Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-06-06

ing about poetry in the most earnest
n looked at Miss Clement;
she looked at me. Both of us smiled
foolishly.
What on earth ever switched us
from real estate to poetry?" l asked,
and she laughed. We were strolling
along through the damp of a summer
mist. Our jaunting clothes on, happy
in the freshness Of the atmosphere
and the GOODNESS of the breeze as 1t
drifted in from the lake; not caring
whether we became wet or not-just
joyous in the knowledge that life was
good n that we were q part of it.
Miss Clement and 1 take many a stroll
that way. Sometimes l do the talking;
most of the time, however, l draw her
out 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, l 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-hut
she had failed.
Il can't trace the poetry" she said
with a little shake of her head, but l
a 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 I 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 IN their
tongues. 1t was the old green goods
story-or rather a story that was a lit
tie better, for this was the cas- of a
money machine"
"a money machine?" l asked.
Exactly; put in a dime and draw
out a 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, round the
city somewhere, become interested
in the fresh, clean bills he had, and
finally become excited enough to be-
1ieve his story. And the story was
not bad" Miss Clement added with a
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
hen 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
ley n If he kept spending new
honey all the time he would be
caught. And therefore, he was now in
the philanthropic business of exchang-
ing new money for old, at reduced
prices. So, if you had $1,000 on which
you wanted to make q quick invest
ment, he would be very glad to put 1t
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 o Think"
But" 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
for two weeks. It seemed that the
maker of money vas everywhere, and
there was no way to stop him. A gen.
eral alarm was sent out among the de-
tectives and | was one of those who
received it. Description? Oddly
enough, there vas none. 1t 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 a Jewish appearance. On other
occasions he would seem somewhat
epileptic and his face would nave a
contortionistic appearance. All we had
to 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. y
"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 I
did so, there began to come a few in
spirations into my mind. The tissue
paper was short and square and fold
ed. 1t struck me all of a sudden that
1t was of the type used for shaving
paper il barber shops. Suddenly as |
started to crumple the paper in my
hand, stopped and looked at it. Some
Of 1t bore the marks Of a pencil. be-
gan to examine the pieces, one by one.