Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-06-07

Wy GUESSING the high price OF
real estate along Lake
Shore drive, when all at
once we discovered that we were talk
ing about poetry in the most earnest
manner. looked at Miss Clement;
she looked at me. Both of us smiled
! foolishly.
What on earth ever switched us
from real estate to poetry" | asked,
! and she laughed We were strolling
along through the damp Of summer
mist Our jaunting 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 a part of it.
/ Miss Clement and take many a stroll
/ that way Sometimes do the talking;
most of the time, however, I draw her
| out to make the conversation, for she
is the interesting one. And as |
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.
II can't trace the poetry" she said
with a little shake of her head, but !
can remember the time when poetry
traced green goods man and traced
him into the penitentiary at that. 1t
was not so very long ago either"
There was time, when remini-
scence crowded upon her, that Miss
Clement would ask ME if | cared to
hear the story. That time is past
now, for she knows better. And so
she began the recital as We stro1led
along the dripping drive, where the
trees hung low and where the birds,
impriso ed by the dampness. cheeped
disgustedly at the weather.
For 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 lit
tie better, for this was the case of a
money machine"
"A money machine?" / 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, around the
city somewhere, become interested
in the fresh, clean bills he had, and
finally become excited enough to be-
lieve 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
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 business of exchang-
ing new money for old, at reduced
prices. So, if you had 81 900 on which |
U nd m nn1yn sofr
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" | 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-weil, 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. 1t seemed that the
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 l was one of those who
received 1t. Description? Oddly
enough, there was 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 Jewish appearance. On other
occasions he would seem somewhat
epileptic and his face would have 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.