certain
ly by a haunting fear of the sealer OF
weights and measures, is more tnan curl
Gus; he is suspicious.
So the larder detectives must exercise
extreme care. They cannot. under any
circumstances. afford to make MISTAKE
for should they swOop down on a dealer
charging him with fraud. ana II shouid
afterward turn out that he was perfectly
honest then all sorts of unpleasant COM
plications would ensue. The charge would
be very apt to ruin the dealers business
and he would naturally demand redress.
Whether he got it or not, it Is hlghiy
hi hat the nprSOnnPl OF the larUer
detectives would undergo a change. The
larder detectives know this. consequent
IN they rarely, if ever. make a mistake:
Yet without making mistakes they nhd
plenty to keep them busy.
The schemes and tricks employed by
the man with crooked weights are even
more crafty than those OF the man win
crooked measures. Examples OF thelr
in the museum of crooks. OF these, one
of the most interesting is beautlfui set
of scales and long heavy nail made or
iron and flattened out to wondrous thln-
ness They We're taken from man VINO
once kept a large and widely patronzed
stand in one of the largest markets OF
the city. He keeps that stand no long
err, for the discovery of his cfoohedness
cost him his business.
II was crafty trick that this dealer
His scales were absolutely correct. To
lull suspicion he even made it point to
have them tested of his own volition.
and he was fond of dilating to his GUS
toners on the fact that his weight was
right to the last ounce. But he never said
ANYTHING about the flattened nail which
was kept hidden and which was the secret
of his crookedness. His plant was SIM
nlcity itself Under his display counter
he had a second counter, which could not
be seen by the customer unless he went
to the trouble to lean far over the first
counter. This second counter was used
for wrapping up purchases. Ito keep the
display clean and tidy" the dealer eX-
planned On it was kept the wrapping
paper .and on it also. was kept the nat
tened out nail.
When a customer would come to the
stand and order two pounds of chops, the
dealer would calmly proceed to cut what
he Judged to be about one pound and three
auarters-and any meat dealer who has
been in the business any length of time
can cut within few ounces of almost
any weight he desires. Having cut the
meat. the dealer would put it on the sec
ond counter for wrapping. AS he put ii on
the wrapping paper he would slip in the