The New York herald., 1922-02-11


But the modern bucketeer does n
means Of hooking his fish. He is by
even goes so far as to divide all the,
prospective poor fish" into species,
and he knows where to find them and
the kind of bait to use.
Thus we find the bucketeer making
a special appeal to women; special
appeal to the foreign born. that cam
paign I'm turn being divided into ma
tionalities; special appeals to physi-
clans, dentists and every conceivable
community of interest.
Special ONCE for Women.
1t is difficult, for instance, not I'd
admire the genius of the bucketeer
who first conceived the idea of a spe-
cial branch office where the restless
New York woman with some money of
her own could do her own gambling
on the stock market"
What chance would bridge stand
with an opportunity actually to sit in
front of "a quotation board, see the
figures so up and down, let the ticker
tape run through her very own fin
gers, and i'm person order her broker"
to act on her own judgment of when
to buy and sell? What chance would
an occasional fiier OH the horses or
any other means of gambling excite
ment stand with so wonderful and ex-
citing a performance as that?
The woman's branch OF a bucket
shop in the heart of the Fifth avenue
shopping district Is no novelty.
The latest tale of woe 10 reach the
District Attorney from that source
was tho complaint Of Mrs. Sadie Welch
of 10 Fort Washington avenue, widow
of Joe Welch, comedian, who would
like to recover the thousands in money
and securities she lost in the Fifth
avenue rwoman's branch of the now
defunct house of Milton Helm G. Co.,
formerly brokers at "a Broadway. The
woman's branch Of that company was
at 4s9 Fifth avenue. only a step from
Forty-second street.
wanted to See Board.
Mrs. welch's story is told to-day in
another column, so it is sufficient here
to say that she readily admitted that
the reason she transferred her account
from a legitimate member of the New
York Stock Exchange to Helm & Co.
was that the exchange house would
not allow her TO go before the board
and do her own specializing. She said
it took Helm & Co. two years to per-
suade her to transfer the account, but
the firm kept right after her. and 1t
was the woman's branch idea that
finally hooked her.
Mrs. Welch said she began fer trad
ing with the new company last May
and soon found herself loser. She
gave. up her vacation and spent the
entire sweltering summer. day after
day, watching the ticker and the board
In the Fifth avenue place and making
quick transactions on her own judg-
ment and initiative. She recouped her
losses, as she thought. but only in
time to lose again just before the
house went into bankruptcy.
When the bucketeer gets ready for
campaign in a special field he does
not trust to luck but obtains spe-
cialist to handle the matter. A plunge
into German securities. for instance,
would be handled by a German well
acquainted with the German type in
New York and "a fluent speaker of the
language.
The low ebb OF foreign securities and
exchange. taken in conjunction with
the large number of foreign born in
New York, has made that particularly
lucrative field for bucket shops in the
last year or two. Sometimes the game
is an out and out sale of stock at
many times its value, but generally
the idea Is the same as In the bucket
shop transaction with any first class
security.
How Three Youths Worked.
Two cases under investigation show
the operation vividly.
The District Attorneys office is in
vestigating a complaint by two women
against a bucket shop which recently
failed. The story Is interesting not
only as showing the manner In which
these women were fieeced. as is hap
pening 10 hundreds of others but also
as showing the utter lack of any re-
sponsibiity being required OF bucket
shop operator in New York. As
Jerome Simmons. Assistant District
Attorney. in charge of prosecution OF
bucket shop cases recently pointed
OUT convict could step out of Sing
Sing, hurry TO New York and open a
bucket shop without any interference
Continued on Page Seven.