Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-29
FAKE PROMOTERS AND BROKERS
LIVE By FISHING FOR CUDCEoNS
II the Poor Fish Old Not Bite Such High.
Flying Gentry Could Not Do
Business Even for a Month

| hook barbcd to catch him.
This is why there are so many wild -cat
securities on the market and why so many
fishers for gudgcons open elegantly furnished
Offices and call themselves stock brokers
with n private wire to such and such an
exchange.
And evidently this is why fillmore ID.
DER gave up pulling teeth for living and
| went into the brokerage business with Offices
in this city, New York, Pittsburgh and
Chicago. lie believed in doing the thing
handsomely while he was about it.
Just how he operated has not yet been
fully explained But it is charged that he
seldom bought stocks with the money sent
to him by his customers.
Adam Recklein, the manager of his Pitts
! burgh Office has just been telling the New
York District Attorney something about
| what went on. Among the things he said
| was that when customers wrote asking for
the delivery of the stocks which they had
ordered, the manager of the Office would hand
the letters to n clerk with instructions ito
make some kind of n reply The inference
is that both the manager and the clerks
knew that tie stocks had not been bought.
But what became Of the money? Mr..
Rccklcn threw some light on this by ex-
planning that when the clerks knew how
business was being transacted they de-
manded an increase in salary and got 1t.
Mr.. Reckein started in the Pittsburgh
office at $50 n week. His employers dis.
covered that he had learned what was going
on and they took him to New York and paid
him $500 week Even Office boys got on
to the game and decided to profit by their
knowledge, and they were appointed to re-
spOnsible positions over night at handsome
salaries
1t is assumed that Reckein will make
these statements under oath in court when
the time comes, and that Dier will have an
! opportunity to give his side of the story.
| He has been indicted and he has charged
that he was deserted by his friends when he
| got into trouble. But he will have to
shoulder the responsibility for what he and
his agents did
The best that can be said Of them is that
they were fishing for suckers and found
| them plentiful enough to provide the firm
with money to take care Of a payroll of
from 500, 900 to 5000, 900 n year.
The men engaged in this kind of business
are skillful at it, They do not solicit busi-
ness from sophisticated men and women
| They employ handsome and well dressed
statesmen with gracious manner and de-
| tcrmincd air who tell their victims that the
opportunity to make money is so unusual
that it should be embraced without delay.
IF you wait until tomorrow 1t may be too
late, they say. Here is the order. The
dotted line is right there. Now sign your
name and you will never regret it,
And with hypnotic eye they hold their
victim as the Ancient Mariner held the
guest on the way to the wedding feast. The
| victim turns over his money. Sometimes he
gets n beautifully engraved bond or stock
certificate. but in the case Of those who dealt
with the Dier firm 1t frequently happened.
as Mr.. Recklein has explained. that no one
took the trouble to deliver any securities
| after the money had been received
Specially prepared sucker listS' are In
| the Offices of companies doing this kind of
| business. There are men who make up the
| lists and sell them to fake brokers and Wild
cat promoters. The promoters send out al
Turing circulars through the mail, and if
they get no response from the first one they
send another and another The prudent man
woman throws these things in the waste
basket. But there are innocent men and
women-especially women-who regard the
circulars. so skiIfully are they worded, as
n personal letter to them which they cannot
politely ignore. 1t frequently happens they
Al,
legation to buy what is offered.
If they would only do what a Phladel-
phian did few months ago they would save
their money and would also save themselves
| much annoyance This man had received
two or three importunate letters from
Chicago firm urging him to invest In some
speculative enterprise which promised large
profits and saying there was no time to be
lost. He finally wrote on one of the postal
cards which came with each letter that he
was Inundated To learn that his name was
on a sucker list and asked for the address
of the firm from which the list was bought
so that he could take steps to have It re-
moved in order that he might not be pestered
by other promoters He put the card in an
envelope that he might not be charged
with libel for sending such matter through
the mail exposed to the gaze of all the postal
clerks. He has not since received n single
letter from n get-rich quick concern.
There are reputable bankers and brokers.
any one of whom will be glad to give advice
about investment to whoever seeks It. II
the inexperienced will only 90 to them they
will conserve their funds and will not be
| likely to become involved in such n de.
| porable failure as that of the high flying
| Dier firm.