Salt Lake Telegram | 1936-01-14 | Page 4 | The Sucker Crop Never Fails

f j 2 rs The h Sucker Crop Never N er Fails Fails i t 1 may ay not be sure lure by any means mean that t the v AY I dismissal of a batch patch of individuals who had b e charged with perpetration of the ancient Sir Sir Frat Francis Franci is' is Drake fraud means an end to the Ji hoax aX that has has richly rewarded confidence c gangs ars arsT T The history of the r over over many y years e matter does s serve to show though that tha th the sucker crop r never fails ls De Despite pit the c that th the swindle swin swin- d dle h has made mad news new throughout th the IC country for generations s that at men e have hye been tried and im- im pHs n dr for tb the imposition and th that t Jn in in itself it it is to too absurd d to gain airi cr credence de ce from a a half half- halfwit wit i it may laY rop pagai again anytime 4 f Part Party th then l' l as s a warning a-warning w r to who lithe U jb boys who g gro v up and some someday f day Ia Iab v b. b become cP suckers uc e sit it Ii desirable to o tella little abo about o tl t th the game 1 J Jf 1 i i i f If any reader reader knows of ol a lad giving alarming signs of or excessive credulity this ought to be passed on to o him It seems that many y years ars ago a slicker went about the country announcing that the estate of oL Sir Francis Drake Queen Elizabeths Elizabeth's fa famous famous Ia- Ia old freebooter had passed down through his male descendants ts and had ad grown prodigiously prodigious prodigious- sly s- s ly with the years until it comprised practically all London and was worth untold billions The slicker said he had the heirs under his thumb and was about to arrange arrange a seti settlement ement of the estate estate and and all who contributed a dollar or so soto soto soto to defray the expenses would get their money back a The suckers came forward in droves No Noone Noone Noone one knows how much he collected but ii it kept him in luxury for years Uncle Sams Sam's men fin finally lly sent him to prison for 10 years years But did that stop the racket Verily it went on in ina ina a bigger way than ever People in poorhouses gave dimes and quarters quarters quarters public meetings were ere held in small smal t towns town the tale talc grew until it was told told that that not only was London ondon included in the Drake estate but all of America as s well It would b be hard to think of a dizzier swindle than this Y Yet t with the promoter of ot the affair actually in a federal prison and with every statement of fact blown sky-high sky the fraud dm made de money oney for confidence men only only a few months ago when it was launched hed again Forty Forty- one men were arrested for using the m mails ils tod to d fraud defraud Mond Monday y 21 of them were dismissed The other twenty aw await it their fate at If Ii thousands of people can be found to be believe believe believe be- be lieve such a yarn am as this and to sink good goodmoney goodmoney goodmoney money in it need we wonder that some ode odd od political panaceas occasionally get sold to the electorate I