KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



11 



GULLS AND THEIR VICTIMS,— 



OB THE 



MYSTERY OF AN ADVERTISEMENT. 



It is a curious fact connected with our 

 race, that whilst one part is progressing 

 with railway speed towards perfection, the 

 other part is retrograding in intellect in an 

 inverse ratio. If any proof of this be want- 

 ing, see it in the blind allegiance paid by 

 the million to newspaper advertisements — 

 all of th^mjust so many "shams." 



Let us take up any one of the daily sheets 

 of the Times newspaper. What see we 

 there ? Why, advertisements innumerable 

 of every kind of " want" — whether as 

 applied to things, people, or money. It has 

 been said, that the public may be divided 

 into ten parts. Nine of these parts are 

 fools, the tenth consists of wise men. It has 

 been further said, and truly — that the tenth 

 part swallows up the other nine ! This is a 

 fact ! 



The tenth part of the public, then, are 

 those who live by putting specious adver- 

 tisements into the " Times," so artfully 

 worded as to work upon the passions or the 

 weak point of an erring mortal. The hook 

 is, for the most part, so nicely, so temptingly 

 baited, that it is sure of securing a victim : 

 when secured, bis " fate" may be guessed : ex. 

 gr. 



It is well known that many of our work - 

 ing clergy are very poor (all " worthy" clergy- 

 men must be very poor. This is nature's 

 law). Well ; to" meet their views," money is 

 advertised as forthcoming " on easy terms." 

 The poor clergyman sees the bait ; swallows 

 it ; corresponds ; sends up his acceptance on 

 blank paper, gets no money in return ; finds 

 himself " done" on coming up to town, and 

 his acceptance originally sent for £100 altered 

 to £400. The bill is passed away ; it becomes 

 due ; the clergyman is sued ; persecuted ; 

 ruined ! The same trick, in different dis- 

 guises, fills the columns of the " Times" 

 daily. The advertisers live in style ; whilst 

 their victims are plundered, and frequently 

 commit suicide. 



As for the simple who believe every 

 thing on a small scale, they are plundered 

 very easily. Thus, if a man be bald headed, 

 he reads, in the advertisement of a swindling 

 advertiser, — " hair is perfectly restored after 

 seven years baldness." Miss Dean tells him 

 the " fact" so positively, that he cannot but 

 believe her. He pays 2s. for the " elegantly 

 scented compound," and finds himself 

 " done," — besides being more bald than ever 

 he was. He is exhorted to " persevere." 

 He does so ; buys some dozen pots, and finds 

 himself without a single hair on his head ! 

 The same with quack medicines, — in fact 

 with nearly all the marvellous advertise- 



ments. The greater the fabrication, the more 

 impossible the cure, — the greater the credit 

 given to the wonderful heal-all ! One " Pro- 

 fessor" tells us daily in the " Times," that his 

 ointment cures broken legs, after two or three 

 applications ; and that his pills will make an 

 old man young again. He says so ; and 

 people believe him. They take his physic 

 and die ; he takes their money and laughs 

 at them. The fact is, none of these adver- 

 tisements can be believed. " They lie like 

 truth." 



It is vain for us, to hope to effect much 

 good by any expose that we might make ; still 

 if we only save one intended victim, we 

 shall be more than satisfied. We will now 

 introduce a brief account of a recent 

 case of extortion made by a " Matrimonial 

 Alliance Association," who had volunteered 

 by advertisement to procure wives or hus- 

 bands " to order." The person " done" on 

 this occasion, was Mr. Pellas — a merchant 

 of Fenchurch Street ; but it turned out, 

 subsequently, a case of " the biter bit." 

 We record the circumstances of the trial in 

 Our Journal, by way of a warning to all 

 who want wives, or husbands " by proxy." 

 Rely on it, good people, the old way is best. 

 If a woman is not worth winning and wooing, 

 she is not worth having : — 



An action was brought in the West- 

 minster County Court, by a foreigner named 

 Pellas, a merchant, of Fenchurch Street, 

 City, against a person of the name of Hunter, a 

 manager of the Legal Matrimonial Alliance Asso- 

 ciation, the offices of which were stated to be at 

 No. 2, Portsmouth-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, to 

 recover the sum of £10, which he had paid under 

 a promise of being introduced by the " Society" to 

 a lady destined to be his wife, but which promise 

 had not been performed. 



From the statement of Mr. De Jersey, who 

 detailed the facts in an unusually humorous style, 

 it appeared that in September last his client, who 

 was a native of Genoa, observed in a weekly 

 newspaper an article headed "Important to 

 Bachelors and Spinsters," wherein all who were 

 single were invited to become members, if they 

 desired to taste the joys of wedlock ; the mar- 

 riage to be of mutual advantage. The plaintiff 

 wishing to try such an event, wrote to Mr. Hugo 

 Beresforcl, to whom applications were to be made 

 at the above address, he being secretary, the fol- 

 lowing letter : — 



" Sept. 3, 1852. 



" Sir, — Some time ago, the writer saw an 

 advertisement of yours in the London paper, un- 

 der the title of ' The Matrimonial Alliance Asso- 

 ciation,' and now should feel obliged by your 

 letting him know, at the earliest convenience, 

 what you think you could really do for him, 

 he being a most honorable and respectable 

 unmarried gentleman desirous of getting mar- 

 ried to a respectable lady — no matter her age 

 — possessing a handsome fortune, and who, after 

 satisfactory inquiries, might be disposed to help 

 him with a loan of £2,000, purposely to increase 



