The New York herald., 1922-09-18
BUCKET SHOP VICTIMS
COME BACK FOR MORE
'Rel0aier' Is New Swindler
That Defrauds Mulcted
Investors Again.
USES 'COME-ON' ANEW
Tells Sucker He Has
Chance to Get Back His
Losses With Profit.
THEY KEEP PONYING UP
Certain New Workers Seem to
Grow Restive When Not
Being Bled.
THEY KEEP PONYING UP

Halt a moment and meet the quint-
essence of we'll founded faith in the
gullibility of mankind, the reloader. the
flower of all the gentry who have
made bucket shops and phoney stocks
famous,
The particular and interesting bust
ness is to shoot the ever blooming
the identical blunderbuss. That is the
characteristic that makes him unique.
lie does not invent new scheme, but
takes the old contraption with which
the victim already Is familiar and
shakes him down for what he may
have accumulated since last he was re-
duced in the selfsame manner.
The reloader for the last several
months has been operating in New
York with intense activity and with
remarkable success. This is due some
what, perhaps. to the rising market
and to the general expectation that
the country is palpitating on the brink
of a revival OF prosperity, but more
largely TO the fact that the people
who go in for bucket shops and wild
cat stocks are ripe for picking.
The sucker list seems to grow restive
whenever It Is not bled with promptness
and the Wholesale slaughter of bucket
shops last spring had the effect Of pro-
ducing slight hiatus in the bleeding
process. thus adding some zest to the
appetite Of the sucker.
Promise Losses Back.
The reloader gets his name from the
fact that he "reloads' phoney stock
whose utility as swindling medium
ling purposes This sort of thing is be-
ing done not only by numerous con-
Germs with single stock each. but there
are one or two outfits operating here
who make a speciality of '.reloading'
and are handling a dozen or so worr
out schemes, using large staffs of ex-
pert statesmen. the very slickest OK the
breed.
1t would seem highly improbable thai
n person who had lost money once II
the stock OF fake company could be
talked into losing more money In the
same concern The whole system of re.
selling such victims, however, Is based
on the suggestion that by further In
vestment he not only can recover his
previous losses. but make large profits
in addition. In that manner he Is per-
suaded to send good money after bad. (
The reloader taking hold of phoney
stock. figures out some plausible yarn
TO tell the former purchasers. explaining
why the company failed in Its first un-
dertaking and Just how II now Is pos
sible to revive 1t and make a success
The next step, of course, Is a little more
money to get the poor defunct upon Its
feet.
For example, we will say that the
American Collapsible Hairpin Company
got rid of a couple of hundred thousand
dollars worth of stock two years age
and then vanished into thin air. The
reloader comes along and obtains list
of the stockholders OF the American Col
lapsible Hairpin Company.
The first thing the stockholder knows
of the reloader's activities Is the re-
ceipt of letter one morning surprising
him with the glad tidings that the
American Collapsible Hairpn Company
is about to be rehabilitated and the
stockholder is In a fair way to make a
lot OF money out of the stock which for
two years he has thought Is worthless
"There was never anything crooked
about the company, II simply had hard
luck. Will you not let our representa-
tive call and tell you about 1T"
The stockholder naturally decides there
really couldn't be any harm In talking
the matter over and so he answers the
letter. digs his phoney stock out OF the
bottom OF his trunk and sits back to
be called on.
When the affable salesman calls he
explains that the American Collapsible
Hairpn Company was on the very edge
Of making everybody rich two years
ago when a most unfortunate and un-
forcseen state of affairs came TO pass.
Who could have guessed that nine-tenths
OF the women In America would arise as
! one and have their hair bobbed? The
result OF that passing fancy of course
was that there were virtually no hair
pins used any more and therefore abb
eolutely no demand for the product OF
the American Co.lapsible Hairpin Com
pany.
"Just Little More Money"
"But have you noticed from the news