Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1902 — An Outrageous Black-mailing Scheme. [ARTICLE]

An Outrageous Black-mailing Scheme.

Some months ago a fake concern in New York known as the American Jewelry Company, sent out to the names of as many women and children as it could get the addresses of a lot of snide jewelry such as beauty or stick pins; sending them without the request or knowledge of the recipients. The latte were asked to sell the stuff, and renint $1.20 to the senders or else at their own expanse, to send it back to the company at New York. Very naturally and very properly, many people neither sent it back, nor sold it; which last they could not do without swindling the friends they sold it to. Now al these people who received this rubbish are receiving "circular letters, with Jfre recipient’s names inserted, from a blackmailing concern which gees by the nkme of “The American State Law Collection Agency.” This circular letter directly accuses these innocent recipients of this worthless jewelry of violating the U. S. maiLlaw. Which is an infernal lie on its face for they have done nothing of the kind. The letter goes on to intimate that unless the recipients of the rubbish do not remit $1.20 or send back the stuff will be prosecuted. It is a mere blackmailing bluff and there is no law by which such scoundrels can prosecute these people, whether they send money or stuff or not At the best they only have a claim for a debt of $1.20, which if the jewelry was worth anything they might collect of responsible parties by state law, provided they wonld spend ten times the debt in collecting it. But the whole threat is merely a black mailing bluff and we hope no more of our readers who are among the recipients will send them either money or the." “jewelry.”