Must Have Pretty Woman.
The qualifications necessary for the woman to have is to be pretty, plump, wear good clothes, and understand the art of making herself attractive. It is an understood thing that she shares one-third the proceeds of the robbery. The house is arranged especially for the purpose. The rooms on each floor are fixed so that the door separating them has the panels cut out and put in again on hinges, and fastened with a small button not noticeable. The hinges are well oiled, and a small hole is bored through the door, so that the thief can see into the room, or hear any slight signal given by the woman. The house rented has a front and rear entrance, the latter for the thief or thieves, who always station themselves on a corner of the street near the house, by which the woman will always bring the victim, so her pal can see him.
The woman goes out in the evening past the principal hotels and through the principal streets, never speaking to a man, but if she notices one who looks like a stranger and well-to-do, she will give him a coquettish glance and pass on, looking sideways to see if she is followed. If so, she will continue slowly, turning the first quiet street, until the man who follows her has a chance to overtake her. The chances are ten to one that he will address her. She will appear shy at first, and not inclined to speak, but after a short time she will talk, and after some conversation she will convey the idea to the man that she is a married woman; that her husband is out of town and no one is at home. If he will be discreet he may accompany her home, she says, and have a talk. The pair then walk to the house, passing the corner where the male accomplice is lying in wait, and the woman, pulling out her latch-key, will open the door; and the fly is in the parlor of the spider.
The male thief waits a few moments, and then makes his way into the house through the rear. As soon as he enters he takes off his shoes and in his stocking feet stations himself in the adjoining room, and there bides his time. The woman is all smiles and affection. She betrays an affected nervousness, which makes her all the more attractive. She talks about the sudden fancy she took to the gentleman who was weak enough to be inveigled, and in a thousand and one ways manages to give the idea that he is, above all others, the very man she could love. All this time she is gradually disrobing, and at the expiration of about ten minutes she is ready to do her part in the robbery.
Male Accomplices Get Busy.
Meantime her male accomplice has put on his shoes. He goes around to the front of the house, opens the front door noisily, and, walking heavily, he knocks loudly at the room door, and calls out, "Mary!" or any name that may suggest itself. The woman will at once exclaim. "Oh, that is my husband! Dress yourself quickly, and be ready to go out as soon as I get him away from the room door."
The victim will hastily put on his clothes, and as soon as the woman slips out and gives him the signal he escapes, only too glad not to be caught. Before he goes, however, and while he is talking to the woman, her pal has opened the panel, put his hand in all the victim's pockets—(his clothes having been put in front of the door), and nearly all his money is taken. A portion is left, so that he may not immediately discover his loss. Jewelry is never disturbed, as it would be missed at once. The favorite methods is to take out the middle of a roll of notes, if in a roll, or if in a pocket book, the bottom notes are removed, so that when the victim examines his purse hurriedly he will not discover that he has been robbed. If the amount stolen is large the house is vacated, and the woman skips the town for a time.
The women who work for these badger houses work in one city for a time, then go to the next large city with a note to the chief who runs the house there. The women generally wear wigs, so in case the man reports his loss to the police he will, perhaps, describe a fair-haired woman, when perhaps her hair is black. A blonde wig is discarded, the case is fixed.
A female badger and her lover may be poor and unable to rent a house. In this event they will rent a furnished room in a furnished-room house. The bolt on the door is fixed by simply taking out the screws from the nose of the bolt, and the screw holes are enlarged. The screws are well greased and then put back, the key taken out of the lock, so when the time comes for the thief in go in, as previously described, he pushes in the door easily and quietly, as the hinges are well oiled, and the victim is robbed while he is making violent love to the supposed "married woman."
The Photographic Catch.
Only a downright fool or egotist can become the victim of this scheme. He deserves to lose whatever he has if he is foolish enough to be taken in. The only way to protect yourselves against the work of these thieves is to mind your own business.
The new panel and blackmail swindle called the "Photographic Catch" is one by which dupes are frightened into paying hush-money, and otherwise putting themselves in the hands of unscrupulous and designing people.
The old panel game has been brought up to date and is being worked vigorously. This new swindle is one of the coolest "bluffs" ever attempted to be worked upon an unsuspecting person.
The victim selected by the coterie of choice spirits who work this fraud is always a married man. The blackmailers learn about his habits, and if his wife and family have removed to the country they immediately set about landing him in their net. If the family remains in town the swindlers spot their man and wait until his wife and children go to the country or seashore, leaving him to "work himself to death" in the bad, wicked city.
The bait used is a handsome young woman. She soon finds an opportunity to attract the attention of the victim, who is always a business man, generally of middle age and wealthy, for upon handsome but penniless clerks they do not waste a moment of their time.
As soon as the intended victim has taken the bait he is enticed to some luxuriously furnished apartment. It makes not the slightest difference how long he may stay there, and it is not even important what he may do there.
In the course of a day or two the victim is called upon at his place of business by a tall, well-dressed young man of gentlemanly manners, but with much firmness. This is one of the conspirators. He secures a private interview with his unsuspecting victim, and as soon as the door is closed he proceeds to outline his little game.
He pulls from his pocket an alleged instantaneous photograph showing the victim in a compromising position, and for the sake of appearances, make some broad hints about his outraged feelings as a husband. It very soon develops that these outraged feelings can be assuaged by the payment of money, and the sum mentioned is always a large one.
Scare Money Out of Victim.
The victim is thrown into a state of fright by threats of exposure liberally made by the conspirators, and freely "gives up" in order to put a stop to the matter. He gets a considerable reduction upon the original sum demanded by paying down the cash.
Now, while this game is nearly always successful, it requires but a moment's reflection on the part of any intelligent man to see that it is a swindle, pure and simple, the exposure of which would put a stop to it. The payment of the money is compelled by displaying a photograph, with threats of sending it to the victim's wife.
Anybody who knows anything about photography will see at once that such a photograph must be fraudulent. It is impossible to take an instantaneous photograph in a room without a flashlight. It is likewise impossible to photograph the interior of a room lighted by gas without a very long exposure, and generally extending over hours. No court of law would place any reliance upon an alleged instantaneous photograph, of the inside of a house professing to show people who were unconscious that they were being photographed. If any such picture were to be used as a means of establishing evidence in court it is not unlikely that the person so producing it would get into prison as an impudent impostor.
The photograph which is used by the gang working this new panel game is, of course, a fraud made up by the conspirators. It is an easy enough thing for them to secure a picture of the interior of the room, showing another person. But in order to get the victim into the picture it is necessary that a photograph be taken of him elsewhere; probably in the street.
Then his features are pasted on the photograph of the room, which is again placed before the camera and reproduced complete. No matter how skillfully such piecing is done, it always shows to the practiced eye, and any professional photographer can detect the fraud.
With the guilty knowledge of such swindling in mind, the conspirators who impudently produce such pictures can easily be "turned down" by a brief explanation of their criminal proceedings and a threat to turn them over to the police. They confine their operations to gentlemen who have been indiscreet and who can be easily frightened into paying money to prevent a scandal.
Blackmail the Wife as Well.
Blackmailing the wives of business men is carried on to quite an extent, and it is astonishing how many of them will pay blackmailers to hush up something that really amounts to nothing if the game were exposed. If you refuse to pay blackmail, that usually ends it. They want money, and when they fail to get it, the matter drops.
The blackmailer operates on women in this manner: A man has an accomplice, a woman who passes as, and probably is, his wife. She is well educated, of refined appearance, and dresses fashionably and well. The two work together. As the summer season comes on the wives of business men, who cannot leave business themselves, start for eastern resorts and watering places, the woman blackmailer joins the exodus. She knows the people who are wealthy, and these she spots. She watches their every movement, and if the slightest indiscretion is committed it does not escape her eye. She knows the names, business, and homes of all the gentlemen they meet, and when and where they meet them.
The season ended, the facts she has obtained are in the hands of the male partner, and he studies them. Selecting his victim, he arranges to meet her, as if by chance, usually in one of the leading retail establishments of the city where she resides. He approaches and addresses her with the greatest cordiality, expressing surprise at the unexpected meeting. She is generally surprised, and, of course, fails to recognize him. Then he uses the name of one of the gentlemen she has met in the east, recalls who introduced them, where the meeting occurred, and, in fact, all about it. Then she recalls it, or thinks she does, and it ends in her inviting him to call at her home. Here is the web quite complete.
He calls, and, of course, when her husband is out, and may repeat the call several times. Then he springs the trap. During one of his visits a note arrives for the lady threatening disclosures unless paid, say, $100. Even if innocent of any wrong, the woman is alarmed and shows the blackmailer the note. He appears greatly alarmed also, declares that he is a married man, and that to have his visits known would ruin him. He argues that the money would better be paid. He has only $40 about him, but if the hostess will advance the balance of course she shall lose nothing. She does it, and is thereafter in the power of the blackmailer.
"Bogus Detective" Game.
A scamp, claiming to be a detective, often visits a reputable business man, having gained knowledge of indiscretion early in life. To hush it up they will demand from time to time money, under threats of exposure, thus causing the person to commit crime after crime to satisfy the heartless leech, who never stops until his victim is ruined.
In a similar manner does the alleged detective blackmail a man who has committed a crime and who has been imprisoned for it. Upon his release the man may feel like reforming and becoming a good citizen if given the chance, but this the detective will not permit, for as soon as he notices the ex-convict he will say, "Look here, young fellow, you know my name and address, and when I am in of an evening I want you to come and see me or I'll have you run in." The fear of being "run in" forces the man who has a desire to do right to steal to satisfy the blackmailing demands of this corrupt class of people. If the ex-convict obtains employment he is worked in a similar manner, under threats of exposure to his employer, and so forced to steal, and then the smart detective will exclaim, "There is no reformation in that fellow; I knew he would steal. He will never stop."
Storekeeper Scamps.
One of the most contemptible of creatures is the storekeeper who has caught some one (who has the appearance of having money), stealing some trifling article, and will exclaim, "Here, here! I have had stolen three hundred dollars' worth of goods by some one, and if you will settle for all I have had stolen, I will let up on you, and not prosecute."
These cowardly methods are simply mentioned to show to what depths of meanness some men will descend, and are not to be classed with the professional thief, with whom stealing is a trade. As to how the female blackmailer can be foiled, the remedy is obvious, and no man who possesses proper self-respect will ever become a victim.
How Fake "Journalists" Work.
The blackmailer first obtains some information about the early life of the person he intends to approach, and there are very few men who have not, in their youthful days, committed some indiscretion which might be brought against them after reaching maturer years. An escapade with a woman, or a mischievous boyish prank which proved more serious than was intended, are the usual indiscretions selected, and there can always be found plenty of gossips who are only too willing to relate full particulars. The information thus obtained is written up in a sensational style, and is taken to a cheap printing office, where it is put in type for a trifling cost.
A slip, or what is known in a printing office as a "proof," is then printed, and armed with this the blackmailer pays a visit to the person he intends to fleece. He represents himself as being connected with a reputable newspaper, and says that he has been sent to get the "other side of the story," at the same time producing the slip on which is printed the startling tale, which, if made public, would in all probability seriously effect the social standing and the commercial integrity of the intended victim. In the majority of cases the person approached will at once inquire how much the newspaper would pay for such an article, and the reply usually is, "From twenty to twenty-five dollars." "Suppose I pay for the article instead of the newspaper?" says the victim, "and I give you fifty dollars, wouldn't that repay you for your trouble in writing the article?" This is just what the blackmailer has been waiting for. He hems and haws for awhile, so as not to appear too anxious, or for the purpose of getting a higher bid, but the interview usually winds up in his securing a sum of money to suppress the information.
As he is leaving the house it may occur to the victim that as long as the story is known to the editor of the paper there may be a publication anyhow, and on this point he makes inquiry. "Oh," says the blackmailer, "there will be no danger of that. I will report that I have fully investigated the story, and that there is not a word of truth in it, and, of course, they will not dare to run the risk of being sued for heavy damages for printing it."
Few "Beats" Among Reporters.
There is no necessity for any man being victimized by the "newspaper beat." In the first place, no reputable newspaper ever puts a damaging story in type before every side of it has been thoroughly investigated. The very fact of a man exhibiting a "proof" is evidence that he is a fraud and has no newspaper connection. It can be said with truth that the repertorial profession of America has fewer "beats" in it than any other profession or business that can be mentioned. The majority of reporters are ambitious to gain higher positions, and it is a rare thing to find a man regularly connected with a newspaper descending to such trickery. If he is a genuine reporter he will exhibit his credentials, and should he be assigned to investigate a story that effects the standing of a respectable citizen, and be offered a bribe, he would undoubtedly publish that fact as an additional proof of the truth of what he has written. The treatment for this kind of a blackmailer is to kick him out of the house, and bid him do his worse. Depend upon it, the "scandal" will never become public.
The New York Way.
They watch some disreputable resort of the higher order until they see some respectable looking man or woman coming out of it. Suppose it is a woman, who may or may not have gone there for an improper purpose. The blackmailer follows her home, thus ascertaining her place of residence. The next day he calls upon her. He puts on an air of deep solemnity.
"I am an agent," says he, "employed by a society to ascertain the character of certain suspected houses. I saw you enter one of them yesterday and know that you remained there more than an hour. You know its character, and I shall, therefore, subpoena you as a witness." Then he puts his hand in his inside pocket, as if to get the subpoena.
Of course he hasn't any, but the woman usually faints about this time, and on her recovering is usually willing to take the jewels off her wrists and fingers, if she has no money, to buy her immunity from the subpoena. Once she makes a payment she is lost and has to continue it month after month, and year after year, till some kind of a scandal breaks out and she finds, with shame and sorrow, that her previous payments have only put off the evil day.