River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-06-05


real estate along Lake
Shore drive, when all at
once we discovered that we were talk
ing about poetry in tie most earnest
manner. lcogsd at Miss Clement;
she looked at me. Both of US smiled
fooIishly.
What on earth ever switched US
from real estate to poetry?" asked,
and she laughed We were strolllng
along through the damp OF summer
mist. Our iaunting clothes on, happy
in the freshness of the atmosphere
and the GOODNESS of the breeze as it
drifted in from the lake; not caring
whether we became wet or not-Just
joyous in The knowledge that life was
good and that we were part of it..
Miss Clement and take many stroll
that way. Sometimes do the talking;
most Of the time, howev er, / draw her
ont to make the conversation, for she
is the interesting one. And as I
looked into that face of rosy cheeks,
full red lips and swapping eyes, / won
dered what today would bring, what
experience of the past. She was still
endeavoring to trace back our CONVEX
sation to the point where real estate
had become meter and rhyme-but
she had failed.
Il cant trace the poetry" she said
with little shake Of her head, ':but
can remember the time when poetry
traced a green goods man and traced
him into the penitentiary at that. 1t
was not so very long ago either
There was a time, when remini-
scence crowded upon her, that Miss
Clement would ask me if l cared to
hear the story That time is past
now. for she knows better. And so
she began the recital as we strolled
along the dripping drive, where the
trees hung low and where the birds,
impriso ID by the dampness, cheeped
disgustedly at the weather.
For a couple of weeks" she began
as We strolled along, men of every
type had been walking into detective
headquarters with looks of disgust on
their faces and long stories on their
tongues. 1t was the old green goods
story-or rather a story that was a lit
tie better, for this was the case of a
money machine"
"A money machine?" | asked.
Exactly; put in dime and draw
out q dollar. Or better still, draw out
thousands There were cattlemen,
there were farmers, there were
even business men. 1t seemed that
they would meet their money ma
chine friend at night, around the
city somewhere, become interested
in the fresh clean bills he had, and
finally become excited enough to be-
lieVa his story. And the story was
not bad" Miss Clement added with
little smile HE had formerly worked
in the Bureau of Printing and Engrav-
ing Finally he got the secret of how
to make the impressions of money and
then print more just like it. 1t was a
mint, you see. But the difficulty was
every green goods man has a little
difficulty, you know, which keeps him
from turning out all the money in the
world, and keeping it for himself-that
all this money he made was brand
new, and If he kept spending new
money all the time he would be
caught. And therefore, he was now in
the philanthropic bu=iness of exchang-
ing new money for old, at reduced
prices. So, If you had $1,000 on which
you wanted to make a quick invest
ment, he would be very glad to put it
into the machine and turn you out
$4,000 in clean new bills for it, simply
to get the old money. Nice little
scheme. don't you Think"
But" I interrupted
How did he fool his victims? Very
easily There would be two packages
of supposed money. One really con-
tanned bills. The other contained moth
ing but tissue paper He would take
his victim to some out of the way
place, pretend to give him the pack
age Of money and hand him the pack
age of tissue paper instead, with in
structions that it was dangerous to
open the same before he got home.
And then-well, when he got home,
he would hurry for the police station
with his tissue paper in his hand.
And so this thing had gone along
ia 1NO WSShS. IL SSSuSu ludI Tic
maker of money was everywhere, and
there was no way to stop him. A gen
eral alarm was sent out among the de-
tectives and I was one of those who
received it. Description? Oddly
enough, there was none. It seemed
the green goods man was a man who
could disguise himself naturally. One
man would describe him with a
twisted mouth. Another time he would
have Jewish appearance. On other
occasions he would seem somewhat
epileptic and his face would have
contortionistic appearance. All we had
20 go on were his height, weight and
the color of his eyes and hair. And at
that, I've seen mighty few persons
who could describe the same man
alike even in these details.
But we started to work, and one
morning there walked another victim
into detective headquarters with his
little bundle of tissue paper We heard
the story. and as the man talked ] be-
gan to finger the bogus bundle AS
did so, there began to come a few in
SEPARATIONS into my mind The tissue
paper was short and square and fold
ed. 1t struck me all of sudden that
It was of the type used for shaving
paper in barber shops Suddenly as
started to crumple the paper in my
hand 7 st0nnad and looked af If Some