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Show IK? iHIIH ssssssti llssssssssssl HHW immmH sUfl? x HHIIIIIH ssss? I v - i H j Post Office Inspector Tells of His Thrillir g Pursuit ' of This Brand of Criminal, Which In Majority of Cases Is Guided By the Brains of a Woman- 1 1 Baffling the Lowly Yeggs and Outwit- ting the High Brow Sharpers. Copyright, 1310, bj Tlie International Syndicate.1 mONOTONY has no placo In the life of a post office Inspector. There arc so many nlmblc-wltted nlmblc-wltted sharpers at largo that scores upon scores of them dally run counter to the Federal laws, especially especial-ly thoso pertaining to the United States malls. My work as an Inspector In-spector cox'ors an cxpcrlonco of many years In which I served my time stalking stalk-ing outlaws In the Tennessee mountains, moun-tains, or tracking down the most re-Bourceful re-Bourceful and cunning of gct-rlcb-k quick artists of the biggest cities of . the cast, While I shall devote the greater ' part of tho space allotted to me hero I in tolling of my pursuit and capture i of tho get-rlch-qulck operators, never-ji never-ji i tholcss, an experience In which I was : f made to look no cheap, and so :; - amateurish by three raw, green moun-j moun-j r tain boys remains so fresh In my mom-j, mom-j, ory that I can't resist the tempta-j tempta-j ' tlon to toll of It hero. v I I had beon detailed to Invostlgato ' the robbery of a post office far back In the Tcnnessco mountains. Tho post office In question was fifty miles from 5 Obion, the nearest town. I went to f Obion and learned from Jeff Lowell, I the postmaster, that I would have to ' . mako tho trip on horseback and he J ; volunteered to Bhow mo tho way. , It was a long ride and a hard one, 1 but wo finally covorod tho distance and n soon got down to all the facts avail-J avail-J able. Thero were no tanglblo clews h at hand. Tho only throads we could 1- pick up that were worth investigating ij was tho fact that three boys, brothers, ranging irom iwojvo to sixteen years 3 old, were living In a hut far up the t l mountain side. Nono know how they lived, or from what source they de- i rived the little money they offered in , payment for tho occasional purchases J; they made at the country store. They J: were orphans and following thp doath i; of a nor-do-wcll father struck out !fa for themselves and built tho little hut II in which they lived. Their roputatlons IM WeP unsavory to say the 'cast, ' Boy 111 In His Hovel. ( ? There, apparently, was nothing by I which the boys could bo connected with tho robbery, but Jeff and I start- k cd out to look thorn ovor and then grill them If possible. Aftor a tor- ' I tuous climb up tho almost porpcndlc- a ular and rocky trail wo arrived at ; f, the hut, tho door of which was ajar. Opening wide the door I entered, and r thero huddled on a pile of straw, and covered by a frayed and ragged -j blanket lay a boy, his sunken chocks, ; ! sallow complexion, dull lustreless eyes jl and emaclatod form clearly Indicating that he was suffering from the ravages of malaria fover, so prevalent In that ) district. Tho boy was almost too 111 j to talk, but we finally learned that he ; was tho second, or, as ho put it, the ' "middlln brother." tho eldest and the , youngest having left homo an hour earlier to shoot a squirrel or two for the day's dlnnor. Deciding to scout about the premises prem-ises a little, wo emerged from the hut and had walked only a short distance dis-tance when we spied ono of tho brothers broth-ers approaching. Ho had seen us first, all right, for his rlflo, although apparently carelessly carried, was trained directly at us. I called to him that wo had como to have a talk with him about the post office affair, and tho be3t thing that he could do would be to Join us whore wo could talk at closer range. Ho said he proferred to remain where ho was, but as for tho post office robbery rob-bery ho didn't know anything about It and he would not talk about It if he did. By this time I had managed to draw my rovolvor, but tho boy was too quick for mo. Ho slowly raised his riflo to hie shoulder and drew a caro-ful caro-ful bead on my friend Jeff. "You can shoot mo as quick as you damn please," tho youngstor drawled, "but tho moment you raiso that gun of your3 I'll blow tho top of Jeff's head off." Tho littlo rascal had us all right, so it was a caso of parley. I suggested that wo discard our weapons and then sit down and talk like two senslblo human beings. Ho agreed, bo we threw our firoarms aside. No sooner had Joff's and my pistol struck tho ground, however, than a voice, almost In my car drawled: "Ttinrxr 'ftlnt nil vnn hnun Via. lnnn enough? Suppose you lights out and starts for where you all belongs." Boy In Tree Trapped Them. Jeff and I wheeled around and looking look-ing directly overhead spied tho third boy perched on tho limb of a tree, a big rifle, its barrol sawed short, pointed point-ed directly at my head. This young scamp had been In the tree all the tlmo and could have blown tho tops of our heads off at will. No argument was necessary. As wo moved back the first boy recovered his own rifle and Jeff's and my revolver, as woll, and slowly advancing ordered ub to stand "hands up." Then ho marched us off to a safe dlstanco whore we woro again halted. The smaller boy scrambled down the trco and mounted guard over us whllo tho elder brother darted into tho hut. Ho was out In a second, supporting his 111 and stricken brother. Ho got the sick boy over the fence and then, calling call-ing to our sentry, tho three of them scrambled off In the underbrush and that was tho last we over saw of them, or of my rovolvor either, for that matter. When wo recovered from our sur-4 prlso wo sat down and laughed until our sides achedl Thoso throe little rascals had made us look as cheap as a pair of plugged nickels! Fortunately, for my reputation as an inspector, we picked up new clows to tho real perpotrators of tho post office robbery, arrested them and got their confessions. Soon after being transferred to the Now York division I was assigned to those cases whero tho malls were being be-ing usod In schemes to defraud. Thero were many such cases to bo run down, but nono seemed to have the ramifications ramifica-tions of a fako mining stock scheme in which the promoters woro on a fair road to clean up millions unless they could be checked with a sudden pinch. Tho company under exploitation was the Dos Estrellos Mining and Development De-velopment Company and those behind tho swindle were Louis Prince, well known as "Tho Bucket Shop King;" J. Walter Labaree, who once failed for half a million whllo conducting a chain of bucket shops; and George W. Emmanuel. Prince, after I had cleared up the case. Jumped his $6,000 ball I and went to Paris whero he made a I fortuno In moving picture concessions I in Spain. Labaree went to tho Atlanta At-lanta Federal Prison for a long term and Emmanuel was sentenced to fifteen fif-teen months In State's prison. Our attention to the new concern was attracted by the tremendous volumes vol-umes of mall being delivered to its palatial sulto of offices In Wall street each day. No mining company In business for years was receiving as much mall as this nowcomcr, and that In itself was suspicious. Some of this incoming mall we seized and scanned, but there was nothing to indicate Just what bait had beon thrown out by tho promoters to call forth tho rain of checks and money orders that were pouring in each day. What we most needod boforo we could take any drastic step was to get hold of some of tho company's literature and seo its glittering prospectuses that proved so alluring. Wo wroto to some of the signers of tho letters wo had seized. Wo told them that wo wanted to get a Una on tho stock they were so eagerly subscribing for and asked them to send us a copy of the prospectus pros-pectus thoy had recoived. None complied com-plied with" the request, however, all, doubtless, fearlmj that a prying government gov-ernment was seeking to selzo a goose that gave promlso of laying such a rich harvest of golden eggs. Find Man With A Grudgo. After scouting around for a week I found a man who was once In the employ of Prince, but had been discharged. dis-charged. This man boro a grudgo against his old employer, accusing him of having double-crossed him. Ho was eager to tell all ho knew and if there was any chanco of getting back at Prlnco and wiping out an old score, he had no intention of overlooking It. Did ho know anything about this new scheme Prlnco was exploiting? Of course, ho did! It was a "Salted jMlno" scheme! And clumsy one at that he told me. "That crowd du;? a little holo down In Moxlco.""this man with the grouch said. "Tho holo was only about eighteen feet Bquare, but by taking photographs of the excavation, which later were enlarged, there was shown a greatly magnified view of tho diggings. dig-gings. "Thero were a few photographs' of a flourishing stamping mill in full operation. op-eration. This mill was represented as their own, although as a mottor of fact they had novor soon it. No sooner soon-er were theso photographs obtained than tho schomers Incorporated tho Mutual Trust Company of Mexico, which company, according to tho prospectuses pros-pectuses and other literature guaranteed guar-anteed tho stock and bonds of Dos Estrellos Mining Company, on which the promotora agreed to pay' two per cent, a month, dividends. But the crowning achlovomont of the schemers was an additional guarantee of tho stock and bonds of the fako company by Speyor & Company, of Mexico City, This name was similar to that of the big Now York bankors and tho lambs never even took tho trouble to find out that tho two concerns had no connection con-nection whatsoever." ' This information camo so 'pat and such aid was furthor vouchsafed by my informant that after verifying 11 in spots; we despatched Post Offlco Inspector Hamilton to Taxo, Mexico, whero tho bogus mlno was located, while I mountod guard In Now York. In the moantlmo I managed to got hold or a run set of tho literature and learned that all and moro than my informant had told mo was true. Mall was still pouring in on tho swindlers and from ono of their offlco clerks, who I had succeeding in winning over, I learned they already had takon In a sum in excess of a million dollars. A Gigantic Swindle. In ten days I heard from Inspector Hamilton. Conditions In Mexico he reported were ovon worse than wo had feared. The little holo In tho ground hadn't a semblance of oro in it, and the photograph of tho stamping mill was that of one belonging to a reputable reputa-ble concorn doing busfness miles distant. dis-tant. Tho trust company had no assets, as-sets, whatever, and its "palatial offices" consisted of ono tiny back room on the top floor of a itumbled-down itumbled-down building In an obscure street. knew It was tlmo to swoop down on oir quarry. We made our raid late ono Saturday aftornoon. We seized Prlnco and Emmanuel at their desks and whilo wo were grilling them Labaree camo stalking in. We woro dumbfounded to seo him there, for we had supposed he was employed by tho Quldbo Gold Dredging Company. Ho protested that ho had no connection connec-tion with Dos Estrollos Company other. oth-er. than as a customer, but wo doomed' It safer to take him into custody also. Later we found ho was Just as deep In the mlro as the rest of them and his Indictment and conviction speedily followed. More Lambs Arc Slaughtered. A five million dollar swindlo Is of sufficient magnitude to entitle it to mention here. This outfit consisted of the Burr Brothers and tholr victims could be found In every State In tho Union. Our department was bombarded bombard-ed with complaints from so many persons per-sons that I was not only detailed to the case, but was told to tret busy at H onco and make my pinches before H many more lambs could be lod to th slaughter, it was a day or two be- foro I could get a look at their liter- lH turo and, as usual, tholr glittering H prospeotuses woro filled with rosy - H premises, although tho initiated could H seo cheat and fraud written in every H line. Tho promoters in this concera sH spent most of their time traveling iH about from bis city to big city and 1.1 that mado it hard for mo to aao.r- lH tain tho identity of all concerned la iH tho flood of profits they were rolling iH up eacn day.' To mako a clean Job ' ggl of it I wanted to arrest all of th. H principals at tho same moment LLl Aftor prowling around for a day or LLH two, I wormed myself into the good LH graces of a young fellow who was Isssssssssl paying marked attention to the young isssH girl who acted aa confidential Becre- Lssssssl tary to ono of tho Burr Brothers. This bsssssH girl liked a good tlmo, was fond of sssssssfl gay littlo dinners, theatro and supper. tssssssB parties. M Girl Reveals Secret. It wa's at ono of these little mid. nlgRt suppers when the bright llghta al onsplritlng muBlc and sparkling wlnei H had tho effect of loosening her tongue and waxing confidential oho told her LH young escort (my stool-pigeon) that tH Sheldon C. and E. H. Burr were In New York City; Preston Burr was on gH tho "PfLrAfci nlnno nrnVinhlir In e-.i. BSSSSSSSa and C. H. Tobey, another partner, was visiting relatives on a farm In Mich-' H In a few fours wo had tho wires H hot. Spokano inspoctors wore In- structed to get after Preston Burr at once. In tho event of his making his H way towards Portland, Oro., Inspectors H at that city were ordered to bo on tho alort. Tho latter move was wise, for Preston Burr did Jump Spokano ior Portland. An inspector who went to the Mich- H lgan farm caught Tobey red-handed, whllo wo seized E. H. Burr at his H offlco together with all his books, reo- H ords and tho correspondencq that had H been pouring in on him, thus giving us 'H a fair idea of tho number of t the vie- H tim3. Wo found Sheldon Burr in the H parlor of a Christian Science loader, H and broko up his earnest conversation H with his fair hostess. Tho whole out- H fit was arrested on the same day, and ' H this we regarded as a master stroke. H The firm had advertised stock In a a fako mining scheme and their pros- H pectuses were so attractively worded H that tho "suckers" fairly fell over H themselves to got a nibblo at the M golden bait. In all they sold upwards H of $60,000,000 for which they received M $5,000,000 In cash. They had much M , negotlablo paper In their safes, many H of tho victims having given tholr city, H suburban or farm homes In exchange H for tho stock. All of tho principals M woro convicted and sent away for H terms they richly deserved. , B,ut as long as the world continues H to revolve I guess, tho got-rlch-qulck H artists will find victims for their ne- H farlous stbek. Just offer the averago H person something that is a trifle above M tho legal rate of interest and ho will H fall all over himself to got In on the H bonanza, sacrificing without further H thought that which has taken years of H toll and care to accumulate, H |