So when
the green-goods men, of whom the genial Mr. Alf Wolfe was the chief,
asked Snipes to act as "trailer" for them at a quarter of a dollar for
every victim he shadowed, he jumped at the offer and was proud of the
position.
If you should happen to keep a grocery store in the country, or to run
the village post-office, it is not unlikely that you know what a
green-goods man is; but in case you don't, and have only a vague idea
as to how he lives, a paragraph of explanation must be inserted here
for your particular benefit. Green goods is the technical name for
counterfeit bills, and the green-goods men send out circulars to
countrymen all over the United States, offering to sell them $5,000
worth of counterfeit money for $500, and ease their conscience by
explaining to them that by purchasing these green goods they are
hurting no one but the Government, which is quite able, with its big
surplus, to stand the loss. They enclose a letter which is to serve
their victim as a mark of identification or credential when he comes
on to purchase.
The address they give him is in one of the many drug-store and cigar-
store post-offices which are scattered all over New York, and which
contribute to make vice and crime so easy that the evil they do cannot
be reckoned in souls lost or dollars stolen.
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