Page:Darkness and daylight (1897) Campbell.djvu/754

740 The purpose of the letter is to lead the one addressed to believe that the money offered is really genuine, being printed from the plates claimed to have been stolen from the Treasury. Then the same old scheme of inducing a man to go to a certain hotel from whence he is duly conducted to the "office" is successfully worked.

The "green-goods" business has grown and prospered. The operators work carefully, their only fear being lest some detective be entrapped. The police have tried over and over again to get at the swindlers, and although they are known, and occasionally some of them are caught, it is not easy to obtain direct proof against them. The victims refuse to testify, for the very fact of having had dealings with these swindlers closes their mouths.