Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-11-29
IND|SCRET|ONS OF THE RICH MAKE
BLACKMA|L A LUCRATIVE PROFESSION"

women are even better dressed than
the men; they have Paris hats and
gowns and plenty Of diamonds-and
good part of the diamonds are real :
they are women who will cause ad-
miration anywhere. OF course, both
the men and the women can be poor
and deserving if necessary, but the
game with the front" pays the best
These people live at good hotels, fire.
Quent the best cafes, maintain motor
cars and spend money freely. A
ready money" appearance is neces-
sary. This is the setup of the black
mailers. They are many grades all
the way down to the Italian bomb
planter, but the fashionable, cosmo-
politan crooks are the most danger
Gus.
The methods of operation differ &C
cOrding to circumstances. The first
step is to strike up an acquaintance.
This is most easily done by a man in
the case of a man, or by a woman in
the case Of a woman. The bars and
cafes give the best opportunity for the
men; the women are met by other wo-
men in the dansants or the tea room.
OF course, the victims are we'll known
to the sharpers beforehand-they have
no time to waste on speculation. The
first meeting may be only an apology.
The ice being broken, an acquaintance
follows slowly or quickly, according
to whether the prospect is suspicious
or unsuspicious. The victim is always
placed at ease before the man or wo-
man who is turn the trick comes Of
f1cially upon the scene.
Take the case of a woman A wo-
man who likes to dance is always glad
to have the opportunity to dance with
Mr.. and and Mrs. Blank in the after
nOon-especially as Mr.. Blank is such
fine dancer. Before long Mrs. Blank
drops out for an afternoon and Mr..
Blank gives all his attention. The silly
victim thinks she is having harmless
adventure" She meets Mr.. Blank
quite often in the afternoons; she may
write him a note, if she is particular
ly foolish.
!. Then comes the denouement; Mrs.
Blanks lawyer calls upon her He tells
her that his client is about to begin a
suit for alienation of affections; he
shows detectives report, which gives
a. list of her movements. She indig-
nantly denies that she knows anything
about the places that are named in
the report, but discovers that on all
thOcn T0o rfi0 1or dot oh n
ing with Mr.. Blank. Her denial Of the
report would amount to an affirmative
The lawyer remarks that he did not
care at first to take up the matter with
the victims husband because he did
not want to cause needless trouble. In
nine cases out of ten the foolish wo-
man thinks herself trapped and will
pay her way out with as many thous-
ands of dollars as she can get togeth-
er. The amount demanded is always
carefully calculated to be as large as
the victim can collect, but no larger.
The game with variations is being
worked every day of the year. The wo-
man with time and money than sense
are rich and easy victims.
A private detective in st. Louis was
recently brought into court on
Matchmaking plot of this sort. He
had completely turned the head of the
wife of very rich man; she had writ
ten him large number of letters.
Most of the letters were harmless,
but contained some matter capable of
two interpretations. When he had
amassed enough letters and needed
money he informed the woman that he
would turn them over to her husband
unless he received $4,000. The mon
ey was paid and the letters were de-
livered. Then the wife told her hus-
band, who had the detective arrested.
The fellow was discharged because he
had actually delivered what he had
to sell.
The same kind Of scheme, with the
principals reversed, will work with
the less sophisticated men. Men are
greatly fattered by the attentions of
q handsome woman, and they will Of
ten lose their heads and be easily
trapped. Most men think somewhere
down in their hearts they are "gay
bucks" and they like to play at being
devils in an innocent way.
The Mann white slave act has been
a splendid help to the crooks; the act
was conceived with the best of mot
ives, but the moment that it became
a law the crooks saw the wonderful
opportunities that it opened up to
them. They have only to cause their
victim to take a female member Of
their gang over the state line;
the rest is easy. Sometimes they have
threatened an information to the fed
eral attorney unless money were paid,
or again they actually represented
themselves as detectives, made a fake
arrest, and then pulled the shakedown
as the gull thought he was going to
jail. The newspapers were lately full
of the sensational doings of one band
of crooks who operated as detectives,
but there are a dozen or more other
crowds who are ODerating even more