The Patent Scam That Ended With a Frenchman's Last $3
A Seattle detective's account of a fake invention scheme shows how confidence men worked—and how the law let the swindlers slip away.
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.
The story behind the charge that R. L. Grindle has filed against Detective Philbrick is interesting, going to light one more dark corner of bunko that the law cannot touch. Mr. Grindle says Philbrick called him a bunko man. Philbrick admits this, and says that he believes any man who tries to square a bunko case is equally guilty with the persons who turn the trick.
This is the story in a nutshell, as told by Philbrick:
"Alexander Pairier, a Frenchman from Idaho, who had a little spare cash, fell into the hands of George and William Holland, who desired to get his money. The Hollands went to A. H. Soper, who runs the Michigan restaurant, where all three were boarding, and asked him to help them turn a trick. He refused to have anything to do with such business, and then they brought in a man named Will Allen, who is believed to be a brother of the Hollands.
"Pairier was persuaded to purchase a quarter interest in a patent, giving the exclusive right to sell in Washington. He paid $60 and gave his note for $150 or $190. Allen was supposed to buy in with him, but only gave a check. Pairier paid his money under the belief that the patent had been issued, but after he got his receipt and had time to think it over he found that he had been given a receipt for $1 and the paper he was given showed that he had a right if the patent was issued. Well, it was not, so the poor fellow was swindled. He told his troubles to Mr. Soper, and Soper brought him to police headquarters. The two Hollands were brought in, and on examining into the case it was found that the law could not reach the Hollands. Allen had skipped the town.
"While Soper was trying to help Pairier out, Grindle went to him and said that if he would keep quiet, the Hollands would pay their board bill. Soper told me about it and I went to where Grindle worked and spoke of him as a bunko man."
Mr. Soper verified what Detective Philbrick said, and Pairier added that after he was swindled he gave his last $3 to a lawyer to see what he could do with his case, and that was the last he ever heard of it.
““The law could not reach the Hollands.” — Detective Philbrick’s account.”
Fake patents and paper receipts are direct ancestors of modern investment frauds, and the complaint that the law cannot reach the smooth-talking promoter is just as familiar. The detail that the victim handed over his last $3 to a lawyer, and heard nothing more, gives the story a bitter modern echo.
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