Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 282, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1910 — Odd News From Big Cities [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Odd News From Big Cities

Stories of Strange Happenings in the Metropolitan Towns

Mine Fraud Gang Gets Many Millions

NEW YORK.—Three hundred thousand dollars of easy money pour into the offices of fraudulent mining stock brokers of New York every day v according to conservative estimates made by Post Office Inspector Warren W. Dickson, in charge of the York division. In the last three years $100,000,000 has been filched from the pockets of small investors and women. Thirty million dollars went into the coffers of one concern alonp. A hundred million went to all of them during the three years preceding the panic of 1907. The estimate is that the fraudulent operations, this year will be $73,000,000, and the figures are on the increase. A so-called “suckers’ list,” bearing the names of 250,000 who have “bit” and will probably bite again, is the most-prized asset of the big concerns that do the business. Under a working “understanding” they all have access to the same list of victims. The magnitude of the fraudulent operations has caused the postal authorities to concentrate a strong force In opposition to the bogus mining con-

cerns. Inspector Dickson, formerly stationed at St. Louis, who was the first man to put a check on the “green goods” game, has been placed in charge of the New York department. As a warning to the “suckers” he has told about the “Suckers’ Directory.” “Down in Pine street,” he s'ays, “there is today a well furnished office, most conservative in appearance, the ‘Suckers’ Directory’ of the fraud gang. The man in charge of the office has -never been suspected of his calling, and none of his associates believes that it is anything but legitimate. I am informed that the list of names is now nearing the quarter million mark, and growing daily. As soon as the concern puts out more literature, they consult the directory in order te get quick returns. Whenever a new victim bites his name is added to the list. “It seems that all a person has to do is to have a full page in a metropolitan paper advertising a bonanza, then scatter smaller advertisements through the country periodicals, usually reproducing the New York advertisements, with the statement: ‘Look what New York thinks of our invest-, ment,’ for the money to begin to pour in. The ‘Suckers’ Directory’ does the rest. There are skyscrapers in this city where bags of United States mall are carried in every day laden with checks and money orders, and not one penny of it gets outside the pockets of the promoters.”