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Show STRANGE AS IT SEEMS By John His J?"- UNION flM Lo- r-. tt. UfWtHtW?W 4 JJLv Iff- 6 COMrTDeRMS ON AfKi f, I8W, fa. 5 1 (ft tf3r7 "' ' -;""'' """" ' " """- BLACKMAIL ORIGIN ... Blackmail, a favorite source of illegal income of modern, organized 'crime, was, strange as it seems, originally nothing more than ordinary rent! It first designated rent paid in labor, grain or baser metals as dis tinguished from silver or "white money." Later, in Scotland and north-ern north-ern England, blackmail came to mean a "protective" tribute of grain cattle or money paid to freebooters in return for immunity from pillag' ing. Today, blackmail has a singularly similar meaning, being used tc designate the extortion or attempted extortion of money or property by threat. (Copyright, 1937, for The Telegram) |