308 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June. 
hair, and a strange costume, ail told the story of 
the hardships and exposures of the mining camp. 
Those “California days” brought their peculiar 
swindles; some of these had the returned miner 
as their iutended victim, and others grew out of 
that state of public feeling which invested every¬ 
thing related to the “ Golden State ” with a sort of 
gilded halo. Conspicuous in this latter class was 
THE GOLD BRICK SWINDLE, 
which, with many others, had long ago passed into 
the limbo of things forgotten. We should not 
have been more surprised to meet a typical re¬ 
turned Californian on the street, than we were to 
learn that a swindler had been arrested for reviv¬ 
ing the gold brick game. In the early mining 
days, various private establishments in California 
bought gold in the crude form of dust, nuggets, 
etc., and cast it into blocks, in which form it could 
be transported without loss. From this shape and 
size, these blocks were known as “ gold bricks,” 
and were used for remittances, being the form 
in which gold was bought and sold. The brick 
swindle was managed thus : a pretended Cali¬ 
fornian advertised bullion at a bargain. To those 
who applied, he represented that he wished to turn 
his bricks into cash at ouce. Rather than wait for 
the slow routine of the assay office, he would sell 
at a large sacrifice, as he wished to go home to his 
family. If the customer had any doubt of the 
value of the bullion, a piece was chipped or 
sawed oil from a corner of a brick, and the two 
went to a jeweller or other expert, who pronounced 
upon the quality of the gold. The bargain being 
made, the purchaser, when he reached home, found 
that his bricks were some common metal, plated 
on the surface, having but little gold about them, 
save at the corner especially prepared for sam¬ 
pling. A chap with many aliases has been trying 
the old trick, advertising wonderful “ Business 
Opportunities,” which offered great returns for 
moderate investments. This case is one of many 
illustrations of the wisdom of the law 
PREVENTING FRAUDULENT USE OF THE MAILS. 
One of the gold brick chap’s correspondents, 
discovering that the scheme was a swindle, made a 
•complaint, aud the swindler now finds himself 
committed by a U. S. Marshal, to await his trial 
for the use of the mails for the purpose of de¬ 
frauding. 
THE REPEAL OF THE LAW. 
The law which allows the Postmaster General to 
stop letters, and to prevent the payment of money 
orders to parties officially recorded as “ Frauds,” 
is every now and then threatened. As the lottery 
managers, with abundant capital to employ lob¬ 
byists, were unable to effect this, long before the 
great utility of the law had been established, there 
is little probability that any later attempts will 
succeed. It is the only barrier between the public 
^nd a horde of swindlers, and has broken up a 
vast number of schemes which could not be 
reached in any other manner. This is notably the 
case with 
THE COUNTERFEIT MONEY SWINDLE, 
Also known as the “Saw-dust Swindle.” As we 
have already shown, there is no counterfeit money 
in the case, and the rascals could not be punished 
for issuing it. The present law prevents the swin¬ 
dlers from offering it, and their “ occupation’s 
gone.” 
Lig'litning ECods and EEodders. 
The “Lightning Bug,” as it is popularly called, 
is not more characteristic of midsummer than is 
the Lightning Ilumbqg of early summer. As soon 
as the roads are passable the “ Rodder ” is on them. 
We say “ The Rodder,” in the generic sense, as we 
would speak of “the tramp,” and the like. While 
no locality can claim entire immunity from them, 
they, like malaria, prevail more in a given State in 
certain years than in others. But a few years ago, 
the majority of the complaints came from Missouri 
and the adjoining States. Indications now seem to 
point to Indiana as the favored ground. The busi¬ 
ness is well systematized. The advance-guard is 
in light travelling order. These chaps, for there 
are usually two of them, go in advance of the 
actual Rodders, who do the work. 
TO TAKE THE ORDERS 
is their business, and well do they understand it. 
Before the order can be taken, the owner must 
be convinced that his house needs rodding, and 
here is where the skill is displayed. Any one can 
put up a lightning rod, but it takes a man of talent 
to convince the owner that the safety of his house 
depends upon having one, and very soon, too. The 
fellow can tell off-hand the number of houses and 
barns in the State or county that have been struck 
in the past five years; the value of property de¬ 
stroyed, and, moreover, can show that any building 
struck by lightning in spite of the rod, was not fur¬ 
nished with his particular rod, but that other 
patent, which was worse than no rod. Some men 
he approaches with the economical showing, if the 
owner has the appearance of a reading man, his rods 
are at once “ conductors,” and he talks about 
“dispersion,” “induction,” and such matters, as 
learnedly as if he were on the best possible terms 
with what he calls the “ flooed.” He is only too 
glad to find no one at home but the women folks. 
He then deals in statistics of deaths by lightning— 
shows how large a proportion are of children, and 
by the time the man of the house, who has been 
sent for, makes his appearance, the question is 
practically settled. The rod is so much a foot, will 
take so many feet, the mental calculation is soon 
made, and 
AN ORDER FOR THE ROD IS SIGNED. 
Just here is the fatal mistake. The culminating 
point in every form of swindle, its end and aim is 
to get the signature. The name given, there is no 
more time spent at the house. The next place is 
visited, and the performance is repeated with any 
needed variations. In a week or two along come 
the operators with a heavy load of rods, and soon 
the side of the home-like house look like a magni¬ 
fied gridiron, while the roof is covered with points 
like an enormous hatchel, bristling with defiance 
at lightning of every pattern. The owner don’t 
quite like the looks of it, but his family he feels are 
safe, and it did not cost so very much. In a few 
minutes he sees his bill, and finds the amount to be 
four to six times what he had been told. “Oh, 
that was the price of a single length. A large 
house like this would not be protected with less 
than six, the number you ordered,” and produces 
the order with his name signed for so many rods at 
so much each. This is essentially what happens in 
hundreds of cases, the few that are heard of being 
small in proportion to the many that are kept quiet. 
But it will be asked, 
“what shall we DO? 
Our bouses are in constant danger, and we tremble 
every time we hear a ‘ thunder-clap.’ ” What not 
to do, is not to employ an unknown person to 
“ rod ” the house. A badly put-up rod is a source 
of danger rather than of safety. In every consider¬ 
able place there are mechanics who know how to 
do the work at honest prices. If none are within 
reach, procure a good work on the subject, study 
the few important rules, buy the iron and put up 
the rod. There is nothing about it that an intelli¬ 
gent man can not understand, and the work is all 
of the plainest and simplest, but it must be done 
in accordance with a few plain rules, which must 
be understood at the start. 
A correspondent, in the Old Bay State, sends 
us 6ome 
Viilg-nr Circulars 
that are passed around among boys who travel on 
the Fitchburg and other railroads, and the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist is appealed to, to notify the men 
engaged in this business that they are watched. 
The goods offered for sale are described as “ red- 
hot coals” of midnight and bath-house “frolics,” 
and various “ novelties ” are also listed, at prices 
so low as to indicate their worthlessness. This is 
not merely a humbug. It is an attack on social 
order and decency. The swindling humbug preys 
upon the purse. This seeks to shake the personal 
honor, the moral nature, and the better and purer 
instincts of the young. It is a loathsome and de¬ 
testable business. 
CangSit by si Bfcccoy 
One of the New York lottery men, and a veteran 
hand at the business, having been frequently ar¬ 
rested, was caught at his old tricks the other 
day. He notified a gentleman in Rhode Island 
that he had purchased the business of several 
lottery concerns, and their lists of names, that 
among them was the name of the Rhode Island 
gentleman, with §6 to his credit, and that, if he 
would send §4 more, he should receive §10 worth 
of tickets, and would be certain to draw a large 
prize. The case was reported to the postal author¬ 
ities, a decoy letter was sent from Rhode Island, 
and the receiver was promptly captured and putin 
the course of legal prosecution. A dangerous 
scheme was thus nipped in the bud in a most sum¬ 
mary manner. 
The “Ulutnal 4 'o»s> pern l ive ” 
Swindles. 
A subscriber in Union City, Indiana, writes 
that he-has received two or three batches of clr 
culars concerning the Fleming and Merriau 
“Mutual Cooperative Fund.” This is one of thr 
Chicago houses noticed in the American Agricu* 
turist for April as having been proscribed by the 
Postmaster General, he having ordered that mail 
matter sent to these firms should not be delivered. 
This at once had the effect to cut off the supplies, 
by drying up a chief source of revenue. When 
these firms were cut off, they were receiving about 
§5,000 a day by mail and express. Our correspon¬ 
dent had profited by the warniug given in this pa¬ 
per, and his response to the Chicago operators was, 
“ I am a subscriber to and reader of the American 
Agriculturist." Such a man is not likely to be vic¬ 
timized by these alluring schemes. Another cor¬ 
respondent writes as follows, concerning another 
firm of Chicago operators: 
Charleston City, Iowa. 
To the American Agriculturist : 
I feel to bless your valuable paper for the words 
of warning from time to time in your “ Sundry 
Humbugs” column. In your February, 1883, num¬ 
ber, you sounded a note of warning against R. E. 
Kendall & Co., of Chicago. Enclosed is a slip, 
copied from a Chicago paper, vindicating your 
prescience as to Kendall & Co. [The slip enclosed 
had reference to the Post-office order.] You have 
saved me §20 by that note of warning in that single 
case. If I had paid you $20 for subscription to 
your paper for 1883, I could have well afforded it, 
and been a gainer by the valuable information, 
caution, and warning of a single article. 
Truly yours, A Farmer. 
This is a sample of many letters that reach this 
office, and we take this occasion to ask, what we 
have often asked before, that our readers forward 
us all such circulars for exposure. 
The I.esters and tlieir Chroinos 
are among the latest and most persistent of those 
claiming to offer counterfeit money. Their circu¬ 
lars, which made use of the thin disguise of 
“ United States Chromos,” have been flooding the 
country, and were signed by “ C,” “ E.” or some 
other letter of the alphabet, “Lester.” Those 
who have been foolish enough to write to the Les- ! 
ters will wait long for a reply, as their letters are 
not delivered. 
Tlie Commonwealth Bistribution 
Company. 
To the subscriber, who wants to know about 
tickets in this lottery scheme, we answer, steer 
clear of it. A subscriber in West Brookfield, Mass., 
wffio “^foolishly sent two dollars for a ticket,” has 
made up his mind by this time, that he does not 
care to invest any further in that direction. The 
public should know, that the “Commonwealth Dis¬ 
tribution Company ” of Louisville, Ky., is on the 
Official List of Frauds. 
