Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-12


brings to mind other famous
financial bubbles - bubbles
that burst, leaving an invest
ing public with much lighter purses,
and probably little the wiser, accord
ing to history. Through the ages clever
swindlers have depended upon small
investors for enormous profits; the
swindlers have been caught, their
methods disclosed and other financial
bubbles have appeared to take their
places. The public of small investors
has ever been the goat" in these en-
,erprises, but. through the work Of
the post Office inspectors and the fed
eral secret service. "get-rich quick
schemes have become fewer; it is
more difficult to pull off a successful
coup on the part of the swindlers and
the schemes are more complicated.
One of the most daring attempts to
get rich quick" was the wild horse
bubble" The scene Of this horse
play" was laid in Nebraska The con-
spirators represented that they owned
a large number of wild horses, run
ming at large on land they had leased
from the government in Coconino
county. AriZ. They further represent
ed that their lease was about to ex-
pire and that it was necessary to
sell their horses as soon as possible.
Their representations seemed to
ring true. and when pictures Of hun
dreds and hundreds of Percherons and
HamhletonianS were exhibited pur-
chasers were plentiful.
The money was paid over and
thirty-five of these trusting investors
set out for Arizona. After roaming
the range for nearly month they
had rounded up but eleven poor little
bronchoS.
No satisfa ction was to be had from
the "horse- dealers" The case was
taken to court. The bubblemakerS en-
deavored to prove that they had sold
bona fide horses, that in one instance
alone over one hundred men were
necessary to herd more than 1000
horses into a narrow. blind canyon
for the Nebraska purchasers, but that
q terrific thunderstorm stampeded
them in all directions and the horses
got so beyond control Of the FOUNDERS
they were unable to collect them
again.
This was only one of many ex-
cuses. The evidence showed that 500
horses was the largest number that
county bubblemakers. 1t was shown
by conclusive evidence that these 500
branded animals were not worth over
SO per head in open market. and the
Arizona horse dealers had sold 1880
wild horses for 100000.
This case dragged along for fou-
years. and but recently the United
States court of appeals confirmed the
sentences of three of the forty-two
eonspirators who had made appeals.
IN 1898 Lucky Box Smith (Which
by the way, was not his name) had
conceived that a small wooden box
which when manufactured would cost
him only z cents box-couId be sold
with profit.
By ssome sort Of skillful advertising
he managed to seduce his public into
believing that these boxes possessed
wonderful charm. He Claimed that
any one .p0Ssessing one of thesesbexes1
would - zble to avoid any And all
kinds Of hard luck His public jumped
like mad for the ''chArm b6xes" and
Lucky Box Smith" soon disposed Of
l-ees.eea n 81 a box This was such
the price to 81 box-and got it.
The public continued to buy his
charm boxes to an amazing extent
His cfedulozs purchasers fcrnished
MIN win testimonials that these
boxes had brought them untold good
luck. and that they possessed every
calm that Lucky Box Smith made
concerning them. So his money and
believers increased.
But the sure day of reckoning came
to Lucky BOX Smith" He used the
Post once Department too daringly.
and the inspectors pricked his bubble.
IT was shown that he had set aside
$75e,e00 to advertise his boxes in
country magazines and that his boxes.
which he claimed were made in India
under the imm ediate eyes and super
vision Of noted seers. were manu-
featured in Lynn. Mass. He threw
himself on the mercy of the court.
and. since no one was seriously in
iured, the court made his sentence
light.
Upon the security of some paste
diamonds. few shares of worth
less stock and some bits of waste pa