Bell's spirit appeared to be as big as the other man's body. This may have been due to the fact that he saw that "peaching" on his confederates was the only method of escape. Anyway Bell "peached." He told of the dynamite plot and the dynamite was seized. Dr. J. A. Wesener afterward declared that there was enough of it to have destroyed the whole building. It was so undoubtedly true that Bell had been of service to the state in revealing this plot that a plea for clemency was made for him and so he escaped the penalty for his crimes. But the experiences of Bell, and the fear of Detective Clifton R. Wooldridge had the salutary effect of putting a stop to the "Show-Card Writing" fraud in Chicago. THE BOGUS MINE. $100,000,000 EACH YEAR LOST BY INVESTMENTS IN FAKE MINING SCHEMES. To what extent investment swindlers have operated in Illinois will never be known, for some of them have so thoroughly covered up their transactions that it will be impossible to disclose them. This is especially true of a class of mining companies, the promoters of which remained in the background while their dupes were gathered in by seemingly respectable residents. These concerns operated by giving blocks of stock into the hands of unscrupulous men with good or fairly good reputations, and the latter disposed of it to such unsophisticated acquaintances as could be easily gulled. Gold and silver mines in Colorado, Nevada, and Utah furnished the basis for most of these swindles. Sometimes the company really had an old mine or claim that had been abandoned, sometimes it had a lease on some worthless piece of property that was "about to be developed," but frequently it had nothing more than its gaudy prospects and its highly decorated shares of stock to give in return for the money it received. Money-grasping church deacons were the favorite agents for these swindles and widowed women without business judgment their most common victims. It is estimated that in this country every year nearly $100,000,000 are taken out of the savings of people of limited means by financial fakers, especially mining and oil fakers. During the last five years Detective Wooldridge has observed the "financiering" of several thousand fake companies, each of which secured a great deal of money from ignorant people. Bands of swindlers repair to mining camps and establish branches there. They expend a few hundred dollars for shreds and patches of ground void of present or prospective value. They then form a mining corporation, place its capital stock at some enormous figure--a million, two or three million dollars--appoint themselves or some of their confederates, or even their dupes, directors, and sell the worthless claims to the company for a large proportion, or perhaps, all of the capital stock of the company.