I called the next day, and Mr. Brown was poising his feet upon his
desk, smoking, and soothing his heart in the columns of a newspaper. I
mentioned my name and business. He looked up, and in reply to my
question as to whether or not he was Mr. Brown who desired a copyist,
he said that he had the honor of being a Mr. Brown, but I must be
laboring under some misapprehension, if I supposed that he was in want
of a copyist. The Brown to whom I alluded, in all probability, had gone
to New Jersey, and owing to sundry unsettled accounts he would not be
likely to return so suddenly as he had departed. I explained my
position, but he disclaimed all knowledge of the affair, and would give
me no satisfaction whatever. I went back to the 'agency,' but on
inquiry I found that Mr. Bucker had sold out, and another swindler had
taken up the business of robbing the unwary poor.
I made my case known to the police, but a shrug of the shoulders was
all the consolation I received. Such swindlers do exist, they say, but
owing to the artful manner in which they conduct their business, it is
next to impossible to convict them.
"My object in sending you this for publication is to warn others. I
have since learned that the majority of these 'agencies' are
established on the same principle, and that not one in a hundred who
apply and pay their money ever receive a situation; that the merchants
and those whom they profess to represent have no faith and no
connection with them whatever.
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