THE SUJTDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTE3IBER 10, 1922
forJwtfiiTig
(Copyright. 1922, by the Nw York
Herald.)
ALMOST unbelievably Immense is the
amount annually taken from the
confiding American public by the
schemer woo don't always take the trou
ble to Invent new swindles. The old ones
are still potent, and especially so when
put to rk in new ways.
The average human being is generally
willing to accept something for nothing,
and it is this inveterate weakness ' the
swindler takes advantage of. Hundreds
of thousands of dollars a year are drawn
by him under various' guises and firm
and corporation names, but the main ave
nue through wnlch be works is toe post
office. Of the good name of that the
government 1b sensitively proud; it is
zealous in its efforts to protect it and at
the same time to protect the money and .
rights of the large number of citizens
who are susceptible to the schemer's lure.
"There are no spectacular cases in
view at the moment where brains have
been used to invent new schemes to de
fraud," said United States Attorney Max
well 8. Mattuck recently, but a great
many cases f ingeniuty in employing old
ones have been dug up. Every now and
then a fresh avenue of fraud is opened;
the scheme may be old but the victims of
it are new."
-. In the department's recent activities
flagrant violations were discovered
whereby several thousand dollars were
bilked from innocent victims who were
ambitious to rank as composers of songs.
The fakers posed as song publishing con
cerns and guaranteed, for sums ranging
, from $75 to $100, fabulous profits to
writers of singable lyrics.
Alluring advertisements were sent out
broadcast with reference to the vast
fortunes made by authors of "Two Little
Girls in Blue," "Alexander's Rag Time
Band," and more modern popular song
hits. In consequence a vast horde of in
nocent persons knit their brains to com
pose verses, and when they thought they
had succeeded, they forwarded them to
the song publishers with t!je $75 to 1100.
In due time they received 60 copies of .
their songs set to music, printed on cheap
paper, go far so good, but a longer time
of waiting brought in no profits, and
when the authorities took the matter up.
they found that nothing further was in
tended by the fraudulent publishers.
Among the fraud orders issued by the
postoffjee department in the first six
months of the present year were a num
ber against the same man. He lives in
Canada, although he is really an Ameri
cas citizen. Under many firm names be
has been writing to the disappointed as
pirants for prize.; in newspaper, maga
zine and other contests in sympathetic
terms and promising, for the insignificant
turn of X, to put them "right" in con
tests that he said were forthcoming.
"While it might not seem that many per
sons would be likely to be caught by this
bait, they were almost innumerable who
came up with the dollar. And then they
waited and never beard another word
"from their sympathetic friend.
Entree to Heaven.
Thousands of colored persons in all
parts of the country were sending " a '
swindler of their own race last winter
and spring$10 for the "Keys to the
Kingdom." They expected to get for
their money some magic token that would
insure them ready admission to Paradise.
What they did get was a pamphlet con
taining a jumble of unintelligible words.
The" swindler was caught. v
He is at his game again in another part
of the country, but this time be is selling
a salve which, if you anoint yourselfwitb
it in the full moon, will bring a remis
sion of all your sins.
The swindler in Rochester who writes
sympathetic letters to anybody who gets
into the newspapers unpleasantly or oth
erwise is a sort of kin to the Canadian
prize "tipster," but his game is to offer
for a mere $100 a letter that "fell into
his possession" and that will clear up
some doubtful point. For this amount be
MARVELOUS GOTHIC ART WORKS ARE UNCOVERED
AMONG RUINS OF ANCIENT METROPOLIS OF MEDIA
Excavations Conducted by H. Kevorkian, Who Has Just Arrived in America. Show Gothic Art Had Moslem Origin and Solves
1000. Year-Old Mystery That Till Now Has Baffled Archeologists. '
WHEN the Rheims cathedral was
bombed in the early Uy of tha
great war a universal cry of in
dignation went over the world.
One of tha groat ebrines of Christen
dom, and one of tha great temples of art,
was mutilated and pictures of too
martyred cathedral, its marvelous spires,
friezes and stone traceries filled every
home -This act alone stamped the Ger
man Invasion as an invasion of barbari
ans to whom nothing was sacred, and
vengeance for it fired the wills, not only
ef France, but of all civilization.
But what would many of these Chris
tians who shuddered at the desecration
cf this wonderful church; what would art
enthusiasts who were enraged by the de
molition of this masterpiece of Europe
have said if they knew that this glorious
structure, the pride of western civiliza
tion, was inspired by Moslem art?
Recently there arrived in New York
from Persia a noted archeologist, H.
Kevorkian, who for many 'months past
has been engaged in excavating a long
buried Persian city that promises to give
to history and art as much valuable ma
terial as tha ruins of Pompeii and the
entombed cities of Egypt,-
The city was the metropolis of Rhages.
called the "bride city" of the world, and
capital of ancient Media, and for ages
held its own with all the wonderful cities
of ancient time like Babylon, Nineveh
and Tyre." It was a center of the 'arts
and splendors of the luxurious east, until
the savage jingling Khan swept down
upon it, nearly a thousand years ago, in
1 4mSm PPOf?
They carry to these bereaved homes C.
,
offered to sell Mrs. James ssunraan a let
ter proving that, Canadian witnesses bad
committed perjury in the divorce case
She turned the letter over to the post
office department, which is after him.
They believe that he is the man who simi
larly attempted to defraud Mrs. Theo
dora P. Shonts, Mrs. Thomas and W, E.
D. Stokes.
The Family Crest Maker, who carried
on a thriving trade in family trees by the
aid of a rented typewriting machine and
desk Tobm on Fifth avenue is out of dur-
tha war that' cost a million lives, and
burled it. in the sands, where it has lain
forgotten until the pick and shovel of tie
excavator restored it to civilizati6n.
Priceless art treasures, the master
pieces of a once flourishing and artlstie
people ware under Mr, Kevorkian's direc
tion dug out. of tha "-'erle site, but as
valuable ss any Is the thrilling discovery
of the seeret of Gothic art. of which
Rheims cathedral is one ef the supreme
examples. . -
Mr. Kevorkian Is a Persian. He is of
the type described as small and dapper,
and bis trim mustaches and deft quick
movements make one think of bim as on
of the cultured citizens of France. His
English has a soft and hardly noticeable;
accent A quick smile flashing from hie
oljve face, and a witty remark now and
gain remind one that the Persians have,
ben called "the Frenchmen of the east."
While yet a lad he had heard that out
side of Teheran, just a few miles away,
there bad once been a miehtv and popu- .
Jous city. In his walks "he would some
times wander there, ind wonder whether
underneath him was the palace. of ancient
rulers, the romance of a mighty and cele-r
brated romanee. t
So 'old had it been that there was no
record of its founding-. When history he
pan the city was already there, the cap
ital of a growing power. When Alex
ander the Great invaded Persia he found
II. and left a jrrrion of Greeks. After
hla death hl G'1- iccnori enlarged
It and made It be,"t''"l with Greek art.
Then, at the betrht of its beauty and
power, nomad bordes of Mongol savages
cam upon It, like a visitation from the
inferno, and mbre completely than the
volcano at Aetna destroyed Pompeii or
f 'Of
Q. D. packages, addressed to the dead veteran; There is always a pretty
liquidated. ; . ..
aneevile and busy again. But he no
longer of fers his wares under the' im
posing title, "American Heraldic Institu
tion,? but asserts that be is a former
member of the Ancient Order of Heralds
instituted in the time of the Piantagenets,
and is able by means of his familiarity
with documents and family papers to
trace anybody's lineage from Henry VIII
down. He has increased his price for this
service. As a humble American be form
erly provided a family tree with inou-.
merable branches for $5; now as a serv
tha sand storms of Egypt swallowed up
the ancient capitals of Egypt, Rhages
was broken and buried.
It was this quaint city that Mr. Kevor
kian dreamed of uncovering, and In 1910
his dream seined on the eve of realiza
tion when the Persian government gave
him permission to excavato on this site.
But that was n of tha least of his diffi
culties, as many influential persons op
posed tha project on the ground that
excavations so near tha eapital city, with
its crowded hundreds of thousands,
might result In pestilence. Others op
posed him because they held that the
undertaking was sacrilegious.
However, Mr. Kevorkian did not give
up. He assembled between 500 and 1000
workmen. "Ha trained tbem himself and
directed the .work. Surmounting tre
mendous difficulties, he managed to
bring them water and food, and provide
for their comfort in a way that surprised
even the French arcbeologists, who ad
mitted that, with all their resources, they
could not have done as well.
As objects were freed from their near
ly thousand-year imprisonment, Mr.
Kevorkian's surprise and enthusiasm kin- '
died. Rhages, it was evident, had been
second only to Bagdad as a center of Mo
hammedan culture, and the tragedy of
the city had preserved Mohammedan art
at its highest perfection. Other centers,
have actually suffered more in an artis-
tic way from the gradual decline of Mos
lem culture than Rhsges In its complete
destruction. In its revelation of pure
Mohammedan art, Rhages provided the
lost link between Gothic art and its
source in Moslem architecture.
Decorations like those that appear on
ant of the Britannic office he charges $15
for the same service. At the former fig
ure he trimmed, it is said, judges, sen
ators, governors and society women.
A mean game which, started up shortly
after the return of our service men from
Europe is stilj being kept up, although
exposed by the arrest and punishment of
some of its perpetrators. It trades in the
affections and sorrows of the parents and
relatives of tea boys killed in Franee, and
the capital of the swindlers is a list of
their names. They carry to these be
Gothic cathedrals appear on the loosened
friezes, the fallen columns and broken
arches of the ancient Mohammedan struc
tures raised up from their tombs of sand
Even in matters of construction there
was a strange similarity, the pointing
spires of the Gothic cathedrals 'were
variations of the curving spirits of the
eld-time mosques, twisted to represent
the curves of flames. The ornament in
many eases employs the same design, al
most as if the same artist had carved in
the atone of these different temples.
The statues are" remarkably like the
statues that appear 'tn the niches along
the sculptured walls of the Gothis
cathedrals. They have the same pose and
the arrangement of their draperies and
the working out of their pedestals is al
most alike.
These nd hundreds of other convinc
ing similarities offer route proof, after so
many centuries, of the astonishing fact
that during the very time when Chris
tianity and Islam were locked in fierce
struggle, their arts were being Inter
changed in a spirit far from the bitter
temper of war.
Snow la Insured.
A unique insurance policy was that
drawn in favor of motlon-plcture"or-ganiiaiion
engaged in producing "The
Two Orphans," says the Scientific Amer
ican, . This film calls for a veritable snow
storm, and the policy provided that in
the event of such a storm not occurring
before November 30, $25,000 would be
paid the producing company. Contracts
with leading actors expired on that date,
and so snow would mean re-engagement
at prohibitive expense, or "shooting" all
scenes over again with a new cast.
. i .. ,.
Fox Farming Profitable.
Scientific American.
Fox farming in Prince Edward island
last year produced a revenue of $1,240,
000, nearly as much as the island's fish
and dairy products combined. Three
thousand pairs of breeding foxee resulted
in an increase in young of 7500.
steep bttt attached,. but it is promptly
reaved homes C. O. D, packages ad
dressed to the' dead veteran. Always
there is a pretty steep bill attached to the
package, but it Is promptly liquidated
The man who takes the money gets out
even more quickly, and what is found in
side the package is always worthless.
Get Mliort Hentences.
A reason tor the continuance of these
confidence games is thought by some
lawyers to be a defect in the law. iong
time sentences cannot be inflicted, and
MANY NEWSBOYS INTERESTING FOLK
AND MAKE GOOD MONEY AT GAME
Prominent Men Recall Their Start Toward'High Road of Success and Some of Events
of Their Paper-Hewking Days.
(Cantlmj From 8.) ,
name as Zows Zwla and claims to be SO
years of age. He says he was a laborer
all bis life and is accustomed to the hard
est sort of work and a gnarled and
twisted frame seems to prove bis state
ments. Some of the interesting events in
St. Francis' life, according to himself,
were hearing Lincoln debate when be
was 4 years old, splitting rails at the
time Lincoln was nominated, and build
ing a fence of the same rails at the time
the great president was elected to his
first term. St. Francis is very religious
and says that be was one of the first
Christian Scientists and knew Mary
Baker Eddy personally. He also claims
that Henry George got some of his single
tax ideas from a story that he wrote on
the subject that George set In' type when
employed as a printer in the office of
the Western Hampton Times at West
field. Mass, Ha says that he has walked
across the continent both from north to
south and from east to west.
The pioneer of all morning paper sales
men Is John W. Bowman, who sells at
Broadway and Morrison at nights and at
First and AMer streets in the morning.
Bowman came to Portland in 1906 from
Denver where be bad been selling papers
for 17 years. Ha is one of the crack
salesmen in the game today, is married
and owns his own home. Before be "went
into- the newspaper game be used to be
a shoe-shiner working with one ana. He
lost his arm in a railroad accident.
Up on Tenth and Washington streets
any night, no matter what the brand of
weather, Smltay is to be found in the
same place be hag had for the past six
years. He pays that he lost his leg try
ing to heat a railroad train to a crossing,
something they are yet trying to do with
the offender gets oat soon and la able to
begin all over again under a new nam
. and in new surroundings.
On of the lightest sentences ever '
erred was that given to a pretty Polish
girl who called .herself Etna Inawaska.
She got one day in the society of the
United States marshal.
Bina's was a matrimonial swindle. She
advertised in western paper for a hus
band, and to the numerous men who an
swered her she sent a photograph, not el
herself but of an even prettier girl. Whan
that bait caught she wrote to the men to
send on traveling expenses. From many
of her correspondents she received money
in amounts varying from $35 to $100.
The men who remitted money sever t
heard from her again.
Bina frankly admitted her guilt but
pleaded that she was hungry and prom
ised to reform. After serving her short
term she disappeared.
By no means all the mail swindlers of
the United States 'are arrested, though
fraud orders slop iheir operations ef.
fielently where the fske games are car
ried on exclusively through the postofflc.
It often happens, too, that the postof.
fice inspectors are unable to get evidence
to convict, so they do not bale thee of.
fenders to court. Very often also ths
frauds of the swindlers never come ti
the attention of the authoritl.
A corresponding type of crime is sail
by Burgess Smith, formerly Inspector of
technical work for the United States bu
reau of engraving, to net the thieves an
nually more than $S5,0Q0,O00. This Is
the loot obtained by check and draft
manipulators and forgers. Mr. Smith left
last week for England to Investigate pro
tective measures taken by that country
against such criminals.
Carelessness in the use of checks ex
plains in a measure this large pcrc?utage
of dishonestly acquired wealth.
Mr. Mattuck said there was compara
tively little forging done in government
paper because criminals are afraid of
handling it, the penally being greater
than in similar offenses against bank
snd private .individuals. However, he
sgreed that all signs seem to Indicate that
our people instead of growing wlser ap
pear to become less sophisticated. In
1914 and 1915 more fraud orders were
Issued. Later the postoffice authorities
cut them down in the belief that it would
be wiser to proseeute criminally the op
erators of fraudulent schemes. Neither
plan alone seems to deter the crooks
' Business is sometimes contlnu'd "at the
old stand" all through the periods of ar.
rest, hail, trial and even Imprisonment.
Queer Companions.
The fraud order, on the other hand,
puts a quietus on business conduct
through the mails. Therefore the au
thorities are now using both methods.
In the list of what the potofft"e calls
mall swindles are inducing betting on
"fake" horse races and athletic corneals,
selling worthless goods through nilsrep.
resentatjons, obtaining commlnslons on
fraudulent orders, selling divining rod
for locating "gold" and other minerals,
guaranteeing stocks and bonds, using
forged bills of lading, brokerage frauds,
getting money by impersonating other
persons, getting goods under false pre
tenses, establishing fictitious agencies,
using "no fund" checks, matrimonial
schemes, running sham employment bu
reaus, selling Interests in non-existent
moving picture theaters, and. In a word,
the list includes almost all kinds of plans
to do the "sucker,". from plain three-card
monte Juggling to blackmail.
It will pay anyone who would like to
attempt to'measure the credulity of man
kind in affairs of business where hu
manity is expected to have a little cau
tion to read over a list of securities ef
wildcat variety that were noted In a will
the other day. The very names tell what
they are, but at least they were floaled
somewhere: Blue Pickle Aromatic com
pany, Syrian Banking Corporation of
Btaten Island, Blue Pencil Investment as
sociation and Incorporated School for
Mercantile Ideas.
varying success. Smithy is generous to
a fault and is always ready with a helping
hand for bis fellow bustlers. He smokes
a pipe on the Job and bis great amuse
jnent is midnight matinees at the movies.
Another fixture downtown Is Parrott.
who bas been at The Oregonlan corner
for seven years in all kinds of weather.
He is a success at this trade and lost his
leg in a railroad accident. He has lived
In Portland for the most of bis life.
, News vendors, especially those selling
on the downtown corners, are not a col
lection of freaks. They feel that they
have a trade just as any other man has
and many of them progress. There are
notable examples and It seems that there
is always someone ready to help the
newsle who shows that be has the right
stuff In his makeup. Some of the most
prominent professional and business men
of the city got their start selling papers,
and encourage the newcomers in the
game to aim high.
The . boys publish a monthly paper
called the Hustler and use the profits tor
the purpose of establishing an education
al loan fund. Their efforts are backed
by a committee of prominent citizens and
they ajready have their first student In
college, Sammy Perlmsn, who is taking
a pre-medic course in Pacific university.
Perlman's history is like that of most of
the other.progresslve youngsters; h be
gan selling papers in 1907 and graduated
trom Falling school in 1918. In 1919 he
completed his preparatory work In the
Y. M. C. A. and comes down from college
to work week ends, when he sells papers
on Grand avenue and East Morrison
street Saturday nights and works in a
pharmacy Saturdays and Sundays. He's
bound to shed more luster on the newsies'
record.