The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1914-02-20
Many Virginians Stung by
Agents of the Universal Cir
culating Company.
TOOK SUBSCRIPTIONS
FOR A MAGAZINE
Told Tale of Earning Money to Get
Through College and Gathered
Harvest of Half Dollars on Mes
aba-Investigated by DR.. J. II.
Grove and Brought to Justice in
San Francisco.

DR.. j. H. Grove, health officer OF
the city of Virginia, is one Of this
city's most charitable citizens. One
of his hobbies is helping deserving
young men, but the doctor has had
too much experience to allow his in
terest in them to stop just after he
has helped them. The doctors in
terest in this regard has just result
ed in the city of San Francisco in the
arrest of Emile Hearn and Raymond
P. Osborn, confidence men, who have
worked extensively all over the Unit
ed States and who reaped consider
able harvest of silver shekels in prac-
tically every city on the iron range
recently.
Emile Hearn and Raymond P. Os-
born visited Virginia late last sum-
mer. They represented themselves to
be agents for Scribner's magazine
and other periodicals and offered
three standard magazines for half a
dollar a year in advance. They ap-
preached one with a whirlwind story
about raising money to aid them in
going through Leland Stanford uni
versity. They were good mixers,
smooth takers and did a fine busi-
ness. They stopped at good hotels
and taken all around they were just
the kind of people that make a hit
in country town or a small city.
They secured several hundred sub
scribers in this city and then said a
courteous adios, even going to the
extent of shaking hands with some Of
their victims.
DIR. Grove was among those who
believed in them. In going through
his desk the other day the doctor
came on one of the receipts for his
magazine subscriptions. He recalled
that he had never received them
and started a little investigation.
Then it was developed that nobody in
Virginia had received the magazines.
Accordingly the doctor sat down and
wrote a letter to the mayor of San
Francisco and it was turned over to
Chief of Detectives John Mooney. The
pair were located at No. 1878 Market
street and had opened an office under
the name of the Universal Circulat-
ing company. An investigation fol-
lowed and charges of petit larceny
were placed against them. In court
they proved in three specific cases
that the subscriptions had been sent
to the publishers but a good many
cases were developed where they had
not. AS the amounts which they
;windled their customers out of was
never more than SO cents it was hard
to get anybody to appear against
Them. Also their victims were scat
tered all over the country. The &C.
tions resulted in the closing Of their
offices and they have left the city.
One of them has turned up at Savan-
nah, Georgia, however, where he is
working the same game, according to
the San Francisco detectives.
Just how many people the pair sue
ceeded in victimizing in Virginia can
not be learned, but it is known that
they did thrifty business. The mayor
of San Francisco has written Dr.
Grove a letter thanking him for his
interest in the case. They don't want
anything like that going on, he says
in the Panama exposition city.