Evening star., 1926-11-28
American Victims of Confidence Men
Having an Unfortunate Season in Paris

gain. but to give-but not to give all
he hadi
Mr.. Irving was robbed by the an
cient suit case variety of the conf
dence game. Having dropped in at
the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa" he
was plea sed to hear American voices
among the throngs of English and
others A man had dropped his glove
and another cOurteously informed him
of it, They both confessed aloud to
American citizenship. and Mr.. Irving
impulsively Joined in-he actually
asked for what was coming to him
They were Mr.. Daniels and Mr..
Foley. They looked at the Mona
Lisa" and, once outside Mr.. Daniels
suggested they take a rest and n
drink on a cafe terrace.
Where are you bound for. Mr..
Danies?" asked Mr.. Foley. Mr..
Daniels explained that he was on the
way to Rome with gift of $4,000
for the Pope's charities. from a group
Of American Catholics. That's f1ne,"
said Mr. Foley, II would like to add
my mite" And Mr.. Irving. moved by
the good example. said he'd like to
give, too. in the midst of the beautiful
but selfish trip he was enjoying.
would a contribution of $50 be too
small?'
Yes: Mr.. Irving's heart and mind
We're @. X.
All three went to Mr.. IrvinG's no.
tel. where he kept his money in n
suit case. In his honest uplift no
did not notice that Mr.. Foley'S suit
case was exactly like his own But
! after Mr. Foley and Mr.. Daniels had
departed with the $50 he took from
il. he had occasion TO look again into
his suit case-and found that his two
cOuntrymen had exchanged baggage
with him and proflted thereby to tho
entire $1,000 which Mr.. Irving was
carrying in 1t for his European trip,
No; they did not quite get all tho
81 900 by their exchange.theft. Dan.
iels and Foley found $50 OF that 81. 900
to be lacking-the $50 which good Mr.
Irving contributed by their hands (as
he imagined) TO pure charity.
The man who knew most probably
about confidence operators In Paris
was Pat Sheedy. Mr.. Sheedy himself
was known, with confidence, by SD
many of the great Of both worlds that
he was often trusted to negotiate be-
tween then-r1ch. honest men and
high-class crooks. So, Il will be re-
membered. he obtained the return Of
the stolen Gainsborough to its owner.
7 once asked him how IL was that
men TO approach Americans.
And how do our wideawake tour.
lists come to fall for such old trtcks?"
l asked him THE victims seem 10
be city people. really, rather than
country peOple!'
That's easy" answered Mr.. Sheedy.
our country folks are smarter than
city people. as a fact-just that! You
won't catch an American farmer ex-
changing pocketbooks and walking
around the block"
City people are careless through
not having to protect themselves-&he
habits OF their community protect
them. Farmers are obliged to use
their wits at home--everybody Is a
stranger to a farmerl
But how different are the motives
Of victims! Confidence, no doubt. is
raised by charitable strangers sup
! posedly distributing big sums But
some victims Overreach themselves by
vague temptation, while others, sim
ply kind and good, desire to givei
The majority perhaps, interested or
! amused. just sit on the cafe terrace
with their little drinks and have their
pockets picked!