Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-12
R,YS "MONEY MACHINE"
FOR $24O; IT FAILS HIM
Richest Man in Alpha, N. j.,
Tricked by Smooth
Stranger
SAW 1T MAKE DOLLARS
Il Coined Them Before Sale, but After
ward Wouldn't Produce
Dime

How the residents of the little North
Jersey hamlet of Alpha were enthralled
For hours by the operation of wonderful
little "moncy-making" machine. which
,urned out dollars. half dollars and quar-
,ers with the precision with which n mill
orinds out grain, was revealed today at II
Conference in the office of Matthew Griffin.
in charge of the Philadelphia branch of the
United states secret service. Alpha is in
Warren County, just across the Delaware
from Easton, Pa.
Like bidders at country auction the
residents of Alpha fought to buy this
machine from a wel-dressed stranger. who
with the volubility of vacuum clearer
salesman. eXpounded upon the advantages
of making your own money at home"
But as is almost always the case, the
money power prevailed and the handy little
money maker was knocked down to the
richest man in Alpha, who drew his all
s24O--out of the bank and turned tht
money over to the stranger. Pressing
business then drew the money making"
machine agent to other parts. and he has
not been 8"en since.
li'"-''iI; AND TAYLOR
But # ,sn well said that there is
no cloud ;,..AaIt silver lining, for the
stigma of predatory wealth has been re-
moved from Alpha-that is, the one capital
list of the hamlet is capitalist no longer.
Also the handy little money-maker gave
opportunity for one individual to bask for
a time in the violet rays of pleasing
notoriety. This man is the hero of our
sory--Carl Zet. chief of police. mayor.
coroner and barber of Alpha. This litt.e
man who has in custody the morals and
whiskers of the residents of Alpha. set in
motion the governmental machinery which
proved beyond peradventure that the
handy little home "money-maker' was
lust an ordinary cracker box. painted black,
and equipped with two batteries, "a motor
and a few coils of wire. This Zet says
he established by a process Of deduction
after removing the cover of the money
maker" and exposing its contents
Even the war had not stirred up any
particular excitement when Il nicely dressed
stranger blew" into Alpha a few days
ago The physically indisposed did change
their positions bit on sugar barrels and
cracker boxes at the village grocery store
when ths stranger entered the boarding
house of Mrs. Lizzie Brown. which serves
as Alphas only hostelry. There was CON
siderable lazy speculation as to the identity
of the stranger. The latter registered as
Michael de Diskovoni, Philadelphia" lie
spent the night at Mrs. Browns place, and
the next day he informed this worthy
woman that her meals were so excellent
and the ozone of Alpha was "toning"
that he guessed he would stop a few days
longer. And while Mrs Brown was beam
ing under the praise of her cookery the
sffable stranger asked her If there We're
any moneyed men in town---men who would
like to get in on good safe investment
GETS INTRODUCED
why. my dear sir" gurgled Mrs. Brown.
"Alpha's wealthest man boards right here
with me. He has $40 in the bank I
will introduce YOU to Charles Sdova at
dinner time
The introduction took place. and the
strange, as q s.artea said: "Mr. Sidova.
am going to give you an opportunity y
of your life to become wealthy. | have
machine that makes money as fast as
you desire. You can give up your job and
do it right at home. In these hard times
you will find it very handy little domestic
device"
The stranger gave a demonstration of
the machine in the boarding house. which
was witnessed by many of the villagers.
Alphaites opened their mouths with
smazement when they saw De Diskovoni
pow some hot metal into "A little hole i'm
the black box and then turn crank. In
mediately a silver dollar appeared at "A
little opening and passed on, its place being
taken by another bright new dollar. The
spectators gasped: everybody wanted to
buy the machine. There was some heated
bidding, but Sidova got the box because of
his greater financial resources. After the
stranger departed ii did not take Sidova
long To find out that he could not make
money with the ease Of the stranger
In fact. the machine went ON strike and
wouldn't even turn out Il quarter He
complained to Chief OF Police Zeit, who took
enough time off from trimming the vhiskers
OF the oldest inhabitant to compose a let
Yer TO Chief Flynn, of the United States
secret Service at Washington Flynn no.
tined Matthew Griffin, and the latter jour
neyed to Alpha and brought back the Gox
examination of the box developed that
tne dollars which kept appearing in the
nttie opening after the metal was poured
In We're just one dollar, fixed on wire
contrvance which caused it 10 appear in
termittently at the hole