February 19, 1914. 



The Florists^ Review 



15 



FLIM-FLAMS FELLOW FLORISTS 



FACES FEDERAL PRISON 



United States Postoffice Inspectors, on information supplied by 

 The Review, arrest florist charged with using the mails to defraud 



I HIS is the tale of a florist 

 who appears to have found 

 easy money too great a 

 temptation. Also, it is an 

 admonition, if there are 

 others similarly inclined, 

 that they would better not try any 

 tricks on readers of The Review. 



It is the story of August Pajonk, once 

 an honest florist, now a man of many 

 aliases, in jail for want of a bonds- 

 man and facing a term in federal pri- 

 son. He was arrested at Pittsburgh last 

 week, by C. H. Clarahan and A. E. Ger- 

 mer, from the office of General James 

 E. Stuart, chief postoffice inspector at 

 Chicago, who went to Pittsburgh as the 

 result of information placed in their 

 hands by The Review. Pajonk was 

 given a hearing before the United 

 States Commissioner at Pittsburgh Feb- 

 ruary 12 and was held under $5,000 

 bonds to await the action ef the Fed- 

 eral grand jury. 



How Pajonk Operated. 



Apparently Pajonk had intended do- 

 ing an honest business; he 



advertised and took orders 



with the idea of picking up 

 the stock to fill them. But 

 it was not so easy or so 

 profitable as it had prom- 

 ised to be — the temptatiou 

 was great, with a pocket- 

 ful of other people's money 

 and no home ties, to pull 

 out, change names, and try 

 it over again somewhere 

 else. Pajonk succumbed. 



Pajonk knows the trade 

 thoroughly. He made just 

 one mistake: he overlooked 

 the zealousness with which 

 The Review guards the in- 

 tegrity of its advertising 

 columns. That was what 

 got him the chance to de- 

 fend himself on the charge 

 of using the mails to de- 

 fraud. 



"When Pajonk slipped he 

 rented a postoffice box at 

 La Grange, 111., just outside 

 of Chicago, under the name 

 of August Miller. He sent 

 two small classified ads to 

 The Review, accompanied 

 by cash, for publication 

 over the La Grange address. 

 There were nearly 1,000 

 separate classified ads in 

 that issue, originating all 

 over America, and it is a 

 matter of simple impossi- 

 bility for the publishers to 

 have intimate acquaint- 

 ance with all the advertis- 

 ers. But when a Chicago 

 florist, a day or two later. 



dropped in at The Review office and 

 remarked that he went to La Grange 

 to buy some of the advertised stock, and 

 couldn't locate the advertiser, it was 

 enough to arouse suspicion. There 

 doubtless are many honest florists whose 

 places of business are not easily found, 

 but if they are not known in their home 

 towns they have to show The Review 

 before they can use its advertising col- 

 umns. Consequently, the ads never ap- 

 peared a second time. 



Pajonk Moves On. 



An investigator from the office of 

 The Review went to La Grange. The 

 postmaster had received no complaints. 

 There was not the slightest evidence 

 that anything was wrong; only no Aug- 

 ust Miller could be found. The post- 

 office inspector was asked to keep an 

 eye open, and in a few days reported 

 that the mail was no longer being taken 

 from lock box 54 at La Grange. Miller 

 had moved on. 



Then a complaint came that afforded 

 a basis for action. A florist wrote that 



August Pajonk. 



Alias August Miller, alias Albert Frcl. alias Fred Klein, alias Miss Anna Klein, 



alias Miss K. Schwartz. 



he had sent an order for geranium cut- 

 tings, accompanied by a postoffice 

 money order; a typewritten acknowledg- 

 ment had been received, stating that the 

 stock would be shipped in a few days, 

 but it hadn't arrived. Investigation 

 showed that the money order had been 

 cashed. 



But the man had gone! 

 TTnfortunately, there were other com- 

 plaints. The lock box at La Grange 

 had received much mail. 



A moth nearly always comes back to 

 the flame, until, finally, it scorches him. 

 And it seemed likely that this man, 

 having had the spending of unearned 

 money, would try for more of it. He 

 did — almost immediately. This time the 

 name used was Albert Frei and the ad- 

 dress was 2509 Penn avenue, Pittsburgh. 

 Although written with a typewriter and 

 signed on the machine, the communica- 

 tions of Miller and Frei were so similar 

 in appearance as to leave no doubt they 

 were written by the same man. Conse- 

 quently, The Review did not print the 

 Frei advertisement. Al- 

 though the advertisement 

 promptly appeared in an- 

 other paper. The Review 

 turned its order over to the 

 postoffice inspectors. Right 

 on the heels of it there 

 came another advertising 

 order, this time signed Fred 

 Klein, Colona, Pa. The 

 Klein letter was so lijce the 

 others in appearance that 

 the postoffice inspectors 

 started at once for Pitts- 

 burgh. The arrest followed 

 in due course. The Fred 

 Klein advertisement ap- 

 peared in another trade pa- 

 per February 14, even after 

 "Klein" was in jail. 

 Identity Established. 



When the postoffice in- 

 spectors searched the room 

 in Pittsburgh they were 

 able to establish the iden- 

 tity of the man who used 

 the names of Miller, Frei 

 and Klein. He is August 

 Pajonk, who is well known 

 in the trade. At the open- 

 ing of 1911 Pajonk was 

 working for W. N. C. Klein 

 on the Six-Mile Ferry road, 

 near Fairhaven, Pa, A lit- 

 tle later he went to Pitts- 

 burgh and within a few 

 days went to work for J. L. 

 Wyland at Allison Park. In 

 December he joined the 

 forces of the Pittsburgh 

 Cut Flower Co., at Crystal 

 Farm, Gibsonia, Pa., but he 

 did not stay there long, 



