LIVING BY HIS WITS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 31, 16 April 1907, Page 2

LIVING BY HIS WITS.

!TIIE RACING COUPON SWINDLE.

With a capital of £350, made out of the theatrical agency business, I was trying to think of some safe scheme whereby I could get more money from the British public. One morning a casual acquaintance who knew nothing of my past experience, stopped me in the street and asked me if I was open to consider a bargain. "There's tons of money in it," he said, "and with your command of capital there ought to be no difficulty in making a fortune." My acquaintance, who was quite persuaded that I was a financier, pulled a newspaper out of his pocket. "That's on the market," ho said, "and it's going cheap." I knew the paper at a glance. It was the "Sporting Signal," a weekly journal which gave away enormous sums as prizes in racing competitions! A thousand pounds perhaps would go to the competitor who placed the first three horses in a race, ami five hundred pounds would go to the competitor who placed the first and second correctly, and so on. VERY GOOD BUSINESS.

With each coupon on which he inscribed his forecast the amateur prophet would have to send up a shilling.

Knowing how many people back horses, it was the very thing I had always hankered after, but as I had not sufficient capital to start a paper 1 reluctantly put the idea on one side, and was trying to think out a new scheme.

However, I thought T might as well look into the matter, and see how these things were worked, fully expecting to find that the big prizes only existed in the imagination of the proprietor. I was introduced to this gentleman—Mr. Jim Blakeley—a stout, red-faced man, who, I heard, had originally been a machineminder at some large printing-works. He received me very cordially, seeing in me, I suppose, a man of means. Before stating his price he offered to let me see the. books. I paid an accountant five guineas to go into the accounts, and his report showed mo that in three years Jim Blnkelcy had made, a hundred and twenty thousand pounds, and had actually paid away in prizemoney over seventy thousand pounds. TWO STRAIGHT KOGUES. So the thing was not a swindle after all, and the shilling postalorders evidently paid for the prizes and left a handsome profit for the promo(.or. When I asked Blakeley what he wanted for the business, he looked at me as if wondering how much I was worth. "Five thousand pounds," he replied iat length/ • My heart sank but I determined to bluff. ! "Now look here, Mr. Blakeley," I haid, "you've made your money out 'of flu's, but may I ask you why you are selling so cheap? For five thousand pounds is cheap you know." "My health," he replied, "and as 1 have made my bit I want to retire. You see, I'm straight with you." "Then I'll bo straight too," I said. "I don't care to• speculate too heavily so I'll give you four thousand pounds in bills at three, six, and twelve months." "And what security should I have V" "The security of the business, of course, If 1 don't take up those bills as they mature, you step in again." "All right," he said after a moment's thought, 'Til take it. Give me the bills, but I must have a couple of hundred ready money, just to sweeten the bargain, you see." He would not depart from the money-down side of the business, and I gave him a cheque for the amount, which left me with a balance of about a hundred-aiid-fifty.

; The bills I. easliy managed, with the aid of a friend, who was one of those soft-hearted people who thoroughly believed in mo.

"Here's another fool," I thought, "to soil a splendid business like this for four thousand pounds in bills and two hundred ready. Well, it's my bit of luck, (hat's all." But I did not know Mr. Jim Blakeley.

SACKS FULL OF SHILLINGS

I entered into possession, but found that, it was not the easy softrunning sort of business I took it for. The merely technical side -I soon mastered. A glance at the books showed me the number of shillings I might expect to bo forwarded with the guesses for any big race. Thus for nn event which might be

expected to produce a thousand pounds in competitor's fees, I should \ offer a prize of £SOO. That seemed 1 fairly easy and straightforward, but

when I came to look at the weekly expenses I was staggered. There was sixty pounds a week for printing the paper, and then there was the cost of the stuff we put into it, and pretty poor stuff it was, too; but still it tost something. Then there were the clerks who opened the envelopes and sorted the coupons on which were written the selections. There was n big event due for the following week, and the value of first, second, and third prizes I put at £.750. Wo published the paper on Friday, and on Monday the coupons began to roll in with the shillings enclosed. Ureat Scott ! Mow they did come i'u ! Sacks of them ! ItISKING EVERYTHING. To cut it short, I legitimately paid out the prizes, and cleared £.IBO profit, and thought myself on velvet. But this profit, I found was nearly all swallowed up in expenses, and Blakeley said that, as a rule, he never expected to do more than clear himself on the small races. I began to think I was not on a soft thing after all. I banked my .profit that was left to me, and the paper-maker and printer were told they would have to give credit. At last I determined to make a heavy splash, and sink or swim.

I announced in the paper that I should give no prizes for the next three weeks, as for the Grand National I intended to give a prize of {£5,000. Coupons could be cut from ( the next three issues and sent in as soon ne possible. My word, how

( thoso coupons did roll In ! Sacks and wicks and sticks of them from all parts of the country; and each envelope contained a shilling postalordor. 1 To those who havo never been behind the scenes of the coupon competition business it may seem incredible, but after two issues of the paper I had my five thousand pounds to the good. I banked them quickly and drew a cheque for the amount, leaving the name blank, and placed it in my • office window, with a commissionaire to guard the mammoth prize, as I called it. It was the biggest prize : ever offered in England, and created j immense excitement. j Ten competitors named the first three horses, and I divided the prize between them. When I had sent off the cheques I found that I was fifteen hundred pounds to the good. I But I did not know what Mr. ; Blakeley knew, The anti-gambling j party had determined to put a stop, ! if possible, to this form of gambling | and they brought an action against l a smaller paper which was running ' a similar coupon competition. | Threo days after I had paid away the largest prize cheques on record, these competitions were declared illegal. Then I saw Mr. Blakeley's game. !Ho had wanted to clear out before I trouble came. I still published the j paper without the coupons, in the hope of finding some way out of the difficulty. AN INSPIRATION. I submitted several schemes to ; legal experts, but they were all pronounced unlawful. But one morning I hit on an idea, and in three days' time I was over in Holland. I left the "Sporting I Signal" office exactly as it was, taking with me nothing but the books containing the names and addresses of all my competitors. I set to j work at once and circularised them | all with an account of my next great competition, for which the prizes j would be £I,OOO, £SOO, and £250. ; By working the scheme from Holland 'of course, it wa« difficult for the ; English authorities to interfere with me. i The result was most gratifying, My old competitors again came up , with their shillings, and by a month I had cleared £B,OOO. I then determined to offer prizes, and I prospered exceedingly. One day Blakeley came over to Holland in a. frightful state of excitement, and wanted to know what I was going to do about the first : bill. j But I simply laughed, and told j him to go and please himself. According to our agreement, if 1. didn't j take up the bill he was quite at ! liberty to resume possession of the "Sporting Signal." BOGUS PRIZE-WINNERS. He fumed, and threatened all sorts of things, and went back to England | and that was the last I heard of j him—for a time. | Shortly 1 began to think that I j was giving my competitors too much | Occasionally I would only just meet. j expenses, and if I lowered the prizes competitors fell .ofi. So at last I started halving the prize-money. Supposing a man placed the first three horses in a race, I would only send him £250, and announce that two competitors had tied for the prize. The other prize winner was a friend of mine in England, who consented in return for a fiver to allow his name and address to be printed in my circular list of prizewinners. In the event of personal inquiries or by letter, he was prepared to swear that he had received £250, so so that I was £245 to the good. I then increased the number of my fictitious prize-winners, till at last I had about ten accommodating friends in various parts of the country willing to swear to the receipt of their share. So far there wero no complaints, for if a man was really entitled to £I,OOO for his shilling guess I f«nt him a cheque for £3OO and the name of the other prize-winners as well. THE END-WORMWOOD SCRUBBS. At the end of seven months I was worth nearly £20,000. But then Blakeley began to get to work. He found out that several of my prize-winners' addresses were at newsagents' shops, and that one man went under three different names. Finally, the editor of a London paper began to expose me. and I thought it better to play straight. I increased my prizes, and genuinely paid them. But the police meantime had been busy collecting evidence, and finally they arrested me and three of my friends on a charge of ■ conspiracy. My friends got six months, while I got a year's imprisonment in the second-class at Wormwood Scrubbs.

The last few prizes had nearly broken me, but I was still £5,000 to tho good, which nobody could touch, so I didn't much care.—" Answers."