The Elbert County tribune., 1915-08-06
CITY MEN ARE EASY
Swindlers Now Pass UP the
Rural DWellers.
Automobiles and Newspapers Have
Combined to "Put Them Wise" to
the "Con" Man-Town Folk
Still Fall for Swindles.

Omaha.-Attracted by the great
prosperity of the trans-Missouri coua-
try, an army of sharpers and con"
men are swarming around Nebraska
farmers. But they are meeting with
mighty poor success. The ruralIsts
who. few years ago, would bite" at
almost any old bunco game have be-
come so thoroughly sophisticated that
they are as wary as jack rabbit and
as wise as treeful of owls.
The lightning-rod agents are going
out of business; the washing machine
statesmen who take fake receipts for
their goods are hunting other pas
lures, and the spurious nurserymen
who sell willow sprouts for grape
trees are finding that they are no Ion
ger able to dispose of their stock. The
farmers are wise" to their tricks.
There are still many schemes
worked on the gullible TO separate
them from their money. but the guilt
bio ones are the city men and the
men from the towns-not the farmers.
Now and then man from the coun-
try is buncoed out of a few dollars,
but when the con" man of the pres-.
ent starts out after money in big
lunches he goes after the city men
and lets the farmer severely alone.
The automobiles and the newspa-
pers have worked the transformation.
Back of the automobiles are the great
corn and wheat fields. of course, but
the autos have put the farmers in the
suburban class everywhere and the
newspapers have taught them the
wiles of the bunco artists.
When the Mabray gang of swim
dlers, operating in Omaha and Council
Bluffs, cleaned up more than 81 .0OO,-
600 on their bunco games it was sig
nificant that not single farmer was
caught by them, but that every one
of their victims came from the cities
and larger towns.
William Hall, farmer of Cass eoun.
ty, was approached by a suave straug-
er who wanted to leave a barnful of
washing machines at Halls place and
get Halls signature to rental con.
tract while the agent was out selling.
The farmer saw that the contract was
so worded that it became promis-
sorry note under certain conditions. so
he had the fellow arrested.
Last summer and fall gang went
through the West selling wild horses
to any purchaser, the purchaser to
go down into Arizona and catch his
horses right on the plains, Many
thousands of dollars were paid in to
their treasurer. but not a single pur-
chaser was able to catch one of the
horses he had bought. And these fell
lows did not even attempt to sell to
the farmers, They went after the city
men and the men in the small towns
few years ago no farmer in Ne
braska could build a new barn with
out half dozen lightnlng-rod agents
going after him. They even offered
to put the lightning rods up almost
free of charge In order to beat the
other fellow. But after some of the
contracts turned up at the bank in
the form of sight drafts the farmers
became suspicious. Now the light
ning-rod man can do business in the
towns and small cities, but he cannot
sell yard of lightning RCD to
farmer.
The farmers have got so keen they
can smell swindling scheme before
the sharper has chance to unfold
his scheme to them.
All these schemes are still worked
But now It is the man from the small
town or the foreigne! who is caught
by them. The western farmers have
got the money. but they no longer
wear chin whiskers. nor do they have
hayseed in their hair and lizards On
their backs But no con" man can
fool them any more.