There are a large number of persons in New York who make considerable
sums of money by conducting "Gift Enterprises," and similar schemes.
These usually open an office in some prominent part of the city, and
flood the country with circulars and handbills of their schemes. They
sometimes advertise that the affair is for the benefit of some school, or
library, or charitable association. In a few instances they announce
that the scheme is merely a means of disposing quickly of an extensive
estate, or a building. Whatever may be the pretext, the object is always
to wring money out of the credulous, and the plan is substantially the
same. Generally, in order to evade the law against lotteries, a concert
is announced, and the tickets are sold ostensibly as admissions to that
amusement. Buyers are told that the result will be announced at this
concert. The tickets are sold at prices varying from one to five
dollars. Directories of other cities are obtained, and the mailing
clerks of the city newspapers are paid for copies of the subscription
lists of those journals. Circulars are mailed to parties in other parts
of the country, whose names are thus obtained. There is scarcely a town
or village in the United States but is reached in this way, and as there
are many simpletons in every community, responses of the character
desired by the swindlers come in rapidly. Each person to whom a circular
is sent is requested to act as an agent for the scheme, and is promised a
prize in the distribution if he will use his influence to sell tickets,
and he is requested to say nothing of the inducements offered to him, as
such knowledge would make others dissatisfied. The prize is represented
as of great value. The person receiving the circular is usually
flattered by being selected as the agent of a New York house, and is also
tempted by the liberal offer made to him. He sets to work at once, sells
a number of tickets, and forwards the proceeds to his principals in New
York. The money is simply thrown away. No concert is ever held, no
drawing is ever made. The scoundrels in charge of the swindle continue
the sale as long as there is a demand for the tickets, and pocket all the
receipts. When there is danger of interference by the police, they close
their office and disappear. In a short while, they resume operations
under a new name with an entirely new scheme, and repeat the same trick
from year to year.
[Picture: ATTACK ON A SWINDLER.]
The police are constantly called upon to break up these affairs. Not
long ago, a well-known Gift Enterprise manager was brought before the
Tombs Police Court upon the complaint of several of his victims. The
plaintiffs were unable, however, to make out a successful case against
him, and he was discharged. His victims--the court room was crowded with
them--then resolved to be their own avengers, and as he came out into the
street radiant with triumph, they fell upon him, and but for the
interference of the police would have beaten him severely.
A few months ago, a Gift Enterprise establishment was opened in Broadway,
not far from the Grand Central Hotel. The plan was as follows: A large
stock of jewelry, pianos, fancy articles, musical instruments, etc., all
of which were subsequently proved to have been hired for the purpose, was
displayed in a large store in Broadway. Purchasers, attracted by the
handsome stock, and the announcement that it would be disposed of by a
"grand drawing," were induced to purchase sealed envelopes from the
clerks, at one dollar each. Each envelope contained a check on which was
a printed number. Purchasers, after buying these checks and ascertaining
the numbers, were requested to pass down into the basement. Here a large
wheel, turned by a man, was constantly revolving. The purchaser
presented his check, and a clerk thrust his hand into the wheel and drew
out a small slip of pasteboard. If the number thus drawn corresponded
with the number of the check held by the purchaser, the purchaser was
entitled to the article the name of which was affixed to the said number,
on a printed list of the contents of the store. The scheme was seemingly
fair enough, but the majority of the tickets drew blanks. Occasionally,
however, when the sales began to show signs of slackening, a lucky number
would draw a watch, a diamond pin, or a piano, and the article would be
formally delivered to the holder of the ticket. Immediately the crowd
which filled the store would invest anew in tickets, but nothing but
blanks would reward them.
The captain of police, commanding the precinct in which the affair was
conducted, became interested in the scheme. His quick eye detected many
irregularities in the transaction, and he saw that the holders of the
lucky numbers were always the same men, and that they at once passed into
a back room of the establishment. Convinced that the purchasers were
being swindled, he attired himself in plain clothes, purchased a ticket,
went down to the basement, and drew a blank. Taking his stand by the
wheel, he watched the drawing of sixty-five tickets in succession. Each
drew a blank. Thoroughly satisfied of the fraud, he procured a warrant
for the arrest of the manager of the scheme, and seized the
establishment. The wheel was found to contain about a bushel of bits of
pasteboard, every one of which was blank. Efforts were made to punish
the parties connected with the swindle, but without success.
Another trick of the New York swindlers is to send a circular to someone
in a distant town, notifying him that he has drawn a prize in their
lottery, say a watch worth two hundred dollars. They state that he must
forward five per cent. (ten dollars) on the valuation of the watch within
ten days. The person receiving this circular well knows that he has
purchased no ticket in the above concern, and at once supposes that he
has received through mistake the notification intended for some other
man. Still, as the parties offer to send him, for ten dollars, a watch
worth two hundred dollars, he cannot resist the temptation to close with
the bargain at once. He sends his ten dollars, and never hears of it
again. These circulars are sent out by the thousand to all parts of the
country, and, strange as it may seem, the trick is successful in the
majority of instances.
The scoundrels who carry on these enterprises feel perfectly safe. They
know that their victims dare not prosecute them, as by purchasing a
ticket a man becomes a party to the transaction, and violates the laws of
the State of New York. No one cares to avow himself a party to any such
transaction, and consequently the swindlers are safe from prosecution.
The Post-office authorities of the city state that over five hundred
letters per day are received in this city from various parts of the
country, addressed to the principal gift establishments of the city.
Nearly all of these letters contain various sums of money. Last winter
these mails were seized and opened by the Post-office Department, and
some of the letters were found to contain as much as three hundred
dollars.
The profits of these swindlers are enormous. Those which are well
conducted realize half a million of dollars in three or four months.
Instead of resting satisfied with this amount, the rogues close up their
business, and start a fresh enterprise.
From this description the reader will see how the various gift
enterprises, under whatever name they are presented, are managed, and how
certain he is to lose every cent he invests in them. The description
applies also to the various Manufacturing and Co-operative Jewelry
Associations, and all schemes of a kindred nature.
A little common sense ought to teach persons that no man can afford to
sell a watch worth one hundred dollars for five dollars, or a diamond pin
worth two hundred dollars for one dollar. And yet thousands innocently
believe the assertions of the swindlers, and part with their money never
to see it again. The gold pens, jewelry, watches, etc., sold by these
advertising swindlers are not worth a twentieth of the cost of the
tickets.
The Dollar stores reap enormous profits from the sale of their bogus
jewelry, etc. They ask a dollar for an article which is dear at
twenty-five cents.
"Situation Agencies" are common in the city. There are always a number
of people here out of employment and anxious to obtain it. These are
attracted by advertisements such as the following:
WANTED, CLERKS, COPYISTS, COLLECTORS, timekeepers, watchmen, porters,
bartenders, coachmen, grooms, two valets to travel. Immediate
employment.
They call at the "Agency," which is usually in one of the upper stories
of a Nassau street building. The agent, a flashy young man, personates
his clerk on such occasions. He informs the applicant that the
proprietor is not in, but will be soon, and that in order to secure the
very first chance of employment, he must register his name and make a
deposit of two dollars. He overcomes the objections of the applicant by
stating that the office is overrun with persons needing assistants, and
that there are a dozen openings ready for the applicant. The proprietor,
however, manages all these things himself. He is sure to be in in the
afternoon. The name is registered, the money is paid, but the proprietor
is never to be found. The "clerk," if pressed for the return of the
money, utterly denies the whole transaction, destroys the register, if
necessary, and as there is no evidence to convict him, he escapes the
punishment of his crime.
Another "circular swindle" is practised as follows: Circulars are sent to
persons in other parts of the Union, offering one hundred dollars in
perfect counterfeits of United States Treasury notes and fractional
currency for five dollars. One of the most ingenious of these circulars,
all of which are lithographed, reads as follows:
"When Congress authorized the present issue of greenbacks, the Treasury
Department executed plates of enormous cost and wonderful workmanship,
from which the whole amount of currency authorized by Congress was to be
printed, and it was ordered at the time, that, as soon as the whole
amount had been printed, the plates, some one hundred in number, should
be taken from the Treasury Department, conveyed to the Navy Yard, and
melted. Now, it so happened that the plates from which the one, two, and
five dollar bills had been printed, were not destroyed. How it was
brought about, we, as a matter of prudence, do not state. It is enough
to know that the plates are still preserved uninjured, and we trust their
whereabouts will never be known, except to us."
Formerly this business was carried on through the Post-office, the
rascals sending their victims the photographic cards of the currency of
the United States, which sell on the streets for a penny or two apiece.
The Government, however, suddenly put a stop to this by seizing the
letters addressed to the swindlers, and returning them, with the money
enclosed, to the writers. Now the knaves are careful to caution their
correspondents to send money by express, and to prepay the charges. Very
many of these circulars are successful. The money is sent in advance, or
the "queer" is shipped C.O.D. In the latter case, the box is delivered
on payment of the charges, and the money thus secured to the swindler, as
it is the plain duty of the express company to forward it to the sender
of the C.O.D. The box, upon being opened by the victim, is found to
contain old paper, or bits of iron or stone.
As a matter of course, only dishonest men will answer these circulars, or
consent to buy money known to be counterfeit. The world is full of such,
however, and large sums are annually received by the New York swindlers
in answer to their circulars. The victim, in the majority of instances,
is afraid to expose the trick. The police of the city are fully informed
as to the names, appearance, and residence, of each of these swindlers,
but are powerless to interfere with them. They do not issue counterfeit
money, and are not, therefore, liable to the charge of counterfeiting.
They screen themselves from the charge of obtaining money under false
pretences by never transacting their business in person. Everything is
done by letter, and even the C.O.D. part of the business is managed in
such a way as to make identification impossible.
The country newspapers are filled with advertisements of cheap sewing
machines, which range in price from one to ten dollars. The men who
insert these advertisements are among the most unprincipled swindlers in
New York. Sometimes they pocket the money and send nothing in return,
but when they do send a "machine" it is worthless. The actual cost of it
never exceeds twenty-five cents. One scoundrel, some time ago, sent a
lady who had remitted him three dollars a large needle, and wrote that it
was "the best sewing machine in the world."
Another swindler advertises a music box for $2.50, "warranted to play six
airs." In return for the money, he sends a child's harmonicon, the
retail price of which is fifty cents.
Another advertises a "Pocket Time-keeper," at one dollar. It is usually
a wretched pasteboard, tin or brass imitation of a sun dial. Sometimes
it is a child's toy watch.
The day of mock auctions has gone by, but there are still one or two of
these establishments lingering in the city. These are managed in various
ways.
[Picture: A STRANGER'S EXIT FROM A "CHEAP JOHN SHOP".]
At some of these establishments a lot of pencil cases, watches, or other
goods, is offered for sale. The lot generally contains a dozen or a
gross of articles. Bids are started by the "decoys" of the proprietor,
who are scattered through the crowd, and strangers are thus induced to
make offers for them. Each man supposes he is bidding for a single lot,
and is greatly astonished to find the whole lot knocked down to him. He
is told he must take the entire lot, that his bid was for all. Some are
weak enough to comply with the demand, but others resist it.
A well-known Broadway auctioneer was brought before the Mayor, some time
ago, on the following complaint. A gentleman, who appeared against the
auctioneer, stated that he had attended his last sale. The auctioneer
put up a box containing twelve silver pencil-cases, and the gentleman,
supposing from his manner and language, that he was selling them fairly,
bid two dollars and fifty cents for the lot. To his surprise, he was
told that he had bid two dollars and fifty cents for _each_ pencil-case,
and that he must pay thirty dollars for the whole lot. The money had
been paid and the auctioneer refused to return it, insisting that the
gentleman should take one pencil-case or nothing. The Mayor compelled
the scamp to refund the money, and warned him that he would revoke his
licence if a similar complaint were again made against him.
In some of these establishments, a stranger who attempts to remonstrate
against the swindle fares badly. He is hustled out by the confederates
of the proprietor, and if he attempts to defend himself, is handed over
to the police on a charge of attempting to create a disturbance.
Other establishments sell watches and cheap jewelry. A really good
article is put up, and passed around through the crowd as a sample. It
draws bids rapidly, and is knocked down to the highest bidder. It has by
this time been handed back to the auctioneer, and when the purchaser
demands it, he is given some worthless article, which the dealer and his
assistants swear was the one exhibited to the crowd. Remonstrances are
useless. The bogus article must be taken or the money lost, unless the
victim calls in the police. The city authorities have recently stationed
a policeman at the door of one of these establishments, to warn strangers
of its true character.
The pocket-book dropping game is of common occurrence, but is rarely
practised on residents of the city. A man suddenly darts from a crowd on
the street and appears to pick up something at the feet of his intended
victim. This, of course, attracts the attention of the latter. The
former displays a well-filled pocket-book, and asks the stranger if he
dropped it, as it was found at his feet. He is answered in the negative.
[Picture: THE POCKET-BOOK GAME.]
"Strange," remarks the swindler, "it was lying right at your feet, and I
felt sure it was yours. However, it is a rich prize."
He then inquires if the stranger intends staying in town. If answered
affirmatively, he says:
"Then I will turn over the pocket-book to you. You can advertise it.
Give me ten dollars and take the wallet. You can advertise it, or the
owner will no doubt advertise it himself. Then you can claim the reward,
which will certainly not be less than fifty dollars."
The other party reasons that he is sure of his money, with the wallet in
his possession, and he sometimes dishonestly purposes appropriating the
entire contents to his own use. He pays the ten dollars to the finder of
the book, who hurries off, saying that he has just time to catch the
train by which he intends leaving the city. Upon examining the wallet,
the victim finds that its contents consist of a wad of paper wrapped in a
wretched counterfeit note. He has given his ten dollars for a collection
of worthless paper.
It would require a volume to describe all the swindles and rogueries
carried on in this city. The instances we have presented will be
sufficient to give the reader an insight into the subject, and to warn
him against the wiles of the sharpers which assail him even in his own
home.