The evening world. Newspaper, February 25, 1903, Page 13

Ran BY LANGDON SMITH. flow E. J. Arnold Made $8,000,000 in Two Years, Starting With a “Shoestring’’---Millions of Victims Contributed to the Immense Sum. GHT million dollars in two years. Three hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars a month. Fifteen thousand dollars a day. This is the stupendous fortune which grew from a “shoestring” thrown out to the public from the hands of “KE. J. Arnold & Co.,” the original get-rich-quick” swindlers. “Arnold & Co.” number their victims by the millions. While the pub- He was handing in its money with reckless prodigality Arnold & Co. were spending it on trotting horses, carriages, costly paintings, mambie palaces, opera-bores and society. Never before in the history of duplicity has such a barefaced swindle been eo successfully carried out. Magnificent offices were those of Arnold & Co, in St, Louis, in Chicago, in Washington. Your feet sank into priceless carpets as though into snow- drifts. Turf pictures adorned the walls. A Sunday-school quiet pervaded the air. There were desks of quartered oak, beautiful chandeliers, beautiful girls drumming away at typewriters, mail men opening money bags and money letters, cashiers working day and night to keep track of the torrents of inrushing gold and in rendering to the scheming Caesar of the concern the things that were Caesar's, Money, whether acquired honestly or dishonestly, lends a certain air of dignity toa man. A thief with a million dollars at his command ceases to be vulgar. “Arnold” became refined. Throwing out his glittering lures with one hand, he raked in the shekels with the other. He appeared at his offices but seldom. The typewriters, droning at their machines; the cash- fer with moncy-calloused fingers, the openers of mountains of mail sacks, regarded him with ewe whenever he appeared on the scene, smoking, as was bis wont, a huge perfecto. He was in every apparent sense a “‘business men.’’ And Arnold the millionaire was plain ‘Bob’ Skidmore, a tout, who in| former days had often missed a meal through necessity. In 1901 “Bob” @kidmore was kicking up his heels in Bridgeport for want of something bet- ter to do. He dreamed of horses by nature and by training. He did not @are for them, but for the money he could get out of them, They were his trade-mark. Bat the summer of 1901 had been ap unlucky one for “Bob” and he did , Bot fhave anything to speak of !n the way of surplus coin. At this juncture there appeared upon the scene a set of brains. They belonged to one Gill A. Lumpkin,. a “broker,” of Wal! street. Lumpkin had offices in Albany, Troy, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Binghamton. Cruel clroumstances had forced him to the wall. Being a human hawk and the most restless of his species, he cast about for another line of bust- peas. He hit upon the turf-tipster business. Tho inside workings of the @ecretionary pool schemes in Wall street were familiar to him. Why not introduce the discretionary pool game into turf speculation? Be pondered upon it, slept upon it for a few nights, and then went to Bridgeport. “Bob” Skidmore's (““E. J. Arnold's") fortune was hinged upon that visit, Om “Arnold's” “‘list'’ were one thousand names of devotees of the turf. “Let us go into a co-operative investment,” suggested Lumpkin, Good!" replied Arnold. ‘Then the two birds of a feather went to work in a manner that showed their thorough knowledge of human nature. They went to St. Louls and rented modest offices in @ business build- WORLD’ $15,000 a Day---Ghe Diy WOKLDs WEDNESDAY MVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1903, S “ yrs Arnold- ing. They argued that St. Louis, being in the centre of the country, they would find their subscribers more accessible. They hired a writer of advertisements who was a wonder in his way. Small, ten-line advertisements began to appear. These brought in returns sufficient to pay thelr office rent. The business grew. From a small trickle of customers it became a tor- rent—an avalanche which all but swept them off their feet. _ They grabbed the money with both hands. They hired men whose duty was to take in the money, count {t and hand it over to them. With the appearance of page advertisements in the newspapers the re- ceipts began to run up to $5,000 a day. And still it grew. The advertisements themselves were wonders {n thelr way. No lover of mysteries and lead-pipe cinches could throw them aside without reading them to the end. Once read, out came your pocketbook, and off went a bill to B, J. Arnold & Co., to be ured at their discretion, They might use it for cigars, or for rum, or for a square meal at Tony Faust's, but you would never know It “A good thing will be cut loose to-morrow,” the typical advertisement would read; “We are on with both feet. Ten to 1 will be the lowest odds Get your money down and plunge for the limit, Plunge! Plunge! Plunge! “You can't fool our ‘clockers.’ Here {s what ‘Dopy’ Dave discovered in the gray dawn yesterday: Lying in the alfaifa inside the track, he saw a stable door open and a horse come ont, led by a Jockey in his store clothes. | The trainer was betind him watching on al! sides for spies. “As before remarked, our ‘clockers' know thelr business. They are wise to every move, ‘Humpy' Sam was in a tree, and caught the etart. ‘Dopy Dave had him at the quarter, ‘Tinker’ at the half, ‘Nosy’ at the mile—a sec- ond faster than the time has ever before been made on the track, “Can you beat this? “And the horse? We propose to make the biggest killing of the year on him to-day, “Get in on the game at once, and send in a plunge. It will be ‘home; alone on the bitsky’ for him. Can you beut this? It ls as easy a tackling a baby for a milk bottle.” Teus, Lundreds, thoyeands, yea, tens of thousands of dollars would roll in on such tips as these; but, alas! there was no “gray dawn trial.” Thero was no horse, There was no “Dopy" Dave or “Humpy’” Sam or “Nosy,” or anything Iike a lead-pipe cinch. There was nothing, in fact, but burned-up money on the part of the public. assurance of the tipsters. “We told you so,” they would how! i black-faced type, if a 2 to 1 shot, won. ‘This was our good thing, All our cients made money and are, smoking good cigars to-day.” At the same time they would receive a thousand or more letters, mourn- ing in no uncertain tongue over lost money. Of course the mourners would not bite gain, But it was off with the old loye and on with the new. A “sucker” {s born every minute, and the supply of fresh ones was perennial, As time passed on and the golden tide increased, “E. J, Arnolt & Co.” esteblished luxurious branch offices in Washington and Chicago. Their re- ceipts increased to $11,000 a day, which meant at least $10,000 daily profits, as they seldom returned anything. The firm made a splurge and bought Goid Heels and several other horses, which they advertised to race In California, They published a beautifully printed pamphlet called “Racing Gossip,” with cuts and lithographs showing ¢ forth the beauty and luxury of the For Old Times’ Sake—By E. W. Cooley. The Love that Prompted Revenge and the Love that Checked It, (aoreistt, 1001, wy Daily Story Pub. Oo.) | gers shook nervously. ‘Clarkson, you We Clarkson entered Halliday! speak of old times in Minerva, Do you glenoed up from his desk and &|semember Nellie Barnes-dittle Neille gudden frown derkened his face.| Barnes with the jet biack locks and “Well, Clarkson?’ he said at last. ) the tonder bine eyes, who went to sohool Mr, Halliday,” replied the other, @ tremor, egainst which he struggled, dm bis volce, “Mr. Hallidey, I have ex- Soeted all my resources, Dvery do)- lee I have in the world ‘s tied up in the deal. Upon you, and you alone, de~ pends whether or not I ehall be « er to-morrow morning. “T have come to you, as an old friend, Hejiiday, to ask you to--well, to just release the pressure a little and let me out with et least Lg 9 nee BY daughter and myself im poverty Think of the-ot the old days in Min- erva, Haitiday.” ber her, Jim Clarkson? He paused a moment, gazing sharply @t the other, a sneer curling his ip. But Clarkson uttered no sword, “How 1 loved Uttle Nellie Barnes in those dayw! he continued, presently. ‘Bue there was another boy in school, in those old days, who hada tece and an easter way with the girls than I did, and I soon realized that little Nelle Barnes ikea him better than she did me, “Ot course it humt—ak the start, But, Jim, listen; One day while I was sitting alone on @ jog down by the river I wok a mighty, « eolemn oath that I'd always watch over Nelile Barnes, end, no matter whom she merried, if her husband didn't treat her like en ange! | # cought $0. be created, that 14 pd even, EELS with us in Minerva? Do you remem-, it of the oMfce, Niven Haliday glanced up from birt papers a few moments later he saw youns woman standing beside the Tuite © dazzled by @ sudden flash of he sprang to his fest and cov- T've kept my oath, Jim. \0 ““This—this other boy went to the ofty, {but after a fow years came back and | married lie Barnes, and—aod you know the rest, Jim Clarkson.” Like py “ Ughtnin viet T know the veut," the other rer | MEINE St EEN Somat eich tet riled en, with heaving boson and “You know the rest,’ Halli@ay re- he held our his hands to Pat Depry Poneman Nallie! Nollie Ba she replied, in @ voice that, to an echo from the jaumed, this--this ether boy. And that hand- some face of yours was but « masic for your devilish, brutal nature that slowly but surely broke that women's heart, father, I | “He was here @ moment age,” Hallt- She's sleeping out there in Greenwood, answered tn an awed voice.’ “If you but I'm here, Jim Clarkson, I'm hore,| will bo seated I will send @ clerk to find him. Oh, there i girl aay prosently he eaw Clarkson heard him eay? Tour kindness te aay, A lock of sais hand as ahe are mm her chair he heard the the roan in a dase ing them and Yan,, si, for ‘e ‘ste: brushed his anda and I haven't forgotten my oath! “Listen! Ever since (that womel death I've planned and schemed to get you just where I've got you now, And you-vou who killed little Dlack-hadred Nelie Berpus-—come here and ask mo ‘to be merciful to you. And I? I can't |thrill swept Vnrougt ume He reachet forget the Aittle girl I used to know and forth bis bene a, touches Clararon on in Minerva, 1m keep: |” ial ise ano HOME And the most astounaing part of it all was the hard and brassy # CAS Another View oO; Dividerd. “Arnold Breeding Farm" tn Calffornis. “Here it 1s," said the pamphlet, “that the Juveniles are first christened to the starting gate, They are tu- tored to act nicely at the barrier. When the horses are shipped from the Arnold farm to the race tracks they ere ready for real duty. They have been thoroughly re- ‘hearsed for their part. “The racing department comes under the direct man- agement of Mr. E. J. Arnold, who fs now running the largest turf exchange = Hot Springs. His auditor maiis datiy statements to the parent office in St. Louis, and every night the exact profits of the company can be figured to a cent. The bookmakers in San Francisco and New Orleans wire their statements every evening at the close of the day's races. They are verified by letter, and surplus winnings expressed to the St. Louis office.” When the recefpts boomed up to $15,000 a day Lumpkin, cautious man that he was, saw that it was time to break away. “The crash is coming,” he said, ‘and we must be prepared for it.” Like two careful squirrels they began to hoard away the money or send it out of the country. The entry of Gold Heels was refused for the Suburban and they scented further trouble, Between a night and a day they slipped ont of the country, to Mexico, it 1s said, taking with them several millions of dollars which their fellow- citizens had vo kindly contributed to their welfare. That they will ever be apprehended is dowbtful. Out in California a few days ago the curtain fell on the last act in the drama of “E. J. Arnold & Co.” The Arnold creditors were looking for something to selze upon. concern owned the thoroughbreds Bessle McCarthy, Etheline, Miss McCaf- ferty, Irene Lindsay, Felix Bard, Wolfram and Will She The Sheriff was sent out to the “Arnold farm" to seize them. At the sed by five seedy-looking horses gate of the farm this functionary was pd led by stable boys. these, They were painted black and white and red. They wore false talls and ; looks d like car F ULORGER: They got clean past the bewildered Sheriff and were SPEAKING OF | HAIRINE Adiy permit us to cad! SUPERFLUOUS HAIR Removed by a New Principle. De Miracle The Only Method Indorsed by Physicians, Surgeons, Der. matelogists and Medi- cal Journals. your attention two thie Would t no be folly tor us to pit « We. Bottle ene fact of lair tonic on the market that would not mand | the tem of usege’ We kouw that o 06 Broadway Dottie of ATTEN sti convince you winaman, 10. te best hair tonic on tp jarken at ( Cures da. {and ei) wcalp ¢ | gresey. bat fea de halr-growing tonle, ieeving the ea 4th ave. and 234 et At diuuatnas ts aad tii coats | Amusements METROPOLITAN OPERA-HOUSE. jrand Uperk Sens , fun. va WADISON $0, GARDEN | ete. AGM, 606, | POM s i Soa Boe, extra MARIE CAHILL in Nancy Brown 7 Brown Is here Vrening Wor!d, GARRICK THEATRE, th v.50 vy Eyanings, Matiness TO-DAY & 8AT., 21h Annie Russell in Mice and Men, NEW SAVOY THEA... Sah ac & sway, 78TH TINE 10+ NiGtiT- “SOL ARS. Tho Giri withthe Green Eyes ste TODAY at S—THE LITT Theatre, Was hitie eV ART Beth ONLY. 4 JLORED PAVORITBS, Nogen & Billy McClain, GRAND-FIDDL-DBB. DAB HE JEWEL JAMES T. ‘POWERS fi ext wh» WARD & YOKES, GARD} aN fs 2Tth at fs fajives ave | BELASCOTHEAT eat panes BuAN« fie obs" NEXT HANLET MATINER, TMS. WN MADi iON “SQUARE Tie, ee, B10 Angusts Team Groeten Victoria: “Gd at By, yv.8.16, Mat Raturday at WALSH RESURRECTION ‘| KBITH'S' . “a i. Bry. $i. NEW YORK ie! *aeadite a Fuisray pes ger da ddabtedibiho ji is ada isi Lt The Sheriff had often observed horses, but he had never seen any like| |CIRCLE »ALL at 5 \W it yy Hf I ( tf . & e foe Si om a | shipped to Chicago, where they were afterward captured, They were the horses of the “EB. J. Arnold” Oe In the mean time B, J. Arnold & Co. have about $4,00 8 | session, and the innocent, long-suffering public has the expertenc®, Mi} i HA ts ae aie Amusements. teh & we Hayes Morena ‘Troupe, STAR Vaudeville, Mamie Hemington and Her Pleke, Wormwonl's Monkey# 4 Dogs. Other Bear Agta, fad MAG. SpaLa Seis pees Thurs Maney a Last 9 MRS 2, THE Bis DALY’ Sime weve i A err Hialeah Thar JEROME BILLIONAIRE $YKES Weber & Plolds’ yuo | Eeragom a, yeeusie® TWIRLY-WHIRLY ABSURDITY FLORODORA L,_ Mate Wed. Sat Pricer, 2 Biway @ 49th at MAJESTIC "22 PELE Bay SEE WIZARD OF OZ. { Har Of MA . Nike TO-DAY. BROADWAY een kt HESILVER 8 SFE KOOND At ee, Ade's Why Musical Buc ; SULTAN OF su AMERICAN 4ATING y «Bost WALLACK'S 4a H CAIN® ‘and Bch ave THE PENTEN. ok HARLEM) t eres UU ae cat bar, EVERY SUNDAY SIGUT—RACHIBD CONOWRT, 16 Mailes Saturday, 245, HERALD gare ARE BATHE, he giDe Hall |By.@sat Mat. | Amusements, * PROGTOR'S Sonate BvE—T0R Gplendss Entertainment HES Noite 2aUS|, { Sass Se QIN, ¢ HektaPa DUIS, {ste nce DOWNSL{ See jade Ki Stock Fai BEST STOCK COMPANIES D8 "MATINEE “FO D BOWERY BORLESQU | “BLU AAMING" Grand 10 st vier B_MTH OT =|PASTOR’S LB ROY & QUAY TON Rowand 1 ot BLAS BONN 1ORNTON, 4 STAR EDE METRO Lex.Ave, & 10M Bt. oe The Nom Balore ‘wi ‘World in Wax. CINEMATO ie if Sree. 515, Mavs, Soins Caehtoe "FOXY GRANDPA. : Bates: V8. BRO A DnliSstON i, , MONTAUK Aaa ¢. GOOD WIN—MAXING RUM “ty the ALTAR OF PRIENDIMBRO