1074 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 27, 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
The Munnich Bros, of Port Jervis, 
N. Y., were induced by one Jail's, on be¬ 
half of the Howard Auto Contest Com¬ 
pany, Brooklyn, N. Y., to sign a promis¬ 
sory note for $1,000. payable to the 
Brooklyn concern. Later Munnich Bros, 
discovered that they had been deceived 
and brought suit to recover the note. 
After hearing the testimony the court 
granted the plaintiff’s judgment in full 
of claim and costs. Justice further scath¬ 
ingly condemned the tactics of the de¬ 
fendant, Jaffs and others and scored fake 
advertising schemes in general. lie said 
that the habit of scheming advertising 
men to go about the country inducing in¬ 
nocent merchants to sign promissory notes 
should be dealt with • severely.—Local 
Paper. 
No farmer was involved in the above 
case; but farmers do have similar cases 
when they suffer loss through misrepre¬ 
sentation and fraud. Too often the 
farmer pays up and lets it go. Often¬ 
times they would do better to fight as 
these merchants did. 
I have noticed that you publish all 
kinds of fake land warnings to your sub¬ 
scribers ; some I have seen before and 
some not. I ran across a variation of 
the Long Island lots about two years 
ago, sailing under the flag of “Authors’ 
Press.” A slick artist dropped in on me 
and told me he had two lots on Long 
Island he wished to make me a present 
of, etc., etc. I asked him in what way 
must I part with the coin, and how 
much? lie explained that the Authors’ 
Press was all the books of the universe 
with non-essentials cut out, such as hero¬ 
ines’ eyes, shimmering wool, just the 
skeleton or scheme of the story, all for 
$85. I told him that they would be of 
about as much use to me as a chicken 
skeleton with all the meat eaten off; if 
he had to give two lots to sell, the books, 
I did not want them, and if the lots were 
so worthless as to be cheap premiums 
I would not take them even Without mak¬ 
ing any - paynVeiit. but not to feel- badly 
about it. as there were plenty of suckers 
here who would trade for such stuff, lie 
stood not bn the order of going, but went. 
There is a scheme being worked in 
the Birmingham district that is very ef¬ 
fective. A large tract of land is ac¬ 
quired, a steel plant, or some such thing, 
which will employ a lot of men, is or¬ 
ganized on paper; contract is let to clear 
the site, the foundations are begun, and. 
lots are sold to people in the new town 
or tracts for farmers to supply them 
with produce, etc. As soon as the tract 
is sold out, or the greater part of it, 
work stops, and the factory remains on 
paper. It has been the means of un¬ 
loading a lot of worthless land on the 
unsophisticated. It has been worked a 
number of times. Practically the same 
scheme, but worked a little differently, 
was tried near here, but only a few suck¬ 
ers got hooked, as most of the natives 
have been hooked so often in the same 
place that they are kind of suspicious ot 
strangers who are too generous. ’This 
may be a new one on you, but I doubt it. 
Alabama. M. A. r. 
The Authors’. Press was a new one on 
us;, but we heartily . commend the pru-. 
donee and wisdom of our correspondent. 
But it seldom is. the men who could af¬ 
ford to lose who patronize such proposi¬ 
tions. A general suspicion of generous 
strangers would save many a hard-earned 
dollar to credulous people. 
James A. Wigmore, President of the 
Tubes Realty and Terminal Company, 
of 516 Fifth Avenue, for whom a civil 
order of arrest had been issued by Su¬ 
preme Court Justice Whitaker, to in¬ 
sure his appearance in a suit brought 
by Frederic W. Hill, of 601 West 140th 
Street, surrendered himself at noon yes¬ 
terday at the Hotel St. Regis, where he 
had apartments, to Deputy Sheriff Bier. 
Wigmore furnished $25,000 bail and 
was released by Sheriff Harburger. Hill 
is suing Wigmore and James R. Jack- 
son. a realty man serving a five-year 
sentence in Sing Sing Prison for lar¬ 
ceny, in connection with a deal involv¬ 
ing 47 acres of land at Hempstead, of 
which Hill and Jackson were half own¬ 
ers. Hill charged that Jackson and Wig- 
more induced him to sell half of the 
property to a dummy of Jackson on rep¬ 
resentation that he would receive $6,000 
an acre for his share. At that time the 
land was valued at $3,500 an acre. Hill 
complained that the land was sold for 
$4,000 an acre and that he received no 
part of the proceeds.—Daily Paper. 
Sometimes farmers and other small 
investors living at a distance are per¬ 
suaded to believe that they can send their 
money to land promoters and reap quick 
riches. What they actually do is to pay 
the bills for the sleek promoters at de 
luxe hotels like St. Regis. 
Frank M. Wells and Frank C. Welles, 
of Ridgefield, N. J., to-day filed a bill in 
the Court of Chancery, asking the ap¬ 
pointment of a receiver for the City 
Realty Company, which owns orchards 
in Kansas, besides properties in Michigan 
and Washington. The company was or¬ 
ganized to deal in suburban real estate 
in New Jersey, but extended its opera¬ 
tions by purchasing property in several 
Western States. 
Frank M. Wells, who is President and 
General Manager of the company, al¬ 
leges that it is indebted to him for a 
large sum for salary at $6,000 a year. 
The petitioners assert that the company 
is now without cash assets, although its 
real estate holdings are of large value. 
It is also asserted that there is now due 
an installment of $10,000 on a mortgage 
for $35,000 on the Clark Valley orchards 
in Miami County, Kan.—City Paper. 
Some time back we had difficulty in 
convincing some of our young and en¬ 
thusiastic friends that they ran serious 
risks in putting their money into these 
orchard propositions. The records of 
failures are piling up ; but we have yet to 
learn of the first notable success. The 
small investor rarely has anything but 
a contract to deliver the deed when pay¬ 
ments are completed. The property is 
always mortgaged and the management 
usually extravagant. When the crash 
comes the contract is worthless and the 
payments are lost. 
Having been a subscriber of your paper 
for some time, after reading the number 
of claims you settle for people, I would 
like you to collect one for us. September, 
1910, we shipped via N. Y. C. & H. R. 
IL R. 700 baskets of grapes by freight 
to York & Whitney Co., Boston, Mass. 
The baskets were all put in the car very 
carefully and the car sealed by the agent 
and on its arrival at Boston there were 
quite a number of baskets upside down 
and the grapes crushed and had to be 
sold at a loss. The railroad acknowledged 
the claim for $14, but after receiving the 
freight bill and all the other papers con¬ 
nected with it they refused to pay the 
loss. A. T. s. 
New York. 
The claim was declined by the railroad 
because York & Whitney accepted the 
shipment as in good order. The damaged 
condition should have been noted on the 
receipt. In neglecting to do this the 
commission house made it impossible for 
the shipper to recover from the railroad; 
and in equity should stand the loss in¬ 
stead of forcing it upon the shipper. 
I am a small, berry grower, and have 
some difficulty in obtaining correct re¬ 
turns for berries shipped. I shipped all 
berries to different parties in same town 
on a two cents per quart commission. 
Not being satisfied with the sales from 
one party. I decided to go there direct 
and buy my own berries. I bought 28 
quarts from my own crate and paid 18 
cents per quart and got a receipt for 
same. When this man sent me back re¬ 
turns for that same crate he billed them 
to me at 16 cents. I have positive proof 
of this. What am I to do and cannot 
the party be made to settle at my terms? 
New York. J. s. 
This , seems to be a case of misrepre¬ 
sentation or fraud. Under the criminal 
code the agent is liable to criminal pros¬ 
ecution. The principal may. swear out a 
warrant for his arrest; or the evidence 
may be. turned over to the district attor¬ 
ney with request for prosecution. 
Hurrah for The R. N.-Y.! It is a 
terror to evil-doers, including “forgetful” 
commission men. Very soon after I re¬ 
ceived your letter re my claim against 
the Boston commission house, I received 
returns from them for the three crates 
of eggs sent early in the Winter. No 
word of explanation came, simply checks 
and return slips, the same as if there 
had been no delay or trouble. On two 
crates they paid more than their letter 
stated, and under the circumstances the 
settlement is satisfactory; and I thank 
you very much for your assistance, which 
brought them to time. I feel, however, 
that without your help I should probably 
not have secured it without expense for 
collection. c. J. D. 
Delaware. 
In this case we withhold the name in 
consideration of the prompt and satisfac¬ 
tory settlement on our request. Such 
experiences, however, are irritating to 
shippers. The consignee made no ac¬ 
knowledgment of the goods. A night let¬ 
ter of inquiry brought the reply that re¬ 
turns were being made at 31 cents. The 
returns, however, failed to materialize, 
and the account was sent to us. In 10 
days a remittance was sent to the shipper 
at six cents above the price originally 
promised. There may or may not be sat¬ 
isfactory explanation of the apparently 
damaging circumstances, but for this 
time we give them the benefit of the 
doubt. J. J. D. 
Willis : “I see a fellow in New York 
took out $250,000 insurance on $200 
worth of goods.” Gillis: “That’s noth¬ 
ing. I know a lot of fellows who carry 
$25,000 life insurance on a 30-cent life.” 
Puck. 
Where Accuracy 
Is a Big Factor! 
Gone are the days of haphazard 
Farm methods. Now farms are run 
on definite schedule. Moments are 
golden. Each farm is a big manufac¬ 
turing plant. Its employees, its ma¬ 
chinery, the soil itself—all are crowd¬ 
ed to fullest capacity. The saving of 
each moment counts in lowering 
production costs. 
The farmer, more than the city 
business man, needs an accurate and 
dependable watch. 
Your city man can better afford a 
make-shift. He is only a block away 
from the repair shop. And he lives 
and works where public clocks face 
him on every hand. So, when his 
watch goes wrong, he suffers' only 
slight inconvenience. 
The farmer, on the other hand, is 
miles away from the watch doctor. 
Unless he bought it from a reputable 
jeweler and had it then and there 
expertly regulated to his personal 
requi remen Is —his watch is gping to 
run fast or slow. For regulatijm or 
repairs he must take it or sen’tf'it in 
—and wait! 
^oirihRend 
99 
absolutely insures you against watch 
troubles. 
First, because of the way it’s made. 
Second, because of the way it’s sold. 
We take six full months to build it. 
Then it must run 700 hours on trial 
and it is inspected 
411 times in themak- 
ing. Finally.it must 
keep perfect time in 
a refrigerator and 
then in an electric 
oven. Then,and then 
only, it is ready for 
you. No condition to 
which your habits and environments 
can subject it can more severely test 
its "staying” qualities. 
Having produced, in the SOUTH 
BEND, the Master Time-piece, our 
next responsibility is to deliver it as 
such to you. This we could not do if 
we permitted the SOUTH BEND to 
be sold by mail. 
For only a jeweler—and a very expert 
one at that—can properly regulate it to 
your person. So we have picked 15,083 jew¬ 
elers in the large cities and the small vil¬ 
lages of the United States to sell SOUTH 
BEND Watches. 
Each of the 15,083 
knows this famous ice- 
pro or, furnace-proof 
watch from A to Z. 
Each is an expert in 
watch regulation. 
You can rely upon 
it that any SOUTH 
BEND Watch sold to 
you by any SOUTH BEND dealer will 
give life-time satisfaction and service. 
This much—and more—we guarantee. 
Look up your SOUTH BEND dealer. 
Have him show you different SOUTH 
BEND models. Meanwhile, write ns 
and get our free book. “ HOW AND 
TO SELECT A GOOD 
Sold Only 
by Jewelers 
WHERE 
WATCH.” 
THE SOUTH BEND WATCH CO., 19 Rowley St., South Bend, Ind. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal. ’ See guarantee editorial page. : : • 
