55 Atuc ft lIT ra W ItrJ V . j . llli 1 1 111 if . 2?T H.E. TWINE IX$ MERICANS havo the reputation of be ing quick wilted and shrewd. As a matter of fact we are Barnumlzed bluffers, far more gullible and credu lous than any class of any nation. Right now, In nearly every moder ate-sized city of the United States we are falling In line and dropping gold Into the tills of organized fake auc tion stores and taking In exchange a misrepresented article. These bogus auction stores are nioro harmful to us as a nation than all the old time lotteries, policy games, mail-order fakes and circus grafts, including gold bricks and shell games, combined. They are not honest. They play "heads we win, tails you lose." Uncle Sam doesn't want to bring up his boys In the business; yet he countenances it, and over 530 of his cities i issue licenses regularly to the auctioneers of these fake companies, giving them the privi lege of swindling the public at a nominal fee. Any town with over 10,000 blind, narnumlzed YHnkeea waiting to be buncoed Is considered a fertile field. From coast to coast, mams i i THE PROPRIETOR M W I C ' mtcAwc - ' llll L ill ' THE AUCTJOrf. jhul Mil $2.50 Two from line to line, we find In nearly every state from one to forty cities supporting temporary auction swindles. Few are permanent; it is a mushroom business wnien springs up over , night in a cheap store, leased from month to month, and stays until trouble occurs or the field is worked dry. New York city alone demands to be duped by no less than eight practically permanent com panies of this sort, only shifting their positions to greener fields as the crowds change. There are three ways to tell a legitimate auc tion. If the place Is permanent and advertises sales on certain days, if the goods to be sold are catalogued piece for piece, and If there are no outside men hired to control the bidding, then It Is certain that the sale is genuine. The fake auction' game is played under the pseudo patronage of reliability. The auctioneer's license, issued by the city, Is hung conspicuously near the door and the goods are claimed to have been consigned from private sources or pawn- " brokers In nearby cities. It Is misrepresentation from the start As a matter of fact the goods ,were picked up In Job lots from novelty houses, Jobbers, Japanese stores and regular auction sup ply firms who handle Job lots of trashy stuff and are to be found In all the larger cities. The ivories they handle are made of cheap clay by shrewd Japs who havi scraped through the shell lot American bluff and found the flabbiness of the flesh beneath. These antiques crumble to pieces after six months in a heated apartment. Practi cally all 'the goods handled in these stores are m?.de on the same principle and bought at from oneflfth to onc-flftteth of what they will bring at auction. There is nothing criminal In selling at an ex orbitant profit If the purchaser gets the square deal. But a fake auction company is primarily a ring of cheats never intentionally giving anyone a square deal. , The proprietor is the arch roguo. His profit depends on selling an article at anywhere from fifty to two, three and sometimes five hundred dollars. The auction does not pay if run for the average buyer; it is merely a trap, a "plant," for the occasional "good thing" who happens in and Is quickly relieved of a large amount of money through an elaborate system he never suspects. It is a Joyless game, played on cut-and-drled rules which admit of no freshness or originality. The average cast for they are all actors and play the same cheap show every day is made up of one backer, or proprietor, two auctioneers, one pretty girl cashier, and from two to ten "shilla" (the pale-faced people with mushy morals), their number depending on the size and situation of the store. The backer usually Is a shrewd and unscrupu lous man who rents a vacant store, fills it with a scattering of cheap, showy articles to attract at tention and a number of large so-called "workB of art;" and "antiques" which, on inspection, prove to be minors. The range runs from foun tain pens at ten cents to deceptive "ivories," "bronzes" and "paintings by the old masters" that bring from fifty to two hundred and fifty dollurs, and sometimes more, from the uninitiated. The proprietor hires a pretty girl cashier and counts her as an additional attraction. He gets one or two auctioneers they usually travel In ' pairs, to relieve one another and the public and guarantees them ten per cent, of tho sales; which commission runs from forty to two hundred dollars a week. Then the dealer incorporates the butkbsno of the whole crooked business the body of "shllls." The word "shlll," or "shll liver" in full, is of Inde terminate origin. It is synonymous with "cap per," "booster," "ringer," "dummy," "stool," "stool pigeon" and "outside man;" all techlncal slang titles for the shabby crea ture, the human buzzard, who picks up his foul Hy ing by r as c a f 1 1 y . and roguery in working between the public and some swindling game: in this case, working among thoiio who stop In at the auction and pretending to have no connection with the sale, betraying a score of people a day after ingratiating himself in their good graces through cunning and craft. Without these shllls no Bham auction can ex ist. Of course In smaller towns only two or three, can bo used, as strangers are more easily noticed in such places. They are the crooks on whom the proprietor relies to pick out unsuspecting vis itors snnred by the bargain lure and Jockey them Into buying misrepresented articles. The shlll mixes with the crowd. Ills business is to look Just like an Interested buyer and He In wait for the fly for which the elaborate web was spun. This Individual, for whom the scenery Is Bet nnd the actors dressed, is called in technical slang "a rummy." The old three-card monte men chris tened him "sucker." Picture a room 40 feet long and 20 feet wide.. Double doors to the sidewalk are invitingly open; above them hangs an enticing red flag bearing the name of what purports to be a legitimate auction firm; beneath that, In large letters, are the wordB: SALE TODAY. Pick out any acquaintance who lives in a small town, is fuirly prosperous, and has come to the nearby city oflO.OOO to 30,100 population to look around for the day, purchase a present for his wife and some Implements for the farm. He has read in the papers and magazines ac counts of book, art and antique auctions and not ed the ttugh prices brought by rarities. When he stumbles on to the flagrant flag of the fake auc tion house ard looks in at the window, heaped'' with a miscellany of antiques, he Is suddenly stirred by thut perennial longing for a bargain. He glances through the door. There Is a wor ried auc tioneer struggling with elht dull faced people. He Is trying franticully to sell a pair of opera glasses. "Genuine I.einlor, gentlemen ; concave and con vex lentics, put up In ihls heavy morocco case," the uueiloneer cries, "and $2 is bid for them. 'Think of that! Not a tenth of thbir value. Why. I don't believe you gentlemen would give to see statue of liberty do a Salome dance9 dollars bid, oh, shlll! Two dollars!" Jones, your out-of-town friend, Is undecided whether to go In or not; but at that moment a fellow near the door shakes his head to a seem ing stranger beside him and says in a low voice; "It's a shame. Things are going; for nothing. Wish I had the price to buy some of that cut glass. It'll sell for a song." Jones overhears and is interested. He thinks the mind of everybody In that store Is centered on the opera glasses, going so cheap. He smiles at their rapt attention and the auctioneer's hard luck complaints. The smile would disappear In stantly if he knew that he' himself was the sole concern of the eight minds In that audience, and the auctioneer. He would bo furious If he knew that the whole sale of the opera glasses was a sham; that when the auctioneer saw Jonesey looking in he immediately transmitted this fact to the shlll nearest the door by saying, "Oh, shlll," casu ally In his sreech. Jones had never heard the word, so naturally he didn't select It with suspicion from the auctioneer's Jargon, and suspected nothing when the man near the door remarked about cut glass bargains. As a matter of fact Jones was interested in cut glass. His wife liked it and occasionally he invested in some. It being the nearest he could get to diamonds. ' So he sauntered Id casually and watched with an amused smile the frantic auctioneer trying to sell a watch. Jones wasn't interested In watches. He had one in nis pccKet; so nis eyes continually roved toward th cut glass in a little Japanese cabinet. He didn't know it, but before he was in the place two minutes, while the auctioneer was trying to "feel him out" with the watch, one of the shilla bad noticed Jones's Interest in cut glass, and had called the auctioneer's attention to the fact by touching the cabinet signifi cantly. The auctioneer, o his perch above them all, bad control of the situation. He noted the signal from the shlll, Jotted down mentally that Jones wanted cut glass, and knocked down the watch he had been experimenting with to one of the shllls for a ruinous price, which was all helpful in showing Jones that a shrewd man could pick up a bargain if he laid low, attracted no attention and bided hla time. "Sold for six ninety. Put It with the other goods for Mr. A. Deposit sufficient," the auc tioneer cried to the pretty cashier. Jones did not bid on the first piece of cut glass. Tho auctioneer did not look toward him once to give him a chance. The piece was knocked down for $3.80. It was a frightful bar gain. Jones would have given $5 for it him self. But the auctioneer paused abruptly to the next article. Jones pressed forward this time as a gor geous punch bowl was put up. He heard vari ous exclamations around him, all tending to give him confidence in the fact that things were going dirt cheap. Two ladles beside him com miserated because they wouldn't have enough "Gentlemen and ladies," the auctioneer went on solemnly, "If I had this article in Chicago or New York It would bring one hundred dollars, one hun dred dollars. You couldn't duplicate It at retail for less than two hundred. It Is the finest piece of art glass ever shown In your city." "Can I get one hundred dollars? Ninety? Eighty? Seventy-five dollars? Can I get sixty? Fifty? Give me forty; thirty-line; thirty!" "Fifteen dollars!" came a halting voice from beside Jones. Jones was interested. He sensed a bargain. Had ho known that when the auctioneer said "thirty-line" it was a signal to the shlll beside Jones to bid $30 with a line through it, or fifteen actual dollars, ho would not have been so enthu siastic. "Sixteen!" "Seventeen!" "Half!" "Eighteen!" Btaccato offers punctuated the atmosphere after the auctioneer's encouragement. The little man beside Jones Bhook his head sadly. "Gee, it's gone beyond me," he sighed, turning to Jones; it'll go dirt cheap, too. If you could buy that for $50 lt'd be a bargain, Bure enough." "Twenty-eight is the last bid," walled the auc tloneer. "Why, you could take it out and pawn it for more than that." Jones thrilled as the auctioneer turned to look squarely at him. "You'd give thirty, wouldn't you?" he cried. Jones gulped and nodded. The auctioneer skilfully led up to the grand landing by taking offers of "thirty-six" and "thirty seven" from members of his troupe. He had felt out hla man curefully and knew that $40 would be Jones's limit. "Will you give me forty?" he said Simply, In a level tone, leaning far over the showcase. ' Jones hesitated, gulped, and then nodded his head abruptly. Jones was pleased with his YmifHlns until he got home and bis wife told him be could get the same punch bowl for $lo anywhere and that the other Btuff was worthless. How Thackeray Left America Homesickness Caused Him to Sail Suddenly Without Word to Friends Who Were Planning Big Dinner for Him. When William Makepeace Thack eray visited the United States for the second and last time, in 1855. to de liver his lecture entitled "The Four Oeorgea." the two Americans who were closest to him during his stay were Parke Godwin, publicist and son-in-law of William Cullen Bryant, and George William Curtis. "The InMmacy which we enjoyed with Thackeray was due to the fact that be made his headquarters while In this country at the old Putnam's Magazine olllce, with which both Mr. Curtis and myself were connected," explained Mr. Godwin a few years be fore his death. "Sometimes Curtis and myself were enthusiastically agreed that Thackeray was the most delightful, lovable and companionable man we had ever met. But, probably, Just when we had arrived at this de cision, Thackeray would be brusque and apparently cold toward us, and there would be decided traces of cynicism or contempt in his nature. Frankly, though we tried hard, and had rare opportunities to do so, we never fully understood him. I think, myself, that he was c man of moods, or else he sometimes suffered from ill-health,, which he bore uncomplain ingly, although his relations with his fellow men were affected by his phys ical suffering. "Thackeray, to the personal knowl edge of Curtis and myself, did many strange things while he was in the country, but the most astonishing of all his acts was the manned in which he left America and his best friends here. It wis particularly embarrass ing to me; and it was an act that had every outward aspect of cold and pur posed discourtesy. "After making a successful lecture trip through the south, If I remember correctly, Thackeray returned to New York flushed with his success, and, in that happy spirit, sent us word that he would be with us for two or three days before departing to fulfil some lecture engagements in another sec tion of the country. We were so re joiced ever his success and his pres ence in the city that we arranged for a dinner in his honor, and Thackeray, when he learned of our plan, was par ticularly delighted . Nothing pleased him more than a good dinner with good company. He would sit the long est at the table of any man present; he was at his best around the festive board. "I was particularly active In plan ning the dinner and extending invita tions to it. The afternoon of the great day I sent a message to Thack eray's hotel to tell him that I would meet him there at a certain hour that evening and escort him to the feast. Pretty soon the messenger was back with the startling information that Mr. Thackeray was no longer stop ping at the hotel. "Much perturbed, I hastily made my way thither, and upon inquiry at the desk, I learned to my great aston ishment that Thackeray that very morning had suddenly signified his in tention of terminating his stay there, had his luggage packed, paid his bill and departed In a carriage. 'Gone where?' I asked. And the proprietor gave it as his opinion that the distin guished novelist had sailed for Eu rope but a few hours since. "As quickly as I could I went to the office of the steamship line that ad a sailing that day. Yes, Mr. Thackeray had arranged for accom modations Just an hour or so before sailing time, and bad barely caught the steamer. No, he had not left any message. Nor had he left at the hotel or anywhere else any message for ne or any one else interested in honoring him at the dinner. He had departed for Europe unceremoniously, and, ap parently. In a most discourteous man ner, I "Of course the dinner, minus tne guest of honor, was a flat failure. At It, and for some time after, Curtis and I were asked to explain Thackeray's curious conduct. We didn't even try to offer an explanation to us his con duct wai inexplicable. But weeks later T made some inquiries and was told that Thackeray, the morning of the festive day, was overwhelmed all of a sudden with a feeling of homesick ness, and learning that a steamship was to sail that day, decided on the Instant to take passage by it to Eng land. Perhaps that was the true cause of his departure. But If It was it showed him to be a man of whims and moods, and that may explain much that so many persons regarded as mysterious or eccentric about him." (Copyright, 1M0, by E. J. Edwards. All Rights Reserved.) Human Postoffice Rewarded How Boy Who Acted as Cupid's Mes senger for Thurlow Weed Bepame Treasurer of the United States. Thurlow Weed must have been about eighty years of age when I said to him one day: "An old friend of yours, Mr. Weed, told me yesterday to ask you about the "delightful surprise you gave Mrs. Weed when you took her with you to Washington during Lincoln's first ad ministration." "Ah," he said, "it was a surprise and a delight for Mrs. Weed, and it Is one of the sweetest memories of my married life. I will tell you about it. ,rWben I was a Journeyman printer for, you know, that was my trade I came to be employed by a man in a little village near Herkimer, N. Y. Of course I was only a hired man in reality not much more than a printer's devil, because all the odd Jobs of the shop fell to mei the only employe and so I was not of much consequence so- Douglas and the Clambake Little Giant Mightily Pleased the Peo ple of Norwich,. Conn.,- by His Tribute to the Native Institution. MONUMENT TO A GOOD LIVER Bolleyt France, to Honor the Mem cry of Brlllat-Savarin, Noted Gourmand. fetlley, Httle town in the southeast tt France. Is about o raise a monument to the glory of one of its sons, Hrlllat-Savarln. The author of "Hie PLysidogy of Taste" was the ab solute realization of the typical good liver. The revolution confiscated his property k ( removed hlru from bis office as civil Judge. He fled to Switz erland and theu to the United States, where he played a fiddle In a New York theater to gain a living. His property was afterward returned to him and he was made a counsellor of the Supreme court, an office he clung to successfully through changes of empire and kingdom. His "Physi ology of T,aste" shared tho fate of many celebrated books. It was re fused by several publishers and event ually was published at the author's expense, but without his name ut- tached to it, as be considered the na ture of the work Incompatible with his Judicial functions. It was Urlllat Savarln who declared that "the discovery of a new food does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star." Some of the. axioms from his book are: "The man who can cook Is made, the man who can roast is born." "To invite anybody to oue's house is to undertake the responsibility of bis well being during the whole time hi Is oue'b guest." "Animals feed; man eats; the mar of sense alone knows how to eat." "The destiny of nations depend! upon how they are fed." "Monsieur the Councellor," a hostesi asked him oue day, "which do you prefer, Burgundy or Bordeaux?" "Madame," replied the Judicial au thority, "that Is a lawsuit in which 1 have so much pleasure In taking th evidence that I always postpone Judy ment." Stephen A. Douglas, known from one end of the land to the other In the days of his popularity as the "Little Giant," was the first candidate for the presidency to take the stump in his own behalf. His determination to make a personal campaign for the presi dency was not entirely to the liking of the conservative politicians of 1860, but I have been told that he excused his action by saying that Lincoln made his campaign for the same office, es pecially In the east, before he was nominated, and that It was vital that some one In authority should reply to Lincoln in that section of the country, there having been no opportunity for this to be done until after the presi dential nominations had been made. However that may be, I know per sonally that the "Little Giant" gladly accepted an invitation to speak to his countrymen at Norwich, Conn., the home town of William A. Bucking ham, who a little later became one of the great war governors of the north a town where Lincoln, In February of the same year, made an address which many persons said later saved Connecticut to the Republican party In the ensuing state election by the narrow majority of 541. Great preparations were made for the Little Giant's appearance In the old town. In deference to his wishes for a meeting In the open the usual type of political gathering In the west a large common was selected for the scene of the rally, booths were set up to purvey lunch, consisting principally cv oyster soup, and It was arranged that there should be a characteristic New England clambake at the end of the Bpeechmaklng. It turned out to be a gala occasion. The farmers flocked In from miles around to see and hear Lincoln's great rival, and as they gazed on the little dumpy man with the great head, the great shock of hair and the large, cav ernous eyes thundering forth at them from the speakers' stand, many were the comparisons they drew between him and the tall, gaunt, loose-Jointed rail-splitter most of them had seen and heard speak in the same town a few months earlier. . Yet for all the dlmlnutlveness of stature, Douglas held the close atten tion of the great gathering throughout his entire speech. My boyhood recol lection of that speech is that It was a superb political and oratorical effort, but the impression that it made on me was slight compared with the effect caused by the impromptu postscript to the speech Itself. His peroration de livered with all that power of oratory which he possessed to a superlative degree, Douglas paused for a moment and smiled expectantly Into the sea of upturned faces before him. "And now that I have had the priv ilege of addressing my fellow-cltlzens of this historic town," he continued, "I shall take advantage of the invitation given to me to participate for the first time in my life in a genuine New Eng land clambake. Its aroma first reached me while I was in the midst of my speech. It has lingered In my nostrils ever since. It has tantalized me great ly. It Is very inviting. And, with your permission, I will now step down from this platform and proceed to revel to my heart's content in your famous feast." A mighty shout greeted this unex pected tribute to a much-loved native Institution. Then they took the Little Giant to a place which had been pre pared for him and feasted him. And when he had had a surfeit he sighed contentedly, beamed upon the gentle men gathered about blm In the tent (my father was of the number) and said: "Now, gentlemen, I shall go on my way rejoicing." (Copyright. 1!U0, by E. J. Edwards. All Right! Reserved.) Lord Clanricarde's Plaque This Examp'e of Goldsmith's Art Is One of the Greatest In the World. One of the greatest Clnquescento Jewels in the world Is the Clanrlcarde plaque, owned by Lord Clanrlcarde, who Is known as the Hermit Poer, and who claims direct descent from the kings of Connaught. He guards with Jealous care this precious ex ample of the goldsmith's art, keeping It safe from possible thieves and the common gaze in a bank vault, to which he goes occasionally with great secrecy to feast his eyes upon its magnificence. Some years ago, by royal request, he lent it to an art exhibition in London, where It was admired and coveted by some of the greatest connoisseurs of Europe. The huge disk Is as delicately wrought as a spider's wefc, and rep resents the figure of Hercules wield ing a diamond sword. The sword blade Is composed of a mass of per fectly matched steel-white stones, and a superb blue diamond scintillates from the hilt. The present owner in herited It from his mother, who was a Miss Canning before her marriage to the Irish lord, and. the plaque Is practically priceless. Aside from Its value to collectors, and Its worth as a specimen of rare and exquisite art it Is lncrusted with a fortune In Jewels. Clever Method of Bribing. One of the cleverest bits of elec tioneering dodgery was devised by an agent who had been forbidden to corrupt the electors. He called a meeting and attended with his pockets full of gold. "I have to in form you, gentlemen," he began, "that there is tq be no bribery on our side during this election. (Hear, hear!) For my part. I do not Intend to give away a penny piece (Uneasy silence.) But I clally in the village. Nevertheless I had not been there long before I was greatly attracted by a young woman upon whom I cast sheep's eyes at every opportunity. I soon had reason to suspect that she was not displeased by my attentions, but after a while, when we had become so well acquaint ed that It was plain F purposed keep ing'company with her, there were par ental objections, and I was practical ly forbidden the house. "But, the saying Is, you know, "Love will find a way.' In that village there lived a barefooted, freckle-faced, tow headed boy of Dutch descent But he was as bright as a new dollar. One day I met him In the street " 'Frank,' I said to him, 'do you sup pose you could carry a note for me to a certain young lady so secretly that nobody but she would know it?" " 1 guess I could,' he replied. . '"Well," do you suppose you could bring a note from her Just as secretly?' " 'You try me and see,' the boy said. "So I wrote a little note, discreetly worded, and delivered it to this Cupid's postmaster. A day later he came to me with a note which had been en trusted to him by the young lady. Later in the day maybe it was the next day I answered the note and gave my reply to the boy for delivery. In due time be brought me another note from the young lady; and thus we kept up a secret correspondence,, that lasted until I proposed, when all" objection was removed to my paying attention to the young lady. Not long after that we were married. "Well, one time when It became Im perative for me to go to Washington during Lincoln's administration I took Mrs. Weed with me. 'My dear,' I said, after we had reached there, 'I should like to take you to the treasury de partment. I want you to meet a gen tleman I know there.' And a little later we walked into the office of the treasurer of the United States. "I took Mrs. Weed over to a desk at which a gentleman was sitting. "'My dear, do you know who this is?' I asked. "No,' she had to confess. " 'What, you don't know our Cupid's postman? I exclaimed In feigned sur prise. "Yes, there he was no longer the barefooted, freckle-faced, tow-headed little village boy, but a full grown, handsome man Francis D. Spinner. And you can imagine the surprise and delight of Mrs. Weed when she discov ered In the treasurer of the United States the boy who had been the dumb and faithful little messenger of our courting days." Mr. Weed might truthfully have added that. In return for the services Frank Spinner' gave him In his court ing days, he took every possible op portunity to befriend the lad as be grew up. And It was upon Mr. Weed's recommendation that President Lin coln named Mr. Spinner treasurer of the United States in 1861, a position that he filled with great credit until 1875. when failing health caused him to retire voluntarily. It was during his incumbency that women were first employed as clerks in t ie treasury de partment to take the place or the men who enllBted in the Union army. (Copyright. 1910. by E. J. Edward. All Rights Reserved.) ' am afraid there are some d d r in .Li. u ras- i.b .u una room, ana that nresBnt ly they will lav m ..... . ent" . i , laoie and take 500 sovereigns out of my pock- u""u lu oie. London Chron Let He Go Hungry. Sometimes men do things out of sel flshnesa rather than out of kindness' Recently a club woman told thi story: "An old couple came In from the country with a big basket of lunch to see the circus. "The lunch was heavy. The old wife was carrying It. As they crossed a crowded street the husband held out his hand and said: " 'Gimme that basket, Hannah.' "The poor old woman surrendered the basket with a grateful look "'That's real kind o' ye. Joshua,' she quavered. "'Kind!' grunted the old man 11 w .. uona. i nui Biearea ye d git lost'" It takes a smooth tongue to side track a bill collector.