The letters I saw all seemed to be written in the same rapid,
half-clerkly, half-lawyerlike, but elegant scrawl, whether written to a
Perkins or a King. It will be seen that the third partner--"J. Perkins
Graham"--could represent both the Graham and the Perkins family, and I
suppose he did. So there were in the scheme four families to be preyed
upon,--Lord, King, Graham, and Perkins; and these families are numerous
over the land, and many of them in high positions. I learned from the
scamps, after their detection, that they received all sorts of
epistles, from the lowly Lord up to the exalted one, who wrote on paper
displaying flaming coats of arms, and their letters bearing a huge
seal. So with the rest of the families. The swindlers had spent some
time in hunting through all the directories of other cities and towns
which they could find in New York, and gathered all they could from
advertisements in newspapers for a year or so, before they launched out
in their long-meditated scheme. Meanwhile they were practising their
cunning arts in other swindles. They also wrote to the postmasters of a
large number of towns, enclosing to one a letter for a King, to another
a letter for a Perkins, to still another a letter for a Graham, asking
each postmaster to have the kindness to "read the accompanying letter,"
and to pass it over to any King, Perkins, and so on, who might be
within the delivery of his office, or in his vicinity. These letters
they got copied by a clerk at a few cents (five, I think) apiece. So
when they got a dollar back it paid for about twelve letters, inclusive
of stationery and postage. A hundred letters and the postage would cost
them about twelve dollars, and from a hundred they would probably get
fifty, if not more, favorable answers. From several thousand letters
they received several thousand dollars, aside from large sums which, by
subsequent correspondence, they swindled out of such pompous, or other
parties, as, judging by their letters, they thought they could further
entrap. Some of these forwarding to the famous firm of Lord, King, &
Graham as high as a hundred dollars to be guaranteed _especial_ effort
in their behalf! It is almost too preposterous to be believed, but such
was the fact--such the credulity of some who occupied political
positions of note; one of them, indeed, being at the time a member of
Congress! But credulity in matters of this kind is a weakness, alike of
the poor and the rich, the educated and uneducated. The device of these
swindlers proved to be more profitable than one would have, on first
thought, judged possible, so much greater is human credulity than we
are wont to consider it. Perhaps credulity is the only thing in the
world that we are not apt to overrate. But it is not strange that it
should be great touching material things, when in matters of religion
the most absurd fancies have, from time immemorial, down through the
ages of Oriental, pagan, and other religions to the days of
Mohammedanism and Mormonism, had possession of the human soul, ruled
nations, gathered armies, and taught millions of millions of human
beings to sacrifice each other in death, willingly and proudly. And in
the matter of money-getting, where hope may be whetted, in order to
inspire the actor,--as in reaching out for a fortune in
chancery,--their credulity usurps a wondrous supremacy, and carries all
along with it. So many of the most intelligent representatives of the
various families addressed by "Lord, King, & Graham" fell as readily
into the trap as the least intelligent. Now and then a man, a little
more wary than the rest, wrote, wishing to make further inquiries about
the property in chancery, how it came to be discovered, what was its
amount, about how many, probably, it would have to be divided between,
etc., etc. But he could not, after asking so many questions, neglect to
enclose the small amount of a dollar; and the swindlers taking his
measure by his letter, would generally reply in so cunning a manner as
to finally elicit from him a "contribution" of from twenty-five to a
hundred dollars, in order to prosecute the matter in England.
In some instances persons who had received letters wrote that they were
coming on to New York in a few days, and would call and talk over the
matter. Replies would be made to these, that "_our_ Mr. Perkins," or
"Mr. Lord," or whatever name the special letter-writer bore, and "who
has exclusive charge of the matter in question," is away from home,
gone to meet some of the family in--(Kentucky, for example); that he
would proceed, immediately on his return, to England, etc., so as to
keep the party from making investigations, and finding that there was
no such firm as "Lord, King, & Graham," generally managing to conclude
the letter in some such way as not only to win the one dollar at once,
but to elicit more from the man; as, for instance, suggesting that some
of the Perkinses were making up a sum, by the contribution of ten
dollars each, to secure special legal talent in England, and intimating
that the interests of those who took a generous and manly part in
prosecuting the matter would be likely to be better looked out for than
would the interests of those who are not so generous. The family pride
of the correspondent would often be flattered in such a way as to make
him go deeper into his pockets. The recital of affairs, as given me by
one of the swindlers, himself a young man of fine education and genius,
was very amusing. It was a pity, he said, that they had not preserved
all the correspondence. It would have made a most remarkable book, as
funny, in parts, as anything Thackeray ever wrote. It was serious and
serio-comical; bombastic and Pecksniffianly humble. It represented all
grades of society, from the "Lord" who "drove stage" for a living, up
to the "King" who had a seat in Congress. Widows, whose deceased
husbands' names had been culled from ten years old directories, wrote
mournful stories about "the late Mr. William Lord," or "James Perkins,"
or whatever the names might have been, and declared that their late
partners had always told them there was an immense estate in England
for them, and so on. The pious and the less pious each wrote his
peculiar letter. But what was most noticeable was, that almost all of
them assumed the airs of "nabobs." And why shouldn't they? Were they
not on the eve of becoming immensely rich? And what is there in this
world, with its grievous labors and trials, comparable to riches? I
presume this same sort of trick could be successfully played with
almost any family in the land which has an American line extending back
of the Revolution, say, for a hundred years, and with many of less age,
so great is the desire to get riches. Indeed, there is a lawyer in
Vermont who has made the matter of searching out estates in England a
study. He spent ten years in England in hunting up genealogies and
titles; has a regular partner in London to whom he transmits business
from this country, and publishes a good-sized pamphlet filled with the
names of families residing in America, and entitled to property in
England. This lawyer now and then gets an important case, in which his
fees amount to something handsome,--sometimes to twenty thousand
dollars.
But this is wandering from the direct line of my story, though,
perchance, it is far more interesting than the simple detecting part of
the tale. My old friend King left the city, and went home a few days
after I accepted the work; but his interest did not flag because he had
handed over the matter to another, but rather increased. His letters
were very frequent, sometimes three a week, none of which, except the
first, did I take the trouble to reply to for a long while. I soon
found that I needed more facts than I had in my possession to enable me
to reach any practical result. It was impossible to find any job
printer in the city who had ever done a job for "Lord, King, and
Graham." Nobody had ever seen the letter-head before, and no one could
suggest where the work was probably done. It was not recognized as like
the style of anybody. Possibly it was done out of the city; but the
fact was, as I afterwards learned, that it had been done privately by a
firm which had meanwhile failed in business, and I was baffled on that
point. I expected to fail, and so gave but little heed to the matter;
but it finally occurred to me that if I could find some King, or
somebody else who had received a letter and not replied to it, that he
might at that late day make reply in such way as to get into a
correspondence with the parties, and I could then have them followed
from the post office, or in some other way trap them. About this time I
went on to Louisville, Ky., and there encountered a gentleman, one of
the King family,--we will call him Lemuel, for a name,--whom I had not
met in some fifteen years before. He was a New Yorker by birth, and I
had known him when a school-boy. Lemuel was a bright boy, and made a
most acute man. When I asked him if he had ever done business with
"Lord, King, & Graham," of New York, he laughed outright, and
exclaimed, "No; but my George, you knew him, has, and got badly
bitten." When I found out this, I disclosed to him my reason for
inquiring, and found that he had on file somewhere the letter from "L.,
K., & G.," which was hunted out, and we coined a letter to the firm,
which was calculated to wake up any one of them who should receive it.
Mr. King's letter had been found, sealed and unopened of course, in a
package of letters, and he wrote hastily, with great anxiety, to know
if it was too late yet to be put in the genealogical list for the
dollar; and intimated his desire to contribute anything of a reasonable
amount to the prosecution of the search and claim for the estate. This
letter was posted, and I hurried back to New York, suspecting that it
would appear in the list of advertised letters, as it did; and thinking
that it would meet the eye of some one of the firm who would be curious
to get it, I had a man stationed in the post office, along with the
delivery clerk, and when the man came, as I suspected he would, and
asked for the advertised letter, the clerk delayed the delivery long
enough to enable my man to get out near the fellow, and follow him. He
found that the man entered a law office in Nassau Street, and that the
real estate business was also attended to in the same office. So we
devised a business call upon the office, and got well acquainted with
the man who took out the letter. He caught at this bait, as I soon
learned from Louisville, and I carried a letter in reply to his, which
led him along till I was fully satisfied that the lawyers and real
estate men were all of a piece. I "laid in" with the post office clerk
to let me know when a letter bearing Mr. King's monogram, from
Louisville, should arrive. The clerk delayed its delivery one day, and
I made a call into the office at the time one of the partners went for
their mail. He returned smiling, and passed the letter, which he had
read, over to the other party. There was an amount of blind talk over
it. Finally they excused themselves to retire into the "counsel-room,"
and coming out, the lawyer sat down and answered the letter. I left the
office soon after, and had the letter intercepted at the post office,
which I took into my possession.
I then sent to Louisville for the letters which had preceded this, and
receiving the same, I now had the writing of two of them in my
possession, and I had managed in a business way to possess myself of
sundry documents written by each of these men, and I found other
parties, too, who could identify the handwriting of each; and having
secured these, I advertised in a Philadelphia paper, also in a Boston
paper, in one at Utica, and one in Cincinnati, to the effect that any
person by the name of King (that for Philadelphia), or any person by
the name of Lord (for Boston), and so on, might hear of something to
his advantage by calling on so and so any time during the week. I made
arrangements with brother detectives in these places to receive their
calls, and instructed them what to say. In this way I became, in the
course of two weeks, in possession of abundant facts to convince the
firm of Lord, King, & Graham that we had them trapped; and one day,
taking an officer along with me, and setting watch till I saw that the
two men I have spoken of were in their office, dropped in, and said,
"Gentlemen, I have been here often on business affairs, and we have got
along very pleasantly, and I have invariably found your advice good;
but I've something now which I fear will puzzle you; perhaps you can
help me out. By the way, if you please, as it's private, I'll lock the
door," stepping towards it.
"O, certainly, certainly," said both of them at once. I locked the
door, and putting the key in my pocket, said, "Perhaps, gentlemen, you
think I am over-cautious in pocketing the key; but my business is
serious, and--you are my prisoners." There was astonishment, and
differing shades of color going and coming on their cheeks.
"Give me the key!" exclaimed the lawyer, finally, resuming his
composure in a measure. "'Twouldn't do you any good," said I, "for I
have brother officers at the door, and the best way is to sit down and
talk over the matter coolly. You naturally wish to know why you are my
prisoners. I'll tell you. Some months ago you carried on a system of
frauds under the name of 'Lord, King, & Graham.' I was lately employed
to work up the case. I've all the facts necessary for your conviction;
your handwriting, and so forth, and so forth, in my possession;" and
then I read them a series of names of those they had swindled, and
said, "although I don't need to do so, yet I am going to cause your
back office there to be searched." One of them started to rise in his
seat. "Sit still, or I shall handcuff you," said I; and I stepped to
the door, called in the officer, relocked the door, and put the key in
my pocket, and directed my man to go into the other room and possess
himself of all books and papers which he could find there, and search
especially for anything bearing on the "Lord, King, & Graham"
business--(I had told him all about it before); "and, gentlemen, I
propose to take possession of all your papers here." My man was hunting
over matters vigorously in the other room while I was at work briskly
searching the larger room, when the lawyer rose, and said, "Gentlemen,
I see you've got us. I'll give you up what books there are left, and
you can make what you please out of them; they won't do you any good,
however." "Please to deliver them up, and I will see as to that." They
were produced--journals of accounts; and fortunately in one I found
three letters written out, but which, for some reason, had never been
sent, in the writing of "J. Perkins Graham," which I discovered to be
that of the letter written by the lawyer to my friend in Louisville. I
also searched the books, and found entries therein in his hand. Taking
out his letter from my pocket, "There," said I, "is your late letter to
Mr. King, of Louisville. I saw you write it, can prove your hand by a
half dozen persons in this building; and that" (taking up a newly-found
letter), "is yours, and here are entries in your hand, and I have your
friend caught still more firmly. Now you see the relation of things,
and we needn't dispute; how will you settle this business? All the
expenses I have been to must be met first, and you can't object to
paying a handsome sum for the education, discipline, and experience you
have had in this business. You've learned a good deal of human nature.
I don't propose to be hard with you, but my instructions are to expose
you through the public press,--you two, and the rest of you,--for I
know you all." There was consternation in their countenances, and I had
no great difficulty in bringing them to terms, for I informed them that
I knew all about their social standing, and that of their relatives,
especially dwelling upon the relatives of one of them who was at that
time absent, but whom I had inextricably caught with the rest. The
lawyer was willing, and so was his friend, to submit to "any reasonable
terms," an item of which was the returning to those whom they had
swindled out of ten dollars and upwards the money they had defrauded
them of, as nearly as from the books and memory they could make out,
and to bear the expense of such correspondence as I should think
necessary. They were also to pay all expenses I had been to, and to
give me full wages for the time I had been at work, the account of
which made no small sum. There was no need of my holding them under
arrest, for they could better afford to come to my terms than to run
away and be exposed in the public papers. Besides, they could not think
of such a thing on account of their relatives. The father of one of
them was a clergyman, in high standing, and the rest held higher social
position than he, and the terms, were duly complied with on the return
of the third party the next day.
I kept possession of the books, had a short letter, in the form of a
circular, printed and sent to all the parties whose names were on the
books, and were marked with a little cross, which they told me meant
those who had responded, in which was set forth the fact of the
swindle, with a request that each party should reply as to how much he
had lost, especially over ten dollars, and make affidavit of his loss
before some notary public or other officer in his vicinity. The amount
thus heard from was over three thousand dollars (not counting the
several thousands which came in one dollar at a time). On the three
thousand and upwards I charged, as permitted to do, ten per cent. for
"collecting;" but it was a bothersome business, and vexed me more than
it profited me. My acquaintance got to be somewhat intimate with those
sharpers, who were all men of education, and very adroit, as the reader
may well conceive, from the fact of their perpetrating their frauds on
some of the shrewdest and most important men in the land. They kept
files of some of their letters, as well as copy-books, which revealed
the most consummate skill on their part. Indeed, as I said before, I
sometimes hardly knew whether to swear, to laugh, or be indignant over
this subtle fraud.
Old Mr. King, who first employed me, was delighted with the detection
of the villains, but could never forgive me for not exposing them to
the public. However, he took all the credit which was fairly due him,
if not more, and considered that the good name of King in America was
at last preserved from the shame which easy imposition had brought it,
and used to say that the Lords, Perkinses, and Grahams of the country
all owed the Kings a great debt of gratitude. But as my name is not
King, I sometimes used to reflect that perhaps they owed gratitude to
some others than Kings as well, for the largest share of the money
returned went to Lords and Perkinses. Not a Graham, save one in North
Carolina, had been defrauded of over one dollar. For many it proved
better to have been swindled out of ten dollars or more, than it would
have been to have lost only a dollar,--a paradox, with a moral in it,
which I leave to the reader's solution.
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