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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
163
How
far
the
attempt
succeeded
does
not
appear,
but
Mr
Champneys
very
properly
at
once
wrote
a
letter
to
the
'Times'
exposing
the
fraud,
and
it
is
to
be
hoped
that
some
generous
souls
were
in
consequence
saved
from
folly.
One
more
instance--but
one
coming
within
the
class
of
the
"confidence
trick."
In
several
country
newspapers
the
following
advertisement
made
its
appearance:--
"An
elderly
bachelor
of
fortune,
wishing
to
test
the
credulity
of
the
public,
and
to
benefit
and
assist
others,
will
send
a
suitable
present
of
genuine
worth,
according
to
the
circumstances
of
the
applicant,
to
all
who
will
send
him
17
stamps--demanded
merely
as
a
token
of
confidence.
Stamps
will
be
returned
with
the
present."
And
then
the
address
followed,
which
was
not
always
the
same
in
all
the
advertisements.
The
advertiser
alone
would
be
able
to
say
how
far
he
profited
by
this
little
arrangement,
but
some
idea
of
the
simplicity
of
mankind
may
be
derived
from
the
fact
that
between
300
and
400
letters
for
this
person,
each
containing
17
stamps,
reached
the
Dead-letter
Office--owing
doubtless
to
his
having
"moved
on"
from
the
places
where
he
had
lived,
in
consequence
of
their
becoming
too
warm
to
hold
him.
Specimens
of
the
letters
written
by
the
dupes
are
as
follows:--
1.
"The
Rev.
----
encloses
17
stamps.
He
is
a
clergyman
with
very
limited
means,
and
the
most
useful
present
to
him
would
be
five
pounds.
If
his
application
be
not
agreeable,
he
requests
that
the
stamps
be
returned."
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