THE SWINDLE WHICH THE LAW PROTECTS KNOWN BY THE TITLE
OF DISCRETIONARY INVESTMENTS.
All Mr. David Sheldrake's calculations were conducted in such a manner
as to cause Number One to eclipse all other figures, single or in
combination. Number One was the only figure in which he took a real
interest; the other figures could take care of themselves. He made it
his special business to look after the humblest of them all, and it is
but a fair tribute to his genius to state that he made Number One a
brilliant success. It has been shown how cheaply he bought the
reputation of being Alfred's sincerest and most generous friend, and
how he received back through his agent Con Staveley all the money he
lent to Alfred; and in common justice it must be shown how he made Ivy
Cottage--the cottage which, out of ostensibly benevolent motives, he
had taken for Mr. Musgrave and Lizzie--one of the most profitable
speculations in which he had ever invested.
With his eye ever on the main chance (which may be pithily described
as Number One, surrounded by a glory), Ivy Cottage became, under his
instructions, the secret centre of a system known among sporting men
as Discretionary Investments, one of the shallowest swindles of the
day, and yet one which has been successful in emptying the purses of
greedy gulls and filling the purses of needy sharks. No money was
received at Ivy Cottage, as in the event of discovery the law could
punish the receivers. But it being a peculiarity of the British law
that, in so far as it affects racing matters, a man may pick his
neighbour's pocket in Scotland, but must not do so in England, a
garret was taken in Glasgow, and thither Con Staveley bent his steps
to perform his part in the Discretionary Investment scheme--which
consisted in receiving and pocketing the money of the gulls. Innocent
readers who are not acquainted with these matters may doubt the
statement that a man may rob in Scotland with impunity; but it really
is the plain sober truth, and it is a proof that what is known as the
British Constitution is after all but a patched and ragged garment,
and that, notwithstanding its patches, it has many a rent in it which
the law (having, as I have said before, a squint in its eye) cannot or
will not see. A day before the Millennium it may make up its mind to
catch a glimpse of these rents, through which rogues laugh and snap
their fingers in the faces of their dupes.
As it was necessary that the operations should be conducted in
secrecy, Ivy Cottage, very soon after its new tenancy, had in it a
Blue Beard's room, to which neither Lizzie nor any of her friends had
the right of entry. The only persons who ever entered it were Mr.
Musgrave and Mr. Sheldrake. There the announcements of the new scheme
of Discretionary Investments were prepared and launched upon the world
in the names of Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy, Mr. Sheldrake knowing,
from profitable experience, that high-sounding names were the best
bait for gudgeons. Their first public announcement led the uninitiated
to believe that the firm was an old one, and that it had been
established for many years; but we know differently. However, as there
is absolutely no such thing as fair dealing among betting men, this
was but of a piece with the rest of the machinery. The circular (of
which a copy lies before the present writer) issued and advertised by
the myths, Montague and D'Arcy, commenced by declaring in large
letters that a certain fortune without the slightest risk was within
the reach of the humblest, and that Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy had
conferred an incalculable boon upon the public at large by reducing
speculation on horse-racing to a means by which immense sums of money
might be realized weekly by a small stake. Fortunes, said these public
benefactors, were being daily realized by investing in accordance with
their Marvellously Lucrative and Ever Triumphantly Successful Method
of Turf Speculation. Many gentlemen who never backed a horse for a
shilling held large stakes in the system, as the safety of capital,
and the immense profits that were weekly realized, and promptly paid,
rendered it a perfect El Dorado to the fortunate investors. Many of
the largest speculators now entirely confined their operations to
Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy's Systematic Investments, and this fact
alone should prove a sufficient inducement to those who hitherto have
not speculated to join in realizing the golden harvest. As, however,
sceptics would always be found, these public benefactors offered to
forward to those who doubted the most unexceptionable references--to
noblemen, officers, gentlemen, and tradesmen--as to the marvellously
successful nature of their system, which by its heavy and
never-failing success had fairly eclipsed and distanced all other
modes of speculation. It had the advantage of combining the two great
desiderata of immense and ever-increasing profits, combined with
absolute and perfect security of capital.
Facts, however, spoke stronger than words; hence, in appending the
following list of amounts won last season at a few of the principal
meetings, the projectors were well satisfied to leave gentlemen to
judge for themselves as to the correctness of the assertion, that the
winnings realized week by week by the investor, in accordance with
this method, were far in excess of the amounts that could by any
possibility be realized by any other mode of investment:
LAST SEASON'S OPERATIONS.
At Lincoln . . . £100 stake won £4840
Liverpool . . . 25 " " 1230
Chester . . . 10 " " 240
Newmarket . . . 50 " " 1004
Bath . . . . 5 " " 134
Epsom . . . . 50 " " 1450
Ascot . . . . 25 " " 740
Windsor. . . . 25 " " 1020
Goodwood . . . 20 " " 648
Doncaster . . . 50 " " 2104
Newmarket . . . 5 " " 325
Liverpool . . . 10 " " 521
Shrewsbury . . . 25 " " 1203
During the whole of the season a loss never occurred. In indubitable
proof of which Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy publicly expressed their
willingness to forfeit the sum of £1000 to any investing client at the
above-named meetings who did not receive the amounts in full, as
stated above, or in due proportion to the amount invested.
But, pleasant and profitable as were the results of last season's
operations, by which men of the most moderate means had obtained
affluence and wealth, the present campaign promised to throw those
magnificent results in the shade. At Newmarket, for instance, the most
extraordinary and almost marvellous success had attended their
operations in the first three days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
They had not had time to make out a careful statement, and could not
do so till Saturday, as the meeting extended to Friday, but they
roughly estimated that up to Thursday night, each investor of
£500 had realized £7850!
100 " 1300
50 " 650
25 " 325
10 " 127
5 " 63
To suit small speculators investments would be taken by Messrs.
Montague and D'Arcy as low as five shillings, but the nobility could
forward as high a stake as One Thousand pounds. At this point they
stopped, for the line must be drawn somewhere. They would not take
less than five shillings from each man of moderate means, nor more
than One Thousand pounds from each nobleman.
In conclusion, Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy announced themselves as
members of all the West-end clubs (without mentioning names), and gave
as their bankers the Royal Bank of Scotland, and as their address, the
garret in Glasgow rented by Con Staveley, where clients could send
cheques, post-office orders, bank-notes, or postage stamps.
The advertisements and circulars contained a great deal more than is
given above, and the most infamous artifices were used to fire the
imagination of clerks and apprentices; for it was really from such
unfortunates as these that Mr. Sheldrake and his confederate netted
the greater portion of their large gains. They pointed out how those
who desired to speculate might commence in a small way, and creep up
gradually, until they became wealthy; and many weak men and boys
studied the figures, and borrowed or stole to make the venture--which
indeed was no venture, but a certainty; for it is needless to say that
no penny of the money sent to the garret in Glasgow ever found its way
back. To some extent, a semblance of fair dealing was kept up, and
where Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy thought they saw a chance of the
dupe being farther duped, they forwarded him a tabulated statement
showing how his money had been invested upon the wrong horses, and how
he was in their debt a trifling sum. This statement was accompanied by
a lithographed letter, detailing how all the race-meetings upon which
the speculator had not invested had turned out marvellously
profitable, and how the particular race-meeting upon which he had
desired his money to be invested had, "for the first time during the
past five consecutive seasons, turned out a failure." However, they
consoled their unfortunate client with the assurance that at the
race-meeting which would take place next week "winning was reduced to
an absolute certainty," and that, as there was not the slightest
chance of losing, they trusted that their client "would take their
advice, and invest £25, £50, or £100, and realize a few thousands
forthwith." Remaining his faithfully, Montague and D'Arcy. Of course,
if more money were sent, it shared the fate of the first; and
notwithstanding the groans and curses of those who were thus robbed in
open daylight, the ball rolled on right merrily. No one knew that
Messrs. Montague and D'Arcy were identical with David Sheldrake and
Con Staveley. Their faces were never seen in the transactions,
everything being conducted under seal, and no personal interviews on
any consideration ever being allowed. And in the event of some irate
clients making the name of the firm and their address notorious, it
was the easiest thing in the world to change their names and take
another garret, perhaps in Edinburgh this time instead of Glasgow. It
is but fair to some of the sporting papers in which these lying
advertisements were inserted for the trapping of apprentices and
others, to state that in their "Answer to Correspondents" such answers
as these appeared week after week: "An Anxious Inquirer. They are
swindlers." "A. Z. You should not have trusted your money to them."
"R. H. C. We do not recommend Discretionary Investments." "Fair Play.
You have been swindled." And many others to the same effect. But they
continued to open their columns to the advertising knaves, who,
without this means of publicity, would find their schemes fall
comparatively fruitless to the ground.
Said Alfred to David Sheldrake, in the course of conversation, being
artfully led to the subject:
"Those discretionary investments seem to be an easy way of making
money. Did you see the advertisements of Montague and D'Arcy in the
papers this morning?"
"No," replied Mr. Sheldrake. "Montague and D'Arcy! I fancy I have met
a Mr. Montague at some of the meetings. If it is the same man, he bets
and wins largely."
"It must be the same," cried Alfred. "Look here," pulling the paper
out of his pocket, "a £100 stake realized £1800 at Newmarket last week
in three days."
"That seems good enough, Alf," was Mr. Sheldrake's comment. "If I had
£20 or £80," said Alfred, with an anxious look at Sheldrake----
"You'd try your luck with them? Well, I see what you're driving at,
Alf. I'll give you a cheque for £20, made payable to them, and you can
have a dive."
"Ah, you _are_ a friend! If I win, I shall be able to give you a good
sum off what I owe you."
"All right, my boy," said Mr. Sheldrake heartily, and then wrote the
cheque and gave it to Alfred, and two days afterwards received it back
from Con Staveley in Glasgow.
In this and other ways he drew the mesh round Lily's brother, until he
had the infatuated gambler completely at his mercy.