The 'Smuggled Goods' Confidence Trick
Two men were jailed after attempting to sell cheap, domestically-sourced goods to the local postmaster under the guise of smuggled contraband.
Robert Dance and Herbert Brinley, of Seattle, were jailed tonight in Tacoma on their own statement that they were selling smuggled goods. Officer Miller arrested Dance while he was trying to sell cheap cloth to Postmaster Hogue for a suit, claiming the fabric had been smuggled into the country. It was thought that Dance was wanted in Seattle, but Officer Cudihee said he was not the man. He is one of a gang who buy cheap goods in Chicago and pretend to sell them as having been smuggled. Dance and Brinley will be arraigned for peddling without a license.
“He is one of a gang who buy cheap goods in Chicago and pretend to sell them cheap as having been smuggled.”
This 1893 sting demonstrates the eternal success of the 'hustle'—preying on a mark's desire for a 'too good to be true' deal on luxury or restricted items. Even in the 1890s, the prestige of 'smuggled' items was used by grifters to inflate the perceived value of cheap, mass-produced textiles.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.