The 'Luck Powder' Swindle
A Seattle man is arrested for selling worthless 'luck powders' to women via mail order—and then suggesting they be used as laundry detergent.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Seattle police arrested S. H. Thompson for allegedly running a scheme to fleece women of the Northwest out of small sums of money. Thompson's plan was to express small boxes containing a disagreeable-smelling mixture to women whose names he pulled from the telephone directory. The first complaint came from Mrs. A. G. Abbott, who paid 75 cents for a package sent to her from Tacoma. When asked by detectives about the purpose of the 'lucky powder,' Thompson replied, 'Well, it's just as good for bringing luck as those Billikens that are being sold for a dollar. And then this powder can be used to wash clothes. It's fine for washing clothes.'
“What good is that stuff? Well, it's just as good for bringing luck as those Billikens that are being sold for a dollar.”
This 1909 fraud case highlights the early days of mail-order scamming and the 'Billiken' craze—a short-lived fad for 'god-of-things-as-they-ought-to-be' dolls that swept the country. It serves as an early example of consumer protection concerns that remain relevant in the era of online marketplace fraud.
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