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.