This annotated bibliography was compiled for use in writing "Chain Letter Evolution." For articles in periodicals, the name of the publication is listed first (not the author). This aids in checking if an item from a data base search has already been entered in the bibliography. The user can, of course, search for an author using the browser search function.
This incorporates prior bibliographies on chain letters prepared by Alan Dundes, Alan E. Mays and Paul Smith. Few new items have been entered here since around 1998. In particular, numerous articles on chain email are not recorded.
Here are the directories (folders) and files in directory /chain-letter/, all pertaining to paper chain letters.
evolution.html ("Chain Letter Evolution" - analysis and history of paper chain letters)Abbreviations and conventions.
bibliography.htm (Annotated Bibliography - this file)
glossary.htm (Definitions of terms used for paper chain letters)
/archive/ (Directory containing The Paper Chain Letter Archive, system generated list of filenames)
/archive/!information.htm (Information on The Paper Chain Letter Archive)
/archive/!search.htm (Search through the /chain-letter/ directory. Provided by FreeFind.)
/e-archive/ (Directory containing chain email, system generated list of filenames)
CL = chain letter,
LCL
= luck chain letter,
MCL = money chain letter,
XCL = exchange chain
letter
specs = numerical specifications
of a chain letter, namely:
d = deadline in days, n =
number of names in a list, s = send (or deliver)
q = copy quota, w = waiting
period in days, max = maximum, or promised pay off
Example of specifications for a luck chain letter (Luck
by Mail type).
q5n28d1w4 = copy quota 5, a list of 28 names, deadline of 1 day to
comply, wait 4 days to receive good luck.
Example of specifications for an exchange chain letter [Postcards].
s1n4q4 max 64 = send 1 card to the top name on a list of
4, distribute four such appeals, promises possible 64 postcards
in
return
Example of specifications for money chain letter (Send-a-Dime).
sd, q5, n6, d3, max $1,562.50 = send a dime (d) to top name, copy quota
5, list of 6 names, deadline 3 days, maximum payoff
$1,562.50.
Example of specifications for pyramid scheme (Circle
of Gold).
s$50q2x$50n12 = send $50 to top name, sell two copies for $50 each
(implies you have bought your copy for $50 also), 12 tier list of names
Reports on Chain Letters in 1935 are day-numbered from Friday, April 19 (Day 0) - the day of the first newspaper account of the Send-a-Dime money chain letter craze.
In the annotations, if a topic search word does not appear naturally in the text it may be added in corner brackets <> so a statement may be readily found on a subsequent search of the bibliography. Words so added include the following: abate, charity, French, gender, immunization, law, mental, method, motive, number, origin, politics, pyramid sales, recruit, target, variation.
Quoted text from chain letters appears in bold in the
bibliography.
Conventions for links in Chain Letter Evolution (such as using square
brackets
for links to chain letter texts) are not followed here. Often "text"
links
to the Paper Chain Letter Archive.
AMERICA. 1960.
"Chain-Letter
Nonsense." V. 102, March 26: p. 751-752.
[Denunciation of LCL specs q5n28d1w4. Some text: "General
Bratton received $8,000 but lost it after breaking the chain."
Names are said to be "28 California schoolgirls." <origin> "They
(LCLs)
are usually initiated by malicious pranksters."]
AMERICAN CITY. 1935. "Anti 'Racket' Rulings." V. 50,
July:
p .68.
[City laws against MCLs. Some wording of Los Angeles ordinance. Undated
reference to U.S. Municipal News.]
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE. 1895. "Notes on the
Folk-Lore
of Newfoundland." Vol. 8: p. 286.
[Brief mention of use of "the letter of Jesus Christ" for safe
childbirth and protection from harm.]
AMERICAN STATISTICIAN. 1977. Joseph L.
Gastwirth,
"A Probability Model of a Pyramid Scheme."
V. 31, May: p. 79-82.
[Analyzes "quota-pyramid" scheme in which (1) entry fee is c dollars,
(2) participants receive d dollars for each person recruited, and (3)
no
more than N participants will be registered. In "The Golden Book
of Values" (Connecticut), c = $2500, d = $900, and N = 270. Lesser
money
can be made by selling advertising and coupons. Assumes that "the
probability that any one of the k current members recruits the next one
is 1/k." The number the kth participant will recruit is expressed
as a sum of random variables Xi, from i = k to N-1, where Xi=1
with probability 1/i and Xi = 0 with probability
1-1/i.
Deduces the proportion of participants who recruit at least r persons
is
1/(2r ). Hence about half will recruit no one. Shows
investors
are defrauded as a class, depending on ratio d/c. (Says results
hold
for non-quota pyramid but does not justify. Certainly there will be
some
upper bound, N, of possible recruits for an endless scheme.
However
there is no way to determine N, and thus
to know how "early" one is getting into the scheme. Class defraud still
holds. - DWV).]
ANNALES CATHOLIQUES DU DIOCÈSE
DE BAYONNE. 1905. "Dévotions et pratiques
superstitieuses."
No. 26, October 29, p. 2.
[<French> Have English translation by Sarah Winter. Complains of
a circulating manuscript with "two prayers" that is an early form of
the
Ancient
Prayer luck chain letter. No quoted text. Descriptions: copy once a
day for nine days; send to nine different people; a great joy ("grandes
joies") at the end of nine days; terrible punishment for not
complying;
this predicted by a voice heard in Jerusalem during the holy Liturgy.
<abate>
"No prayer ought to be accepted unless it has been approved by the
standard
of the diocese." "Further, by attaching to the recitation and the
propagation
of certain prayers an efficacy that the Church does not recognize, one
commits an act of true superstition." Source provided by Jean-Bruno
Renard.]
ARNOLD, DAVID. 1976. Chain of Letters. San
Francisco: Trike.
[Text and graphic arts embellishments of a DL
type LCL. Includes 7 fictional win/lose testimonials in
newspaper format. "C. Jason, . . . 4 days after receiving
the
letter, after winning $23,000 playing Keno ... was struck and killed at
a Las Vegas Blvd. intersection by a multi-colored Las Vegas Regional
Transit
Bus." " Its simple. You will win & you will lose."]
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION.
1985. Web Garrison, "Dixie Scrapbook" - "Chain-letter craze
prompted
many to mail away a fortune in dimes." Sunday, Oct. 13, sec. H,
p.
2:4.
["Maybe you've recently received this letter or a variant of it."
Only known record of "prayer exchange" LCL; complete (?) text
(less name list). Brief history of Send-a-Dime.
For a letter restricted to residents of a single Tennessee
county,
Dr. C. R.
Fountain calculated a $300 loss per person for postage.]
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION.
1987a. Francis Cawthon, " 'Love letter' tempting but
not worth it." July 5, sec. J, p. 3:1.
[Humor. Receives LCL in mail with Kiss
title. Initial five sentences of text given, plus further
descriptions
(R.A.F. Officer, Joe Elliot, Dalea Fairchild).
Says compliance would require typing and international postage to "make
a tour of the world." <motive> Says that a factor to not
comply
was the lack of a Georgia lottery. Speculates it is a plot by Post
Office
to sell stamps.]
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION.
1987b.
Francis Cawthon, "Letter Seeks to Inspire Chain of Hopeful Kissers."
Dec.
29, sec. E, p. 2:1.
[LCL received anonymously in office mail slot. Kiss
title, original in "England." Further description but no
exact
text. Had received XCL for "bottles of booze." Humorously
speculates
LCLs are a post office plot.]
BAKST, AARON. 1952. Mathematics: Its Magic and
Mastery.
2nd. ed., New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., p. 246-247.
["The Silk-Stocking-Bargain Bubble." Description of a pyramid
sales scheme (not Sheldon). Startup: ads in papers promise three
pair
of stockings for 50 cents. Sender gets four coupons to sell for
50
cents each, money and addresses of purchasers sent to company for
stockings.
Continuation: Coupon buyer gets five coupons from company to sell,
sends
$2.50 and addresses to company for stockings, etc. Tabulated
calculations.
<politics> Use of CLs in political campaigns.]
BASHAM, DON and LEGGATT, DICK.
1974. The Most Dangerous Game.
A Biblical Exposé of Occultism. Manna Christian
Outreach.
[Christian Fundamentalist warnings. In the appendix, Section B, is a
ten page list of 92 "Present-day Occult Practices." These are "Satan's
current activities" and the reader is advised to "repress any
inclination to further inquire into any of these practices."
"Chain letter" is on the list, and these "may be used to psychically
compel a person, since the usual rewards for compliance are material
wealth or power, and refusal to comply (as stated in many chain
letters) is met with a curse or future bad luck or even death." Basham
then claims that "the mailing of chain letters is also against the
law," confusing luck chain letters with money chain letters. Other of
Satan's current activities on the list include: Halloween,
parapsychology,
legerdermain, meditation, phrenology and "zombie."]
BERKELEY DAILY GAZETTE. 1949.
Oct.
27.
[Cited in Western Folklore 1950
for a luck chain letter started by a French officer (Chain of Good
Luck?)]
BERKELEY DAILY GAZETTE. 1950.
Feb. 2.
[Cited in Western Folklore 1950
for a Mexican prisoner letter.]
BHATTACHARYA, P. K. & GASTWIRTH, J. L. 1983. "A
Nonhomogeneous
Markov Model of a Chain-Letter Scheme." Recent Advances in
Statistics:
Papers in Honor of Herman Chernoff. Rizvi, M.H., Rustagi, J. S.
&
Siegmund, D. ( eds.). New York: Academic Press.
[Markov model of a s$500 q2x$500, n6, max $32,000 pyramid
scheme.]
BITTNER, MAXIMILIAN. 1905. Der
vom Himmel gefallene Brief Christi in seinen Morgenländischen
Versionen
und Rezensionen. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften
in Wien, phil.-hist. Klasse, 51.1. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
[Traces Letters from Heaven back to Greek original, gives Greek texts.
Ref. from W.F. Hansen.]
BLOOMINGTON (INDIANA) HERALD
TELEPHONE. 1985. Jan. 22. Ann Landers.
["Heartsick in Calgary" reports that her mother failed to send out a
chain letter shortly before husband died and now feels responsible for
his death. Unable to persuade her otherwise. Denounces "crazy nuts who
start such letters." Ann Landers replies: "People who start those
letters are creeps who have failed to achieve anything in life and use
this means of exercising control over others." Suggests eventual
counseling.]
BLOOMINGTON (INDIANA) HERALD
TELEPHONE. 1988. Hotline, p. A14. "This sounds like recipe for
trouble." **?**ber 17, 1988.
[C.D. of Bloomington reports recipe chain promising hundreds of
thousand of dollars. Response: Indiana Attorney General's Office says
state's statutes in effect only if $100 or more is asked for outright.
Plan: send $2 to each of six people for their "recipes." Mail a minimum
of 100 copies of the letter to friends, acquaintances, relatives or
total strangers. Promises you will make $275,000.]
BRITISH
MEDICAL JOURNAL. 1995. James Owen Drife, "The Chain
Letter."
V. 310, March 25, p. 809.
[Receives Media LCL,
specs. q4+1, w4 typed in capitals, crude English. Attached
"wad" of "memos." Sample memos: "I can't believe I'm doing this,"
and "There is some evidence that these letters work." Names:
Ministry
of Defense, Metropolitan Police, NHS Management. Author's
parody.]
BUDGE, E. A. WALLIS. 1904. The
Gods
of the Egyptians. Dover (1969), Vol. I & II.
[Various ancient Egyptian texts in English. Vol. I. Book of the
Underworld,
Second hour: "The text adds that those who draw pictures of these Souls
of the Tuat and make offerings to them upon earth will gain benefit
therefrom
a million fold after death (p. 208). Fifth hour: "Whosoever
maketh
a picture of these things which are in Ament in the Tuat, to the south
of the hidden house, and whosoever knoweth these things, his soul shall
be at peace, and he shall be satisfied with the offerings of Seker. And
Khemnit shall not hack his body in pieces, and he shall go to her in
peace.
(p. 221-2). Seventh hour: "The man who shall make a picture of
these
things which are to the north of the hidden house of the Tuat shall
find
it of great benefit to him both in heaven and on earth; and he who
knows
it shall be among the spirits near Ra, and he who recites the words of
Isis and Ser shall repulse Apep in Amentet, and he shall have a place
on
the boat of Ra both in heaven and upon earth. The man who knows
not
this picture shall never be able to repulse the serpent Neha-hra." (p.
230-1). Similar, p. 242. "In the first place, he (Thoth) was held to be
both the heart and the tongue of Ra, that is to say, he was the reason
and the mental powers of the god, and also the means by which their
will
was translated into speech; from one aspect he was speech itself, and
in
later times he may well have represented, as Dr. Birch said, the logos
of
Plato." (p. 407). ]
BURRELL, MARTIN. 1928. Betwixt
Heaven and Charing Cross. Toronto: MacMillan, p.
277-282.
[Receives "Good Luck"
LCL, specs q9w9; some text.
List of 99 names: officers, actors, lawyers, judges; gender all
men.
Calculations. <origin> Thinks started as a joke.
Conclusion: "It
is hard to write all the letters I ought to write. I will not
undertake
those I ought not to write."]
THE BUSINESS WEEK.
1933a.
" 'Endless' Chains." Feb. 1, p. 11.
[Pyramid sales. "Selling by endless chain . . . has increased
enormously
during the past 2 months." "Over 100 chain selling schemes are
operating
out of New York" (pens, hosiery, wallets, razor, blades, stationery,
golf
balls, kitchen utensils, clothing, bridge sets). Legal: U. S.
Supreme
Court ruled against Tribond Sales Corp. (stockings) in 1927.
Current
proponents claim legality because they are selling actual merchandise
instead
of a coupon (Tribond).]
THE BUSINESS WEEK. 1933b. "Endless Chains
End."
June 7, p. 12.
[Pyramid sales. Post Office Department fraud order against Sheldon
Hosiery Co. Pyramid sales schemes "about played out anyhow."
Estimated
200 companies recruited 750,000 participants.]
BUSINESS WEEK. 1971. "Cracking down on 'pyramid
plans'
" Dec. 11, p. 104+
[Pyramid sales. "Like the familiar chain-letter scheme, an investor
antes up a fee for a distributorship, and thereby becomes eligible to
sell
distributorships himself." Securities & Exchange Commission
ruling:
"Agreements between the companies and their distributors may involve an
'investment contract' or a 'participation in profit-sharing
agreement.'
These would constitute a security, within the meaning of the Securities
Act of 1933, and therefore they must be registered with the SEC.
Further, anyone selling such distributorships must register with the
commission
as a broker-dealer." Glenn Turner's Koscot charges $2,000 for the
right to distribute "kosmetics." Holiday Magic (Bus. Wk.
2/10/75,
p. 38) and Bestline Products experiences.]
BUSINESS WEEK. 1972. "The pyramid king gets
sandbagged."
June 24, p. 30.
[Pyramid sales. State, FTC and SEC actions against Glenn
W. Turner and "Koscot Interplanetary" (cosmetics) and "Dare to be
Great"
(sales training). These corporations "are based on a complex
system
of finders' fees, commissions, and overrides paid to participants for
recruiting
others into the program at anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 a
shot."
See also Bus. Wk. 3/27/78, p. 47.]
CHEERS OF THE CROWD. 1935.
Monogram Pictures Motion Picture directed by Vin Moore, written by
George Waggner, starring Russell Hopton, Irene Ware and Harry Holman.
61 minutes.
[The date on this movie may be given as 1935 or 1936; 1935 seems more
likely. A printed label on the cassette states: "A series of murderous
chain letters draws the attention of a publicity expert who tries to
find out who is behind the letters." If this were the actual plot it
would be the earliest example of the "evil chain letter" theme, which
appears in recent young adult fiction such as Chain Letter by Christopher Pike
(Avon Books, 1986). However this is not at all the plot. There is one
brief mention of the "Send-a-Dime" letter when a "sandwich man" gives a
chain letter to one of the characters on a busy sidewalk. It is called
the "Spread Prosperity Letter" and asks that a dime be sent. The
recipient is entreated to "Share your wealth." No other mention of a
chain letter appears in the movie. Later the recipient throws a dime in
a spittoon. IMDB lists the movie
but does not give a plot summary.]
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 1994. "Enough
already."
Metro Northwest, April 20, p. 1.
[Business card variant of Craig Shergold appeal. Requested these
be sent to Atlanta headquarters of the Children's Make-A-Wish
Foundation;
20 copies of appeal to other offices. "Mountains of cards
arriving
daily."]
THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 1935 (D26). "Are Chain
Letters
a Hopeless Evil?" V. 52, May 15, p. 629.
[Complete text of a sdq5d1 anti-war CL asking also that 10 cents be
sent to The Christian Century for an exposé of the
munitions
industry. Parodies Send-a-Dime. This letter may not have
actually
circulated.]
THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 1970. "To Break the Chain." V.
87,
Sept. 2, p. 1051.
[<numbers> Editor assesses economic condition by "the number of
fiscally promissory 'chain letters' that are being circulated - and the
number is rising." Quotes John Boni, Saturday
Review and gives fragments of same (?) LCL. Recalls
handkerchief
XCL among young girls. Quotes Biblical Recorder (a North
Carolina
Southern Baptist journal) on MCL among pastors. Text begins: "Do
you need an immediate $8,000 for your Church Project or Personal
Ministry?"
Specs. s4x$1 q20 n4 d2, max $7,300+ (originally n3 ?).
Gives
8 participant names.]
COHN, NORMAN. 1957. The
Pursuit
of the Millennium. London
[Himmelsbrief. Mentions use of "heavenly letters" in late Middle Age
millennial movements. Peter the Hermit kept a letter on his
person
(c. 1090) that was given to him by Christ at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre
in Jerusalem (p. 62). Jacob, organizer of the Crusades of the
Shepherds,
claimed (c. 1251) the Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him a letter
which
he always carried in his hand (p. 94). German flagellants (1261)
possessed a Heavenly message: a shining marble tablet had recently
descended
upon the altar of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with an angel who
read
out the message which God himself had inscribed. The text has survived:
God, angry at human sin, has brought recent afflictions and decided to
destroy all life. But the Virgin intercedes and God grants
humanity
one last chance to mend its ways (p. 129). "And any priest who in
his worldliness omitted to pass on the divine message to his
congregation
would be infallibly and eternally damned" (p. 130). <variation>
After
the Black Death (1348) the same letter, with a paragraph on the plague
added, was used by a flagellant revival movement. At gatherings
this
"manifesto" was read publicly, the audience being "swept by sobbing and
groaning." "Nobody questioned the authenticity of the Letter." (p.
134)]
COLLIER'S. 1944. "Chain-Letter
Nuisance." V. 113, No. 22. May 27, p. 78.
[Editor complains of quota four+ luck chain letters as a waste of
paper, especially during wartime. "One frequent specimen claims to have
been started by a U. S. Army officer." This is likely the "Luck
of London" version of the "Prosperity" type chain, for example 1944.]
COLOMBO, JOHN R. 1975. "Chain Letter." Colombo's
Little Book of Canadian
Proverbs . . . Edmonton: Hurtig, p.128-129.
[Full text of
earliest
known LD type letter. Reference
supplied
by Paul Smith.]
COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Columbus, Ohio). 1991. Jan
Harold
Brunvand, United Feature Syndicate, Urban Legends: "Good-luck chain
reaches
the affluent." Sept. 9, p. 3D.
[Media LCL. "A
chain letter that's been racing through the American business, legal,
government
and entertainment communities like an out-of-control virus is a faint
echo
of its former self." Complete text (standard, no golf
item).
Compliance motivated because secretary does "the dirty work," also the
"Can't hurt, might help" attitude expressed in many of the forwarding
notes.
"A folk practice has gone uptown." Spy reference.
Compares
text unfavorably to prior versions that "typically began with a
blessing,
a prayer, a Bible verse or the statement 'Kiss someone you love when
you
get this letter, and make magic'. "]
CONTEMPORARY FOLKLORE AND CULTURE
CHANGE.
1986.
Mihály Hoppál. "Chain letters: Contemporary
folklore
and the chain of tradition." Ed. Irma-Riitta Järvinen.
Finnish
Literature Society Editions 431. Helsinki: Suomalaisen
Kirjallisuunden
Seuran. p. 62-80.
[<hoppal> Author received 8 LCLs in Hungarian town in
1983.
Three complete texts in both Hungarian and English [text].
Specs q20/10, d9, w9. Titled "The Chain/Flame of Luck." Analysis
of text. Copying error "flame" from "chain" (láng from
lánc).
Testimonials paired by "opposites" - e.g. girl vs. boy, West Germany
vs.
East, loses vs. wins, unconscious offense vs. deliberate, small
punishment
vs. great. Quotes Dundes & Pagter 1975 extensively.
Quotes
International Herald Tribune, Dec. 7, 1982 on Circle of Gold in
London.
XCL for scholarly articles received by Hungarian professors in mid
1970's.
Older generation in Hungary called LCLs "Saint Anthony's chain."
Biographical
data on Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), miracle-worker and master
of
alms. Latin and English translation of 13th century poem to
Anthony;
ends: "All peril shall disappear and so shall want; say this those, who
feel it, and tell those living in Padua." Later Hungarian version,
confusion
with Anthony the Hermit (d. 365). Custom to pray to St. Anthony
nine
Tuesdays. Qualifying characteristics of contemporary folklore.]
CORONET.
1952. Ben Nelson, "The Greatest Hoax of the Century." V.
31,
March, p. 135-137.
[Send-a-dime. Text with 3 title variants incl. "Send a Dime and
Redistribute Wealth." "Good Luck" LCL dates from World War I. Los
Angeles stamp sales, deliveries to movie studios. Humorous
variants.
Springfield craze. U.S. daily mail volume of CLs ten million
(estimated
by Post Office statisticians - source?). Theft of dimes.
Telegraph
chain. German suppression. Since 1935 "Don't send money" appears
on "good luck" letters.]
THE (LOUISVILLE KY.) COURIER-JOURNAL.
1978. Mervin Aubespin, "Bigger stakes all that's new in the latest
chain
letter." Nov. 29, p. 1, col. 6.
[Circle of Gold MCL / Pyramid scheme. Specs q2x$50, n12, s$50.
Present in Louisville and Bowling Green. Investigated in San
Francisco
since October. James W. Winegar, Cincinnati postal
inspector:
"Mostly, our biggest problems have been with the pyramid schemes which
promise people that they can make large sums of money at home in their
spare time doing almost nothing. These people send off money only to
receive
a pamphlet telling them they have to send more money and get others
involved."
Craze during 1960's: ". . . a young Marietta, Ga. man ... set out to
make
himself a millionaire by begging contributions through the mail."
1950's: "the Panty Club" flooded the mail. 1940's: "a
postcard promising good luck if you copied it and sent it on and bad
luck
if you didn't."]
CRAZY HOUSE - PURVEYORS OF JUST FOR FUN ITEMS. Match
book
advertisement, date unknown. Crazy House, 2221 Robb St., Baltimore 18,
Md.
[Pre-zip code address. Sells "Crazy Chain letters." Also Insulting
greeting cards, Comedy patter books, Hilarious bull-thrower tags.
Coupon
for ordering catalog, 10 cents, plus get one gag free.]
THE CREDIT UNION BRIDGE.
1958. "Chain Letter Rackets." V. 23, n. 5, July, p. 21-23.
["March of Bonds" MCL, specs q2x$18.75, n11, s$18.75, max
$38,400.
Says started "three years ago." <origin> Unreferenced
historical
accounts: "... the 'endless chain' formula . . . was probably used by
the
ancients in much the same form . . ."; "in this country before the
founding
of the republic"; ". . . in the files of the Post Office
Department
as early as 1830." Some CLs end with "The curse of the ancient
Aztecs
will fall on you if you break this chain." <motive>
Help
friend whose name appears at bottom of list. Oscar Auton pyramid
sales scheme. Details of "Tribond" hosiery chain. 1942 MCL used
U.S.
saving stamps (three examples have been collected [text]
-DWV). Postcard XCL, specs s1q4n4 max64. Circulated by Boy
Scouts;
Cub Scouts advised they can earn "collecting" badge by joining.
<target>
Sometimes contains text: "If you are not planning to cooperate give
this
letter to someone else. Some of the people in this chain are
polio
victims and it would not be nice to disappoint them."]
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN (Pennsylvania State University).
1987.
Maryann Liddy, "Students fall prey to pyramid game." April 30, p. 1.
[ Pyramid football game modeled after the Airplane Club. Ante
from $10 to $100. Roles: quarterback (1), running backs (2),
linebackers
(4), and substitutes (8). "The object is to fill the eight sub
spots."
"Someone on the floor holds the money until all eight subs are
found."
Results. No complaints to law enforcement.]
THE DAILY NEWS-DEMOCRAT,
1902. "The Endless Chain." Feb. 26, 1902, front page.
[Subtitles: "Scheme being used in an effort to find missing ones. From
Evanston, Ill. Relatives of Miss Florence A. Ely and Frank Ely Rogers
have started it." Gives full text of an "endless chain
letter scheme" to find two missing persons. Supplied by Richard
Stephens.]
DANIELS, C. L. & STEVANS, C. M., (Eds)
1971.
Encyclopaedia
of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World.
Detroit: Gale Research Co., p. 1119.
[Text of Lady Cubass Letter by Jesus Christ. Once popular in
Wales, "printed and sold by J. Salter, Newtown." Also contained 3
hymns and a description of "The Happy Man."]
BEED & SEAL, GRAHAM. 1993. "Chain letters." The
Oxford
Companion to Australian Folklore. Melbourne: Oxford Univ. Press, p.
62.
["The most common traditional chain letter is one that begins 'This
paper has been sent to you for good luck.' " MCL beginning with
the
text "To the women friends in my life who know how to dream and create
their own reality" said to be "traditional," other MCLs not. XCL
spouse exchange "relatively recent."]
DAWKINS, RICHARD. 1976. The
Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[Introduces the term "meme" for a "unit
of cultural transmission."]
DAWKINS, RICHARD. 1995. River Out of
Eden.
BasicBooks.
[Chain letters discussed, pp. 146-150. Mechanics of chain letter
evolution:
"In the case of chain letters, being efficient may consist in
accumulating
a better collection of words on the paper." "The variants that are more
successful will increase in frequency at the expense of less successful
rivals. Success is simply synonymous with frequency in circulation."
Full
text of LCL as given in Nature, 1994.
Suggests testimonials are "just invented." Chain letters vs. natural
replicators:
"Chain letters are originally launched by humans, and the changes in
their
wording arise in the heads of humans."]
DEAR MR. THOMS.
1990.
"Chain Letters." V. 14, p. 32, 33.
[Full text of luck
chain letter (Kiss title, many modifications, trailing notes). Full text
of luck chain letter (Kiss title).]
DE LYS, CLAUDIA. 1948. A
Treasury
of
American Superstitions. New York: The Philosophical Library,
p. 458-460.
[<motive> "It is believed by millions that anyone who breaks the
chain-of-luck by not sending out the prescribed number of letters,
after
having received one, will meet with disaster." And for compliance
"unexpected good fortune." <origin> Good Luck type started in
1920 by
American lieutenant in Flanders. Population: boom in World War II (?).
"The Luck of London" LCL
started
during blitz, still circulating in Europe and America. "A Letter
of Protection" (Holstein type Letter from Heaven) sold to thousands
during
WWI, large block of text. " Letter from Jesus" distr. by Howard and
Evans,
West Smithfield, London over 200 years ago; much text, "Lady
Cubass"
(Sabbath) type. Compares to magic word-charms.]
DENTON (MD) JOURNAL.
1892.
"Easier Than Working." June 18, p. 1: 4.
[Newspaper article describing charity CL started in 1889 to collect
dimes for college student. Subtitle: "A clever scamp in college
raises
money in an ingenious way." Ten copy with selfterminating after
10 levels. Full text
but missing level number. Editors had apparently not seen such a
letter; no use of term "chain letter." Started with women in
small
western towns. "In some cases ministers read the letter in the
pulpit
and recommended the scheme to their congregation. The letters
which
he received were studies. Some contained stamps, some dimes
wrapped
in paper, some motherly old souls wrote long letters with volumes of
good
advice, and some more philanthropic people sent fifty cents, a dollar,
and a few even five." -E. J. Barnes in New York Press.
Reference
provided by Neal Coulter of Chattanooga, Tennessee.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day
0). "Send-a-dime Chain Letters Trick Thousands in Denver." April
19, p. 1.
[First publication on Send-a-Dime: Friday, April 19 is "Day
0" for 1935 send-a-dime reports. Subtitle: "Postal Inspectors
warn get-rich-quick scheme is fallacious and every participant is
violating
law; originators of racket are sought." <origin> "Its a
modern
variation of an old chain letter scheme" - Denver postmaster J.O.
Stevic.
Postal Inspector Roy E. Nelson claims illegal, seeks to arrest
originators
and charge them with federal crimes. Complete text
of letter, no names.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day
1). "Dime-a-day chain
letters
still flood mails despite govt. warning." April 20, p. 1+.
[Other headlines: "Denver's post office staff takes question up with
Washington," <number> "Nearly every home in Denver believed to
have
been solicited on scheme to make 10 cents grow to $1,562"
(<origin>
in the 3 to 4 weeks since the first letters were started). Stevic has
way
to find originator (presumed male!). Plan defended. Verified $400
winning. Charity use. Many dimes unwrapped. Four
women's
accounts. <gender> "Most of the calls (received by the Post) came
from
women, . . ." Purchases by winners. Dimes pop out at canceling
machine.
Origin unknown but reported that it started in Denver. Other articles
on
legal issue and calculations. "Thousands of Denver persons, especially
women, are participating in a gigantic send-a-dime chain letter
program,
. . ."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 2). "Send-a-dime fad
covers
Colorado." April 21, p. 1+.
[<number> Mail volume. Send-a-dollar: distributed by
hand.
Support of plan. Charity for families on relief. Posing as
postal inspector.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 4). "Chain letters passed
out on streetcars." April 23, p. 1.
[Subtitle: "Send-a-dime circulators canvass passengers on train."
<target>
They "asked people if they would circulate the chain letters," (if yes
were handed copies). <recruit> House-to-house canvassing
thru
Edgewater for send-a-dollar. <law> Nelson said P.O. not
interested if
letter not mailed.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 5). "Chain letters calling
for $10 appear in Denver." April 24, p. 8.
[Nelson receives $10 version, otherwise worded like dime letter.
Send-a-dollar in wide circulation. Mail still heavy.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 7). "Stop chain letters!
Officials
plead, with Denver mails facing collapse." April 26, p. 1+.
[Subtitles: "67,000 extra pieces of matter in single day clog post
office." <number> " 100 extra workers employed in desperate
effort
to keep up normal service; new notes solicit $1 to $10." <motive>
Rumors
of big winners spur fad. Letters spread to all parts of
country.
Copying methods: mimeographed, multigraphed and printed.
Winnings:
503 dimes in 3 weeks, 60 dollars in five days. <charity>
Participant
claims man sent out letters for four families on relief; they received
$38+ and withdrew names from the rolls.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 8). "Government Rules
Chain
Letters are Plain Violation of Postal Laws." April 27, p. 1+.
[Karl Crowley, solicitor of Post Office Department, rules "cash chain
letters are illegal and subject the participant to a $1,000 fine or
five
years imprisonment or both." Chains "clearly violate lottery laws
because they contain an element of chance." However . . . "we
will
be guided by the legal principle of de minimis non curat lex, which
means
that the law does not take notice of trifles" (meaning they wont go
after
dime letters). Starter of $10 letter put members of family from
around
country on letter, they did not need to send any money
themselves.
The man was on relief, had crippled daughter, so was not charged.
Mail volume. <variation> XCL: "Liquid Assets Club" worked
through
liquor dealers - no use of mails. <recruit> Crowds thronged about
telephone
directories in library.]
DENVER POST. 1935
(Day
9a). "Postal force labors late into night sorting 165,000 Denver
chain letters." April 28, p. 1+.
[Subtitle:" Stamp sales advance 50 per cent as fad makes fresh
gains."
<numbers> Of 260,00 letters sorted Saturday, only 95,000 are
normal
volume (165,000 CLs handled on one day). Long lines at four stamp
windows. <recruit> "Hawkers sold cash chain letter blanks on
street
corners." First a penny apiece, then 5 for a penny. "Thru
out
Denver, the chain letter fad was the principal topic of conversation
Saturday."
<law> Many distributed filled in letters on the street to avoid
mails.
Omaha, 4/27: <variation> A $1 letter with ten names
appeared here.
Also a flood of send-a-dime letters. Topeka, 4/27: Santa Fe
railroad
forbade employees to place letters in railroad's outgoing mail or use
company
stationery and stamps.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 9b). "Chain Letters
Put Voluntary Tax on Participants, Says Dr. Kaplan." Francis
Wayne,
April 28, p. 3.
[Sociological comments. Desire for quick riches spreading
geographically
and across social barriers. Dr. A. D. H. Kaplan (Denver
University):
"From the economic viewpoint, aside from the creation of a voluntary
tax
thru purchase of stamps, stationery and the like, people who get
the largest return probably will make larger purchases. While the
inflow lasts, the
shift will be from light to heavier buying.". He disputes
economic
utility. <recruit> Telephoning friends before others get to
them.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 9c). "Dime Letters to Run into
Millions
if Chain Lasts Few More Days." April 28, p. 3.
[Washington, 4/27: "A Nationwide brother-can-you-spare-a-dime bubble
was about to burst of its own geometric inflation Saturday . . ."
<origin> "Post office inspectors said they would like to wring
the neck
of whoever started the chain-letter scheme of wealth for
everybody.
In hardly more than a week he has caused one of the most amazing mass
demonstrations
of the get-rich-quick philosophy in history." <variation>
Hundreds
of other chains have sprung up. XCL: "Send-pint-of-whiskey"
closed
with "how would you like to have 2,000 gallons of whiskey?"
Kildroy
P. Aldrich, chief postal inspector: "We'll simply have to wait until it
collapses which shouldn't be long." Enforcement would require
"they
arrest most of the residents of Denver." Classified Ads
(Personals):
"Chain Letters 1 cents Each, Out-of-towners include postage.
Mutual
Multigraphing Co." Two other ads, one at 5 for 10 cents, 100 for
$1.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 10). "Chain Letters Triple
Denver Mail." April 29, p. 1+.
[Subtitle: "Carriers struggle under burden of 350,000 pieces."
<numbers> Some afternoon deliveries canceled. Thieves broke
into
five mail boxes Sunday night. Mail volume. P. 3: "Chain
Letters
Make Farley's Aids Jittery." ". . . hope impending arrests will
bring
an end to the scheme." <origin> ". . . admitted the 'dime'
plan
is a little different from anything they have heretofore known."
St. Louis, 4/29: "Denver Letters Appear in St. Louis." Pueblo,
Colo.
4/29: "Chain Letters Take Big Jump in Pueblo."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 11). "Chain Letters make
Denver
Mail Nearly Half Million Pieces a Day." April 30, p. 1+.
[Denver mail volume and stamp sales. Greeley and Pueblo
volumes.
West Coast mostly dollar letters. Luncheon club speakers debate
merits
of CLs in Kansas City. p. 1: "Chain letter cash pays
taxes."
Classified Ads p. 28: Howell Printing offers 1,000 blanks for $3,
including
10c, 25c, $1 and "univ. forms." "Guaranteed" letters offered on
14th
St. Hit of the Month Music Co. offers "The Chain Letter
Song"
by "a well known music composer" for 10c.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 12). "Chain Letters in
Denver
Show Some Decline." May 1, p. 1+.
[Subtitle: "Fad is gaining headway elsewhere in State, Pueblo
deluged."
Collections and stamp sales slowing in Denver. Pueblo mail volume
doubled. Grand County Commercial club officially favors cash
chain
letter enterprise. Their telegram to Farley concludes: "Everyone
is smiling in Colorado. Hope, faith and charity bring
prosperity."
Jake Gerbes, a crippled boy from Iowa, sends Denver woman a dime, says:
"I hope I am lucky."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 13). "Farley Winks at
Chain
Letters: 'Illegal' but they sell stamps." May 2, p. 1.
[Quotes Farley: "They help postal receipts." Classified
Ads, p. 35: General Printing offers 1000 for $2.50. Howell
Printing:
"Chain fans starting today 'Cash on the Barrel' prosperity club forms.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 14). "Chain Letter Fad
Brings
Boom to Denver Business." May 3, p. 1+.
[<recruit> More than 30 boys selling blanks on streets in
city.
Printers turned out about 275,000 blanks at average price of 1/2
cents.
Estimated $50,000 received locally from chains. Benefits: stationers,
typewriter
rentals, delinquent bills paid. XCL: commodities exchanged
"from cigarettes to liquor." Sale of 150 $1 blanks to single man
taken as evidence of racketeering. Mail from outside city
increased.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 15). "Studios Rush Films
on
Chain Letters." May 4, p. 12.
[Hollywood, May 4, UP: Film "Chain Letter" with Fred MacMurray
planned.
Sol Lesser wedged in a CL sequence in movie starring George O'Brien.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 16). Letters to
Editor,
May 5, p. 11.
["Bless the chain letters, the little white messengers of good will.
It may not be good business . . . time will tell. It is good
psychology,
this gigantic interchange of thoughts of good will and it should thaw
out
even God's 'frozen people.'" -Lois Sorrell. Three other
letters
on CLs. Classified Ads: "CHAIN letter club nationwide, money back
guarantee. Call 1405 Glenarm, room 207."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 18). "Businessmen Plead
Not
Guilty to Chain Letter Fraud Charges." May 7, p. 4.
[Their defense: Postal authorities made conflicting statements about
illegality. OK to put relatives names on letters (who
else?).
OK to send out more than five - boys selling wholesale quantities on
streets
- most people sent out more than five. Nelson said they rented an
office for mimeographing, and mailed letters third class
(illegally).
Photo.]
DENVER POST. 1935
(Day
19). "New Types of Chain Letters . . ." May 8, p. 2.
[Subtitle: Give-a-party plan spreads in amazing fashion in
Denver."
<variation, recruit> "The chain party scheme works as follows: A
hostess
receives a letter bearing five names. She invites four other
friends
to attend a chain party which she is giving. Each of her guests
gives
her a quarter, making a dollar, which she sends to the person who
headed the list of names which she received." Hostess then
updates
list, gives copies to guests who must give a party within three days.
Caterers
business increased. Difficult to find guests - friends dated up
for
others weeks in advance. Mother's day chain: send 25c to mother
heading
list, drop, add your own or another's mother. <variation>
Send-a-dime
variant: dime to each on list of six. XCLs: gasoline, neckties,
stockings,
liquor, rare stamps (catalog value specified.). St. Louis, May 8. AP:
"Chain
Letters Clog St. Louis Mails." "Postoffice officials said the chain
letter
splurge had increased the normal daily mail average from 450,000
letters
to an estimated 800,000."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 20). "Today's Picture
Today."
May 9, p. 1.
[Photo of crowded interior. "A Chain Letter 'Factory'" in
Springfield,
Mo. Notary attests that required amount is sent to head of list.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 21a). "Denverites Rushed
for
'Certified' Letters." May 10, p. 1.
[Striking photo of mostly men crowded at tables, lights wired
haphazardly.
Caption: Denverites Rushed for 'Certified' Letters Friday as the latest
variation of the chain letter system gained favor. Fans
overflowed
the offices of a printing concern, which was forced to open another
office
to handle the rush. The concern charged 50 cents for blanks,
envelopes,
stenographic service, and a certification that the names of the letter
were not juggled." P. 4: "Dime Letter Chain Locates Lost
Kin."
Classified Ads, p. 48: Howell Printing offers: "Standard chain blanks,
1c to $1; also Luncheon, Friendly Hosiery, Food,
Mother, Gas, etc. 100, 50c: . . . 1,000, $2.50. Assorted to your
choice. . . Also samples of Barrel Head club, Universal
Guaranteed
(copyrighted) forms."]
DENVER POST. 1935
(Day
21b). "Chain Letter Fad Adds $1,000 Daily to Postal Workers'
Pay."
May 10, p. 1.
[Postal receipts increased $80,000 for last fifteen days.
Collections
in Denver have declined, but incoming letters (no accurate count)
sharply
increased. Work figures, mail volume. Box robbed for third
time. "A thriving business was done by a printing concert that
charged
50 cents for "certifying" $1 chain letters carrying three names"
(error: had four names - DWV). Complete (?) text
of certified letter. Some letters limited to persons of same last
name (Greeley, Co.). Chain parties also popular in Greeley.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 22). "Certified Chain
Letters
Halted by Government." May 11, p. 1.
[U.S. District Attorney Thomas J. Morrissey accuses operators of
"conspiracy
to violate the postal lottery and fraud laws." Says
certification
"did not guarantee returns to purchaser, but merely purported to
certify
that the names had not been juggled, and that the first purchaser had
sent
cash to the person whose name was at the head of the list when the
letter
was sold."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 23). "More Chain Letter
Establishments
Closed by U.S. Officials in Denver." May 12, p. 3.
[CL fad steadily declining in Denver, but heavy incoming volume of
CLs from other cities. Many dead letters. Letter to Editor (p.
11):
Helen J. Hopper says "many of the chain letter fans are using their car
to deliver" CLs to avoid mails. <mental> "At last it's
happened!
Chain letter fan goes batty." Bellhop Arnold Arnberg, 23, became
obsessed
with calculations, called Univ. of Calif., others, with odd questions.
Stopped cars, asked mathematical questions. "Saturday night they took
Arnberg
to the psychopathic ward of a local hospital." "Saturday Classified Ad:
"Certified Chain Letters Delivered by Western Union messengers.
Bring
certified 4-name, 3-letter copies to 2335 Larimer St. Open
Sunday."]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 25). "Fugitive Trapped
Thru
Chain Letter." May 14, p. 1.
[Jack Rodie from Denver mailed CL to brother in Texas. Texas
authorities had felony warrant - telegraphed Denver police who arrested
him at mother's address used on CL. Photo.]
DENVER POST. 1935
(Day
26). "U.S. Jury Refuses to Indict Three Chain Letter
Mailers."
May 15, p. 1.
[<law> Federal grand jury refused to indict three on fraud
charges
for mailing cash ($1) CLs. They mailed 1,200 $1 MCLs. Fairfield, Ill.
<mental>
UP: "Chain Letter Craze Results in Suicide." ". . . Cecil
Headlee,
39, father of five children, . . . shot and killed himself because he
thought
a mob was going to get him for breaking the chain.'"]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 27). "New Chain Craze
Probed
by Police." May 16, p. 1.
[DA's office swamped with complaints but none violations of state
law.
Eight men detailed to investigate chains. Looking for:
racketeers,
jumping of location, operating more than one chain, and failure to
pay.
Some store operators complain chains they had built up were "strangling
them" - no way to quit. Small merchants approached to establish
chains,
split with three promoters. Reno, UP: Four arrested for $5 chain
operation, 20% fee for handling the transaction.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 28). "Chain Fad on Wane,
Says
Post office." May 17, p. 6.
[Washington, May 16, AP: Letters forwarded for
investigation
decrease from 200 to 100 a day. No reports from west and middle
west
where craze was biggest.]
DENVER POST. 1935 (Day 32). "Mail Box Containing
$8,000 Chain Letter Remittances Stolen." May 21, p. 1.
[Los Angeles, May 21, UP: Stolen from 8th & Grand, near
several
"dollar prosperity stores." Southern California dotted with
crowded
"dollar stores" - eleven arrests on fraud charges.]
DENVER POST. 1935
(Day
118). "100,000 Chain Letters Go Unclaimed at Post Office."
Aug. 15, p. 1.
[Subtitle: "Faulty Addresses Leave Notes Containing $3,000 to
$4,000 on Hands of Denver Mail System; Money Will Go to
Government."
Says craze died with "equal suddenness" as it began. "Stevic kept
a scrapbook on stories printed about the chain letter craze. It
contains
clippings from all over America and fills scores of pages of a large
book."
LCL with same text circulating in New Zealand.]
THE SUNDAY DENVER POST. 1980. Jane Cracraft,
"Chain
Letter Users Call 'Gift List' Legitimate." March 16, p. 3+.
[The Gift List MCL / Pyramid scheme. Specs: q2x$50, n12,
s$50 (cf. Circle of Gold). Payments sent by check marked "a
gift."
". . . it has touched thousands of lives in Colorado. It is
passed
from person to person by hand - often at a rally." Brenda
Richardson,
32, bought into 13 lists: <origin> "My understanding is that this
began
in California with a church that needed to remodel and didn't have the
money. One of the men went on a prayer weekend and came up with
this
idea and it worked, and then the chain was extended to other areas."
Brenda
mentions frustration with the recession: "We are helping the economy by
getting money in circulation." "If someone below her has trouble
selling the list within 24 hours she recruits a buyer or buys the list
back." Businessman got $3,000 - goes to meetings with 200-300
people
gathered to exchange lists and explain program to new people. His
name, wife's and children's names appear on a dozen lists.
Teacher:
"Every fourth person on the list is a monitor and keep it going." "Its
a fun thing"- attends rallies where investors cheer each other
on.
"I've never met so many people." June 12, p. 2: "Two More
Persons
Arrested In Illicit Pyramid Scheme" by Howard Pankratz.
Undercover
investigator attended meeting at restaurant with body microphone and
transmitter.
Tipped by concerned citizen. Get $16,000 for $1,000 investment.
Authorities
warn promoters get in early along with their relatives.
Investigator
with DA: those involved are "solid, middle-class people." "They
frequently
have an expensive lifestyle and are having a hard time adjusting to a
lack
of income."]
DENVER POST. 1985. "Unchained letter" -
Woody
Paige. March 17, p. 2A: 1.
[Paige receives DL type LCL. Complete text
(title omitted?). Humorous fiction about bad luck for
non-compliance
and good luck for late compliance. Humorous testimonials.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS.
1935 (Day 1). "Send-A-Dime Chain Notes Worry Postal
Authorities."
April 20, p. 1. (This newspaper is titled ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
except for 1935-1938.)
[<gender> Mostly women. Callers hail as boon to
poverty
stricken. All callers enthusiastic. "Re-distribution of
wealth."
Motivation: participants have "fun." Complete text
of a letter, targeted recipients, no names. <origin> Nelson
thinks
started in Oklahoma. Defended as wealth re-distribution. One and
ten dollar versions. <gender, recruit, target> Discussed at
bridge parties
and "wherever women gather." Most women call addressees to make
sure
chain won't be broken, and caution them to take like steps.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 2).
"Send-a-dime
Game is Put Up to Washington," April 21, p. 1+.
[Thousands call to support send-a-dime: hurts no one, keeps money in
circulation, aids cause of silver, offers hope, increases postal
receipts. Editorial (p. 10): compares to false hope in prior oil
boom.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 4).
Letters.
April 23, p. 14.
[Lecie M. Violett (of the originator): "the only man in the world
who ever figured out a way to distribute the wealth and keep it from
getting
into the hands of a few." Author made 15,625 marks on paper to
"figure
how it works." William Howard: dime CL a "harmless past time,"
helps
substitute mail employees.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS.
1935 (Day 8). "Dime Letters Ruled OK." April 27, p. 1+.
[Subtitle: "Postal Inspectors Prepare to Smash Ten-Dollar Chain."
Claims an "exclusive" dispatch from Washington postal officials
stated
"there is nothing in the U.S. postal regulations to bar such letters
from
the mails" (dime letters). "Overworked carriers and clerks, while
fatigued, viewed the situation with no great alarm." Hundreds
getting
overtime (time plus 10 %). One said: "Let the chain letters
come."
<gender> Carrier besieged by house wives demanding to see their
mail.
Postal receipts. A.A. McVittie, returning after a two day
vacation,
had 2,363 letters awaiting him. P. 4: humorous "The Dime
that
Broke the Postman's Back"]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 9).
Editorial:
"Chain of Hope." April 28, p. 10.
[Approves of send-a-dime. "Confidence in the other fellow's
fundamental
honesty is the basis of the entire fad." "Estimates of the value
of silver now in the mails are as high as a million and a half."
"Who originated the fad? Probably many will claim the
credit..."
"The fad . . . has given to thousands a new faith and a stronger
hope."]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 10).
"Postal
Clerks Dig Thru Chain Letter Mountain." April 29, p. 1+.
[Mail volume in Denver & other Colorado towns. W. Osborn,
president of the Postal Carriers Union: "You can notice a different
atmosphere
along the routes: people are happier." P. 6: "Chain Letters Hit
Hollywood."]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 15).
"Chain Letters Bring Denver 'New Money'. " May 4, p. 6.
[Estimated (method given) $250,000 circulated in Denver by CLs - much
from outside. Predicted $500,000 before fad dies. 25c, 50c, and
$1
chains rapidly supplanting 10c chains. "Thousands of chains with
Denver names in payoff positions have gone thru out the U.S."
Huge
demand for dime containers (50 per). Winnings used for home
improvements,
spring outfits. San Antonio AP: "Four more charged with Dime
Chain
Fraud" - two others previously makes total six. Classified Ads
-
Personals: "1000 for $2.50, printed - not multigraphed."
<origin>
"CHAIN letters, the guaranteed to go prosperity plan, is like a
Townsend
revolving plan, a wheel within a wheel. There is no refuge for
chiselers
here. Cut out little uncertainties, for a larger real
amount.
I will help you promote your list. No charge. Phone CHerry
0162."]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 22). "Mobs
Besiege Chain 'Mills'" May 11, p. 1.
[Thousands "laughing and shouting" gather seeking certified
letters.
Promises $81 for $1 invested (plus 50c for letter).
Strangers
approach each other to keep letters going. Several shops selling,
hire attractive women barkers. Other women work crowd
silently.
Kansas City UP: Notarized letters started by two notaries in
Springfield.
"A chain letter player would bring a prospective player to the notary
and
before witnesses see that he mailed out his contribution before he was
allowed to sign his name to the chain." "Within 24 hours
exchanges
were opened in a dozen Missouri and Kansas towns." "Townspeople
were
induced to send money to names supplied on waiting chain letters and to
have their copies of the chain letter made by the waiting
stenographers."
Promoters move on to another town after about a day. Display ad
p.
2: "Certified chain-letter station at Home Public Market with a genuine
Notary Seal on each letter."]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 23).
"Five Certified Chain-letter Mills Closed." May 12, p. 8.
[Three other printing shops voluntarily sell out letters. Last
minute rush before crack down. "Now they have gone and spoiled our fun"
- said by man who had been 'chaining' for three weeks (had pocket full
of $1 bills). Automobile chain (no details). Chickasha,
Okla,
AP: Three chain letter emporiums closed down. Oklahoma City, Okla
UP: Six sue 7 businessmen with failing to sell enough letters to
put their names at top. Slump at a dozen local CL mills.
<mental>
Oakland, Calif. UP: "Figuring out Chain Letter Profits Puts Youth in
Psychopathic
Ward." Bell hop called UC, post office, etc. with questions about
profits. Then asked people on streets.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 24).
"Send-a-Dame Chain Letters Worry Co-Eds." May 13, p. 1.
[Berkeley, AP: Send-a-Dame: list of five coeds at top, date top,
update list adding a girl to bottom, copies to friends.
Originated
by Eldon Grimm, College of Commerce. Denver: Certified CL rush
continues.
Most establishments use messengers and pigeon-hole distribution
cases
to avoid mail. Special officers required to keep order and guard
money.
One mill employed 10 stenographers, 10 clerks, and stayed open from
7:30 AM to 12:30 AM. Some mills handle "'old fashioned' revolving
chains" but certifieds more popular.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 28).
"City to Check Chain Letter Promotions." May 17, p. 20.
[Proposal to license and bond Denver CL establishments.]
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. 1935 (Day 29). "Chain
Letter Fraud Scented." May 18, p. 12.
[Some operators getting 10-50% profit on funds placed. Proposed
regulations similar to that for brokerage firms.]
DEVIANT
BEHAVIOR. 1984. Charles H. McCaghy & Janet Nogier,
"Envelope Stuffing at Home: a Quasi Confidence Game." V. 5, p.
105-119.
[Detailed description of envelope stuffing and follow up schemes.
" ... those answering ads buy materials encouraging them to advertise
in
order to sell the same materials." Comparisons to traditional
confidence
games. Researchers answered 73 "Moneymaking Opportunities" ads in
the National Inquirer.]
DEVIANT
BEHAVIOR. 1988. Jacqueline Boles & Lyn Myers,
"Chain
Letters: Players and Their Accounts." V. 9, p. 241-257.
["This paper analyzes the content and structure of the chain letter
and also describes the accounts which chain letter players (N=129)
provide
for their participation. <gender> Differences between male and
female
accounts and participation strategies are provided." Authors'
husbands
advertise mail order business, 534 unsolicited MCLs were sent to the
address
in these ads. Five essential parts of MCL: salutation,
legitimization,
psychological motivation, scheme description, moral and ethical
exhortation.
Certain names appear in different schemes: Steve Bessemer, Bill
Needham,
Nelson Robbards; "used like talismans." "About 85% of letters close
with
an exhortation to participate ... like "It works!", "This gives big
results,"
and "Hurry up!" "The typical chain letter player . . . was a
middle-aged,
lower-middle class man living in a small town." For men MCLs are
a way to beat the system, and illegality is acknowledged. Women
are
more likely to accept the letter's legitimization, see more value in
the
"product" delivered, and use the scheme to make friends. Quotes from
Butterfield
on Amway.]
DEWAN, BRIAN. 1993. Song lyrics: "The Letter." CD:
Tells
a Story, Bar/None Records.
[ Cautionary tale in seven four line verses. The sixth: "A
butcher
got the letter and read it top to bottom / But he did not consider
himself
a superstitious man / The minute that he threw it out his blind and
deaf
assistant / Cut him into pieces and sold him by the pound." E-mail from
John Burkhardt.]
DICKSON, PAUL. 1980. The Official Explanations.
New York: Delacorte Press, p. 236.
[Author's parody of Death20 type text with book pyramid: "...and the
estate of Harriet P. of Toledo has 1,406 copies (accumulated before she
broke the chain and died)."]
DIOGÈNE. 1987. Jean-Bruno
Renard,
"L'idée de chance: attitudes et superstitions." No. 140,
Oct.-Dec.,
pp. 106-130. Gallimard, Paris. English edition: Diogenes, 140,
1987,
pp. 111-140.
[Definitions of superstition. The idea of good and bad luck. Freud
on undone or symptomatic acts. Upsurge of superstition during
historical
crises. Mother of Algerian War soldier sends out chain letter.
Professions
prone to superstition (hunters, miners, farmers, deep-sea fishermen,
athletes,
performers). Most women (ca. 80%) think it preferable to be lucky
rather
than beautiful. Women more superstitious than men (esp. women at home).
The old and young more superstitious. Practices associated with
difficult
moments whose outcome is uncertain (sickness, decisions, examinations).
Good luck held responsible for escaping injury, recovering from
sickness,
success in an examination. Bad luck held responsible for disease,
failure,
accidents. Belief in signs of good luck stronger than in signs of
bad luck.]
DOL, MATT. 1978. Chain Letters -Road to Riches?
2nd.
ed., Lanham (MD): Dol's House Press,
[Mail order publication - part of "Between the Lines in the Mail Order
Game." Says promoters sometime place an alias in second or third place
(of 4 to 6 total on list). MCL texts: "Does $125,000 get you excited!
(1974);
"$10,000 in your mailbox IN ONE WEEK." (1974); "Do you need $125,000
Business
Capital?" (1976). Legal discussion with codes. Text of letters sent by
Postal Inspectors to participants in MCLs. Text of letter sent in
response
to complaints about LCLs: "This concerns your recent complaint
regarding
mailings known as the "prayer" or "good luck" type of chain letter.
These
mailings, which contain a threat of bad luck to those breaking the
chain,
do not request money or other items of value. They are not in violation
of the postal lottery and fraud laws, Title 18, Sections 1302 and 1341,
U.S. Code. When sent by way of postal card, however, they become
unmailable
under Title 18, Section 1718, U. S. Code, which prohibits threatening
matter
on the outside of mail. (But declared unconstitutional in 1973 -DWV).
"It
is unfortunate the mails have ben used in such a way as to cause
complaint."
Statistical data on mail fraud investigations, FY1975 - FY1978 . One
billion
dollars public loss to mail fraud in FY 77. Comments of readers.]
DUNCAN, ROBERT J. 1976. "Chain
Letters:
A Twentieth Century Folk Practice." What's Going On? (In Modern
Texas
Folklore). Ed. Frances E. Abernathy. Austin: Incino Press. p.
47-58.
[Mostly based on newspaper and magazine reports referenced here. Text
of LCL from Goodman Ace,
text of
MCL from Olson,
text of
wife exchange from
Sat. Eve. Post, 1959,
and text of charity CL
from
the Independent. Motives:
"play it
safe," "gamble on it," and not to disappoint a friend who passed it to
them. XCL items: S&H green stamps, pieces of string, pieces
of
cloth for world friendship quilts, children's books, aprons, others.
Send-a-dime
and Springfield history. Five-dollar notarized letters sold for
50
cents in Springfield (?). Familiar spin-off incidents.
Hearsay
influential. Immunization effect ("duplication"). <numbers>
"They
seem to be enjoying a current revival".]
DUNDES, ALAN & PAGTER,
CARL.
1975. Urban Folklore from the Paperwork
Empire. Austin: University of Texas Press for the American
Folklore Society.
[Traditional letters. Com. Mapak variations (5). Complete
text
of Death20 type LCL. Complete text
of fertilizer club and dated
wife exchange. Husband exchange letter from 1968 (little
text).
Medgar
Evers, other, as in Northwest
Folklore,
1966.]
THE ECONOMIST. 1991. "Rimbaud-hoopla goes
overboard:
A season in hell." Nov. 2, p. 85-86.
[The French Ministry of Culture sponsored a "Rimbaud chain letter"
as part of a celebration of the centenary of the poet's death.]
ELGART, J. M. 1955. Furthermore Over Sexteen.
New York: Grayson Publ Corp., p. 89.
[Wife XCL parody complete text,
possibly edited.]
ELLIS, BILL. 2004. Lucifer
Ascending. The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture. The
University Press of Kentucky. p. 64-68.
[Chapter 3: Black Books and Chain
Letters. Dates Himmelsbrief
(or a certain type?) from the 1700's. Translates St. Germaine
Himmelsbrief (Fogel, p. 290) that demands: "Write this letter out, one person to
another, or get it printed, ..." Following Fogel, relates
Ancient Prayer LCL [1908]
to Himmelsbrief tradition. On recent LCL: "The contemporary version
derived from this tradition maintains the essential elements of the Himmelsbrief: an unexceptional
religious sentiment followed by directions to copy and distribute it in
the form of written, typed or printed copies." Gives text of 1952 (Halpert)
LCL. Argues that a "1960's chain letter" (Death20 type, Dundes, 1973u) put greater emphasis on
misfortune for breaking the chain; and that in the 1980's and 90's this
"section" was "gradually lengthened ... so that it now makes up most of
the letter." Gives the lose parts
of two testimonials from the Death20 block of a DL
chain letter and the lose parts of three testimonials from its Lottery
block (including the Car
testimonial) as evidence. No "win" parts of testimonials are mentioned;
does not seem to be aware that the transition from the Death20 type to
the DL type chain letter was not "gradual" but instead involved the
addition of an entire other letter to the bottom (the Lottery block,
see Preston 1976). Claims Chain Letter
Evolution states that "chain letters exist in an 'information
environment' in which the 'fittest' versions continue to circulate
...", and that it describes chain letters as an entity "largely
independent of the persons who circulate it" (compare motives). Quotes Don Basham favorably on his characterization of chain
letters. Summarizes: "the chain letter is essentially a contagious
curse, contained in an amulet-like piece of writing, which can only be
removed by passing it on to other people."]
ELLISON, E. JEROME & BROCK, FRANK W. 1935. The
Run
for Your Money. New York: Dodge Publishing Co. p. 221-225.
[Commercial CLs (pyramid sales). Oscar Auton, Gagetown Mich.
buggy dealer, said to have originated scheme in 1890's: (1) pay
$3.75
for coupon (from Auton or a friend), (2) send Auton the coupon plus
$15,
(3) receive book of four coupons, (4) sell four coupons for $3.75 each
($15 total), (5) when Auton receives the four coupons you sold, each
with
$15, you are entitled to receive $60 worth of merchandise (for cost of
$3.75). In 1932 "nearly every person in the United States capable
of opening his mail was 'chained' to one or another of the myriad
progressions
. . ." ". . . millions of the general public were made willing,
hard-working
salesmen for fountain pens, automatic pencils, flashlights, playing
cards,
key rings, stationery, bath salts, kitchenware, lingerie, hosiery,
billfolds
and golf balls." 1932 pioneers: Amoeba Stationery Co. of
Princeton,
Pierce & Co. in New York (pocketbooks) and Prosperity Sales Plan
Corporation
in New York (pens). Amoeba scheme: (1) buy box of stationery for
$2.50, (2) included were ten slips each entitling you to sell 10 boxes
yourself, (3) no commission on first 3 (per ten) sold, $1 commission on
remaining 7, (4) $1 commission on first three (per ten) sales of second
level agents. Prosperity Sales Plan similar but did not limit number of
sales. Brief description of Sheldon scheme. Schemes
collapsed
just prior to send-a-dime craze.]
ESQUIRE. 1977. Andrew Tobias, "The Great
Chain
Robbery." V. 88, Aug., p. 12-14.
[Receives Death20 type CL - much text.
Received MCL, specs s$1, q20, n4, w90. Miscalculates
return.
Checked with no. 2 slot - no return. Send-a-dime. Springfield
notarized
letter. Ponzis: Harold Goldstein, Stanley Goldblum (Equity
Funding
Corp.), Glen W. Turner (Koscot Interplanetary, Dare To Be Great).
Approves Medgar Evers chain, coffee boycott. Text
of "Go play golf" office humor item, omitting CL that accompanied it.]
ESQUIRE. 1979. William Flanagan, "The Circle of
Gold,
Mr. Ponzi, and the Tooth Fairy." V. 91, Jan. 2, p. 101.
[Workings of Circle of Gold MCL: specs s$50, q2x$50, n12 . Some text.
Debunks. Methods of cheating.]
ESQUIRE. 1990. "I'm on
the 'A' List, Pass it on." Dec., p. 49.
[Brief comment on Media CL. Three named transmittals incl. Pierre
Salinger to Art Buchwald. <motive> "The real reason behind
the
letter's success, of course, is not fear, but the thrill of having
written
certification that, yes, indeed, you do belong to the inner circle."]
ETC: REVIEW OF GENERAL SEMANTICS. 1995. Edward
MacNeal,
"The Power of Powers: Schemes, Scams, and Panties." V. 54, n. 4,
Winter 1995-6, p. 406-415.
[Basic operation of five different MCLs received from 1993-94:
(1) Recipes (s5x$2, n5), (2) Reports (s4x$5, n4), (3)
"Please add my name to your mailing list" (s5x$1,n5), (4) Wealth
documents for $50 (Wealth Masters International, n4), (5) Holiday gifts
for $85 (first phase $10 to KNM Ventures to join Holiday Unity
Foundation
and s5x$10 for secret techniques to use in filling your ten-new-member
quota q10x$10; second phase s5x$5 on Dec. 1 as holiday
gift).
Exponential growth calculations. Foundation for New Era
Philanthropy
(New Era) ponzi: promised to match deposits of non-profit institutions
with matching funds from charitable donors within 6 months. Two local
religious leaders got 10% of $20 million in donations they
arranged.
New Era references (11) from Philadelphia Inquirer.]
ETHNOLOGIE DES FAITS RELIGIEUX EN EUROPE, Actes du Colloque
de
Strasbourg. 1993. Albert, Jean-Pierre. "La 'chaîne de saint
Antoline"
: religion ou superstition?" Éditions du C.T.H.S., 1993. pp
207-220.
[No English translation. At least one French text.]
EVENING NEWS (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1987. George Weigel, "
'Airplane
Club' Illegal pyramid scheme may be flying our way." May 15, p.
C1.
[Airplane club pyramid scheme. Specs s$2,200 (amounts vary),
q2, n4, max $17,600. Roles: pilot (1), co-pilots (2), crew members (4),
passengers (8). State investigator obtained promotional packet at
meeting, some text: "Of what concern is it to anyone if we
wish
to give a friend, or a friend of a friend, $2,200?" "In
the
spirit of sharing and fellowship, in the spirit of Christian charity,
and
trust in your fellow man - this is the spirit of Airplane." State
Attorney
General filed three lawsuits. At outset of meeting promoters ask
if any police, FBI, IRS or reporters present. Club literature
advises:
avoid using last names on airplane charts, be discreet about talking
about
the club, deposit and withdraw small amounts from bank, avoid using
cordless
phones when talking about the club. Rampant in New York state a
few
months ago; more than 20 arrests there.]
EVENING NEWS (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1987a. " 'Airplane Club'
grounded, charged in pyramid caper." May 22, p. B2.
[UPI. State Attorney General filed suit against 12 founders of
the Airplane Club MCL. Said members recruited at parties featuring
alcohol,
food and music. Names of defendants. Suit seeks to bar continuing
club, restitution and $1,000 for each violation.]
EVENING NEWS (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1988. George Weigel,
"Chain
gangs: Despite some new wrinkles in old pyramid scheme, using the mails
is still illegal, postal inspector warns." May 13, p. C1.
[Describes Dave Rhodes MCL. Specs s5x$1, q100+, n5, max
60x$50,000.
Some text. Postal inspector: <numbers> "Chain letters seem to run
in
cycles, and we've been in an up cycle for about the last four
months."
Rhodes scheme advised buying mailing list for $13 from S.E. Ring
Mailing
Lists, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A spokesman there said he did not
know
how his company's name got on the Rhodes letter, and that the firm did
not sell lists if the names were to be used to promote chain
letters.
Amounts lost by four participants. Postal Inspectors have tried to
track
down Dave Rhodes, Edward L. Green, Harry R. Rhodes with no
success.
They use a computer to log names on chain letters. Remainder of
article
missing.]
EVENING NEWS (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1991. George
Weigel,
"Chain letters disguised." Jan. 18, p. C1.
[Subtitle: "Promoters use different approaches to hook
consumers."
Describes "Friendship Club" MCL. Specs q=20/year, s5x$5, n5, max
$555,550. Includes letter from alleged founder Betsy A. Jordan "who
claims
to be a 53-year-old widow with terminal lung cancer who got the idea
after
getting a $5 birthday gift in the mail one day from her mother."
Jordan claims received $1.8 million in three years. "I have
absolutely
no reason to story you: I'm too close to meeting my maker."
Letter
claims attorney checked out for legality; receipt of up to
$10,000
a year tax exempt because they are gifts. CPA: "When you have to
do something to generate money, you can't call it a gift," hence
taxable.
State Attorney general recently closed the "Executive Income Program"
MCL.
One woman has received 60 pyramid and MCL pitches. Accompanying
article
gives claims of winnings & losses.]
FATE. 1975. Harold
Sherman. "The Chain Letter: Don't You Believe It!" August 1975, 28.8,
pp. 82-86.
[Psychic Harold Sherman estimates that in his lifetime he has received
"at least 100 chain letters, all of them promising great good luck,
usually within four days, if I will continue the chain by making 20
copies of the letter and mailing them on to a list of friends." If you
receive one he advises you throw it away, and gives a meditation to
accompany this. A "condensed" text of a DL letter (names were present
but are not given) is given [le1975_dl_n_sherman].
The text appears very nearly complete. Sherman notes some
inconsistencies, including that late compliance nevertheless produced
good luck. He does not note the compound nature (contradictory origins)
of the DL letter.]
THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. 1978. Karen Brune &
Ray Huard, " 'Circle of Gold' chain letter surfaces in Jacksonville."
Sunday,
Dec. 10, Sec. B, p. 1+.
[$100 per person Circle of Gold MCL in South Georgia and
Jacksonville.
The Times-Union purchased a letter for $100: it claims to have received
"approval of legal counsel," has two pages of instructions and
two
(?) lists of 12 names. Top name an Indiana man who says he has
collected
$1000, says letter came from California. Participant: "You have
to
call people and push it. I called one woman who said she sold the
one but couldn't sell the other. I just picked up the phone and
sold
it." Savannah saturated. <law> State Attorney's
Office can
file injunction in circuit courts forcing participants to return
items of value received and get back items they have sent.]
FLS NEWS (THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY -LONDON).
1995. Jacqueline Simpson, "Chain Letter (2)." n. 21, June, p. 11.
[Summarizes and contrasts two DL type LCLs received in 1993 (FLS, Dec.
1993) and 1995 (The Independent, Jan. 16, 1995). Few
direct
quotes. Name and amount variations. The 1993 is signed by "Samuel
& Gordon." The 1995 uses pounds and reads: "The
chain comes from Venezuela and was written by Gordon Lane de Sampa
. . ."]
FLS NEWS
(THE
NEWSLETTER OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY). 2000. Jacqueline Simpson,
"Chain
Letters." n. 32, November, p. 5.
[Gives partial text
of 1916 postcard chain letter, likely one collected by Paul Smith.
Cites
Phyllis Nye ( The Independent, 6 May 2000, Review section, p.
2)
that her parents thought of chain letters as "pernicious" (even a
postcard
exchange) because "during the First World War they and many people they
knew had received letters threatening death or horrors to their loved
ones
in the trenches of France if the chain was broken." Comments on the
Letters
from Heaven.]
FLS NEWS (THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY). 2001. T.
R.
Edwards, "Chain Letters." n. 33, February, p. 8.
[Translates the "Letter of St. Nektarios" (from I. M. Hafzifatis, Orthodoxia
ke Laikes Doxastes, Ellinika Grammata, Athens, 1996, p. 81). Full
English
text. "Write this letter 13 times and send it to 13 people and in 13
months you will be fee from various problems."]
FOLKLORE.
1915. J. S. Udal, "Obeah in the West Indies." V. 26, p. 284-286.
[Text of "Letter from Jesus"
sold in the Caribbean to protect homes from fire.]
FOLKLORE. 1917. "Letters from Heaven." V.
28,
p. 318-320.
[Responses to FOLKLORE 1915 concerning Letter from Heaven.
Presence
in south England (to protect against witchcraft and assure safety in
childbirth)
and America ("written . . . in letters of gold, or with His
blood").
References. Father Delahaye traces back to end of sixth century.]
FOLKLORE.
2005. Stephen G. Olbrys, "Money talks: folklore in the public
square." V. 116, No. 3, December, p. 292-310.
[Thorough discussion of "currency chains:" messages and petitions
written on paper money.]
FOLK-LORE RECORD. 1878. "West Sussex
Superstitions."
V. 1, p. 23.
[An old woman keeps a copy of the Letter from Jesus (to Abgarus),
purchased
from a peddler, to ward off witchcraft and the evil eye.]
FORBES. 1994. Fleming Meeks, "Chain letter
investing."
June 20, p. 251-52.
[Investment in Alpacas merely because the price is going up (the
"greater
fool theory").]
THE
GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. 1867. "A Curious Charm." J. T. Fowler. Dec.,
p. 786
[Jesus' Sabbath Letter. A copy of "one in the possession of an
honest farmer's wife at Saltfleetby St. Clement's, who was very loth to
part with it, even for an hour." Complete text.
"This curious document has doubtless been copied many times and
treasured
up, as it is even now at Saltfleetby."]
GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW. 1936. Andrew G.
Haley,
"The Broadcast and Postal Lottery Statutes." V. 4, p. 475-496.
[Essential elements of a lottery: consideration, chance and prize.
Detailed definitions of these. Lottery statutes construed to
prevent
evasion "for the mind of man, inspired by cupidity and the desire for
unjust
enrichment over his fellow man, has invented innumerable
subterfuges."
" 'Chain letter' enterprises have as their inducement the awarding of
prizes
on the basis of one's position or relative standing in line."
"After
the first few 'pay offs,' many contingencies governing one's standing
are
so remote as to be unascertainable. Even where the schemes
are so planned that eventually all participating will receive a prize,
but at different times, it is apparent that an inequality of chance
prevails."
Legal references.]
GERMAN
AMERICAN ANNALS. 1908. Edwin M. Fogel, "The
Himmelsbrief."
V. 10, p. 286-311.
[Traditional letters (Himmelsbrief) among Pennsylvania Germans. " .
. . we have in the Himmelsbrief the old heathenism under the garb of
Christianity."
Six categories: St. Germain, Holstein, Mechelburg, Himmelsriegel, Count
Philip of Flanders, and Magdeburg. All in German except one Holstein,
the Count Philip letter, and
the
"Endless Chain of Prayer" (an early form of the "Ancient Prayer"
LCL).
Two versions exist, a long and short. Complete text
given of the short version, later referred to as the "Endless Chain
Letter."
Bishop Lawrence mentioned in the text was an Episcopalian (not a
Methodist)
- see Lawrence 1926. Reference supplied
by
Alan Mays.]
GODDARD, DWIGHT (Ed.). 1938. A
Buddhist
Bible. Boston: Beacon Press (1970).
[The Diamond Sutra promises great merit to those who "zealously and
faithfully observe and study this Scripture, explain it to others and
circulate
it widely..." (p. 96). The Surangama Sutra: "Ananda, should any
sentient
beings in any of the kingdoms of existence, copy down this Dharani on
birch-bark
or palm-leaves or paper made of papyrus or of white felt, and keep it
safely
in some scented wrapping, this man no matter how faint-hearted or
unable
to remember the words for reciting it, but who copies it in his room
and
keeps it by him, this man in all his life will remain unharmed by any
poison
of the Maras." (p. 275)]
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. 1969. "Why most chain letters
are illegal." V. 169, July, p. 141.
[Basic legal facts. Miscalculated return from a MCL with specs
s$1n6q6. "Ninety-nine percent of the people who participate in
circulating
chain letters do not realize they are breaking the law" - H. J.
Wallenstein,
Asst. Attorney General of N.Y.]
GOOD OLD DAYS. 1977. "Chain
Letter Madness." Esther Norman. Vol. 13, No. 9, March, p. 4-48.
[Rare nostalgia magazine. Esther Norman comments on the 1935
Send-a-Dime
craze. "The best kind, the experts decided, were the ones that would
'scare'
the ones who received the letters into complying with keeping the chain
unbroken." Gives complete text (no addresses) of Send-a-Dime type
with general bad luck threats, mle1936uu_sd_badluck_q5.
Also gives text of a Send-a-Dime letter with non-traditional
explanations,
me1935u_sd_norman.
Says she and her friends were "afraid" to break chains. Says
handkerchief
and tea-towel exchange letters followed. Quit responding after
receiving
quarter money chain. Only source for a money chain letter with bad luck
threats.]
GOOD PROFITS IN CHAIN LETTERS? YOU BE THE JUDGE.
1978.
Darien Publications, Huntington Beach, CA.
[Mail order publication, 16 pages stapled. MCL appeal:
(1) promise of big, quick profits. (2) small start-up costs, (3) easy
work,
(4) all cash business. Sent out 86 questionnaires with SASE to
participants
in five chain schemes. Received 54 responses (25 positive, 19
negative,
10 uncertain). Promoters strategies: use of aliases, group
efforts,
selling addresses and printing services. Woman in top slot (of four,
selling
reports) knew nothing of chain, returned dollars. Legal: text of
codes.
MCL texts include "Millionaire's Newsletter" testimonial accompanying
"The
Letter." Sample of "report": "How to Raise $10,000 Overnight."]
GOODSPEED, EDGAR J. 1931. Strange
New Gospels.
Univ. of Chicago Press.
[Christian apocrypha - much was expanded upon in Goodspeed 1956. "The
most ambitious and yet the most commonplace of modern apocrypha is
probably
the "Letter of Jesus Christ," said to have been found under a stone
near
Iconium, where it was deposited by the angel Gabriel. It is
sometimes
sent through the mail with a request that the recipient send copies of
it to three others, as some great misfortune is likely to befall him if
he does not. 'Do not break the chain.' It was published almost in full
some years ago in the Chicago Evening Post, and is sometimes
found
framed on the walls of people of more piety than intelligence." (p.
100)]
GOODSPEED, EDGAR J. 1956. Modern
Apocrypha. Boston: Beacon Press. p. 70-75.
[History of the "The Letter from Heaven" (concerning Sunday, Lady
Cubass).
Complete text.
Origin
(R. Priebsch): Ebusa Island (Latin) sixth century. Bishop
of
Carthagena denounced it in a letter of 584 AD. Reappeared through
the centuries. English form much simplified, from 1700, may have
added the Abgar and Lentulus letters. Mentions "A Letter of our
Lord
Jesus Christ, Found on the Grave of the Mother of God," revealed
when the patriarch of Jerusalem smote a stone that had fallen from
heaven.]
GREGG, JOHN ROBERT. 1941. Applied
Secretarial Practice, Second ed. New York: The
Gregg
Publ. Co.
[Up to 4 carbons OK with standard weight first sheet (20#) and light
copy sheets (13#). Up to 10 copies OK with light first sheet (p.
12).
Now obsolete duplicating methods: mimeograph, gelatin duplication,
liquid
duplicators, multigraph, multilith, Vari-Typer, Hooven typewriter,
Postal-card
duplicators and multifax (Ch. VI). Multigraph (p. 142) produces
letters
that look typewritten. Type is set on a cylindrical drum and covered
with
an inked fabric ribbon. Paper fed between type drum and a rubber
platen roller.]
THE (MANCHESTER) GUARDIAN. 1990. "Diary" - Judy
Rumbold.
Nov. 7, p. 21: 2.
[Brief mention of husband exchange parody CL "currently circulating
in New York." Some text; receive 16,748 men. One
woman
broke the chain and "got her own son-of-a-bitch back."]
GUIGNÉ, ANNA. 1993. The 'Dying
Child's
Wish' Complex: A Case Study of the Relationship Between Reality and
Tradition.
(M.A. Thesis), Memorial University of Newfoundland.
[<guigne> Thorough analysis of the Craig Shergold appeal.
Examples
of similar appeals, many full texts. References.]
HAND, WAYLAND. 1959. "A North
Carolina Himmelsbrief." In Middle-Ages-Reformation.
"Volkskunde."
Univ. of North Carolina Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures,
No. 26. Chapel Hill, p. 201-207.
[Complete text of "Our Saviour's Letter" (Cubas) from No. Carolina,
with differences present in an earlier English broadside
(Herefordshire).
Legend of how the "Ancient Letter" reached America, with bad luck for
failing
to publish it. Newspaper references. Early Christian belief in
letters
from heaven. Some believe magic & holy writings lose efficacy
when copied off (note 13). "...a practice whose origins are to be
found more in journalism and in the printing trade, perhaps, than in
religious
history or folklore."]
HAND, WAYLAND (Ed.) 1961. The Frank C. Brown
Collection
of North Carolina Folklore, V. 6. Durham: Duke University
Press,
p. 11-12.
[ "A charm known as 'The Letter of Jesus Christ' will insure the safe
delivery of a child, if possessed by the mother." References to
published
texts of Himmelsbriefe, including Jewish, foreign, Islamic.]
HAND, WAYLAND; CASETTA, K. & THIEDERMAN, S
(Eds.)
1981. Popular Beliefs and Superstitions: A Compendium of
American
Folklore From the Ohio Collection of Newbell Niles Puckett, V.
2.
Boston: G.K. Hall & Co.
[P. 845 & 907: Six accounts of belief in good / bad
luck, e.g. <motive> ". . . if you break a
'chain-of-luck
letter,' disaster is sure to follow" (F, age 66). Complete
text of LCL with specs q4+1, d1, w4. Name list of 15 at
bottom omitted.]
HAND, WAYLAND & TULLY, FRANCIS. 1996?. "Chain
Letter."Encyclopedia
of American Popular Beliefs and Superstitions. New York:
Oxford
Univ. Press.
[Quotes Duncan, Dundes and de Lys.
African missionary letter - ref. Hyatt. Send-a-dime basics.
Classification of CLs: (1) financial, (2) religious/lucky, (3)
humorous/satiric,
(4) leisure/interest. For MCL calls copy quota its "width," number of
names
on list its "length." Motivations.]
HOBBIES, THE MAGAZINE FOR COLLECTORS. 1935. V. 40, No.
8, October.
[(1) Autographs - A Chain Letter. "A chain letter that was started
in 1894 by seventeen members of the Eureka College, Eureka, Ill.,
graduating
class, has been going the rounds for these forty-one years. When a
member
receives it he chronicles his activities and thoughts and sends it on.
So far it has traveled to China and the remote corners of the world
several
times. Fourteen members of the class are still alive and contribute to
the letter about twice a year." (2) Market Notes and News. "The custom
of inscribing the initials S.A.G. on the backs of letters, dates back
to
1729, and supposedly insures the letter against any mishaps along the
route
to its destination. The letters abbreviate Saint Anthony Guide, and the
custom is mainly Roman Catholic." (3) Market Notes and News. "The
chain-letter
racket, which is practically non-existent now, has been the cause of
some
interesting oddities in the news. When the idea first started, about
five
months ago, many collectors started a "philatelic chain" and sent to
many
(if not all) of their friends. A number of these letters were sent
abroad,
especially in Europe. And therein lies the story. It seems that our
foreign
neighbors have more faith in this American idea, then our own brethren,
for they (in most cases) promptly continued the chain and the
recipients
promptly forwarded additional letters. Now reports come from all over
the
United States that the original instigators are receiving stamps for
their
trouble - and in most cases very good stamps. One South American
collector
boosted the value up to about $5, and then forwarded that amount in
mint
airs to an Eastern collector."]
HYATT, HARRY MIDDLETON. 1935. Folk-Lore
From Adams County Illinois. New York: Memoirs of the Alma Egan
Hyatt
Foundation, p. 420-421.
[Population: "During the latter part of 1933 a 'chain letter' fad
appeared."
Complete text of LCL,
q5n6d1w9.
Hyatt deleted two names and two towns. Possibly deleted addresses (?).
Chicago (Cook County) appears twice in senders list.]
THE INDEPENDENT. 1916. "Chain
Charity." V. 86, May 8, p. 199
[Complete text of
charity
chain letter (for Billy).]
INDIA OBSERVER. 1872. "Some strange papers . . . " Feb.
17, p. 101, col. 2
[Cited in JOURNAL OF SOCIAL HISTORY. 1987. "Some
strange papers have been going around the north of Tirhoot." ". .
. the cows have complained to Jagannath that all the wastelands are
being
cultivated, and that Jagannath has promised to curse any one who
cultivates
waste lands . . . " and "cause the house of anyone who
fails
to pass on these papers to be burnt." Reporter suggests local police
detectives
track down the origin, possibly across the border in Nepal.]
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (Lancaster, Pa.). 1988.
David
Sturm, "Illegal Chain Letter Surfaces Here." Jan. 20, pp. 1,2.
[Dave Rhodes MCL. Norfolk, Va. had one Dave Rhodes but number was
unlisted.
Postal Inspector speculates that Dave Rhodes is a fictional person, and
that the letter was a way for a mailing list company to drum up
business
(S. E. Ring Mailing Lists Co. of Fort Lauderdale).
<numbers> Says
"chain letters have crossed his desk every day for the 23 years he has
been a postal inspector."]
JAMES, MONTAGUE R. 1953. The Apocryphal New Testament.
London: Oxford Univ. Press. Correction of the 1924 edition.
[Mentions "the Letter of Christ concerning Sunday, extant in almost
every European language and in many Oriental versions. It was
fabled
to have fallen on the altar at Jerusalem, Rome,
Constantinople..."
English text of the
letter
from Abgarus (of Edessa) to Jesus and his reply. "Later texts add
a promise that where this letter is, no enemy shall prevail; and so we
find the letter copied and used as an amulet." English text of
the
"Letter of Lentulus," a description of Christ's physical appearance
from
about the 13th century. The oldest text does not present the document
as
a letter, but begins: "It is read in the annal-books of the Romans that
our Lord Jesus Christ, who was called by the Gentiles the prophet of
truth,
was of stature..."]
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE. 1895. "Notes on
the
Folk-Lore of Newfoundland." V. 8, p. 286.
[Brief mention of "the letter of Jesus Christ" which promises safe
delivery in child-bed and freedom from bodily hurt.]
JOURNAL
OF MODERN HISTORY. 1990. Lynne Viola, "The
Peasant Nightmare: Visions of Apocalypse in the Soviet Countryside." V.
62, p. 747-770.
[Peasant rumors and apocalyptic prophecy in protest of Soviet
collectivization
in the 1920's. Rumors of miracles: renewed icons, appearance of
crosses,
secret flames, holy springs. Rumor that disbelief was punished: "a
peasant
who laughed at the story fell off his horse and became
ill."
Three apocalyptic themes: "the reign of Antichrist, impending war and
invasion,
and the destruction of traditional ways of peasant life." ". . .
leaflets or proclamations were distributed or appeared
mysteriously.
Elsewhere, heavenly letters written by the hand of God, the Virgin
Mary,
or Christ appeared." In one God wrote: "If this non-belief
continues,
then in two years the world will come to an end. I can no longer
be patient." Heavenly letters played a similar role during
the late Middle Ages (Cohn 1957).
Footnote 59: "In addition to leaflets, rumors were circulated in chain
letters, promising great joy or sorrow depending on whether the letter
was delivered or not." ]
THE JOURNAL OF POPULAR CULTURE. 1976. Gerard
O'Connor,
"The hoax as popular culture." V. 9, n. 4, p. 767-774.
[Brief mention of depression era MCLs as a "popular money hoax."]
JOURNAL
OF SOCIAL HISTORY. 1987. Ananda A. Yang, "A
Conversation
of Rumors: The Language of Popular Mentalitès in Late
Nineteenth-Century
Colonial India." V. 20, p. 485-505.
[Rumors of peasants in the Bihar region of northeast India in the late
nineteenth century. Illiteracy widespread, regular channels of
communication
closed to them. Census rumors: prelude to: household and other
taxes,
inscription, forced emigration, forced conversion. "Religious rumors
were
generally encoded with the sanction of a sacred authority, either a
place
or person, and with a message promising dire consequences if they were
not disseminated further - often in chain-letter fashion - by their
recipients."
Some text of three CLs.
Tree daubing: splash of mud with black hairs imbedded - replicated -
spread
described - rumors followed. Rumors often invoked Hindu gods to
attain
authority - "fittest" survived.]
JOURNAL
OF SOCIAL HISTORY. 1991. Robert Orsi. "The Center Out There,
In Here, and Everywhere Else: The Nature of Pilgrimage to the Shrine of
Saint Jude, 1929-1965." V5, Winter, N2: pp. 213-239.
[National shrine of Saint Jude Thaddeus founded by Spanish Claretian
Fathers in Chicago in 1929. Jude's devout told "they need never come to
Chicago to participate fully in the cult." Jude called "the Patron
Saint
of 'Anglos'" by Mexican American women (1958). Jude's early titles
included
"the Forgotten Saint," the "Obscure and Unknown Saint." Social history
of Catholic ethnic communities in 20th century contribute to
decentralization
of Jude devotion. Note 44: "This desire and commitment to making Jude
known
around the country is also the motive for the ubiquitous notices
thanking
the saint that appear in the classified sections of newspapers."
"Synchronicity,
the unexpected coincidence of events, was thought to disclose Jude's
actions
or intentions, and so the devout carefully marked the moment when they
first encountered the saint and noted the timing of his response" (p.
221).
<deadline> "They also referred self-consciously to the timing of
their
own expressions of gratitude: what was important to them was not that
they
went someplace in return for the saint's intervention but that they did
something within a certain amount of time." "Jude's was a postal
devotion
and writing replaced going as the primary devotional act."]
JOURNALISM MONOGRAPHS. 1994. Nathaniel Hong,
"Down
with the Murderer Hitler!" No. 146, Aug.
[Dissident expression in Denmark, 1940-42, incl. leaflets, chain
letters,
stickers, posters, graffiti, songs, symbols, flags and theater
demonstrations.
Based on police reports. Leaflets encouraged hand copying; two
early
forms became combined (p. 6). Police tracing and other
investigative
methods. Lord's Prayer political parody: "Our Führer / Who
is
in Germany / . . ." (p. 9). "This is about Denmark's Freedom" had
heading "KÆDEBREV" (CHAIN LETTER), explicitly asked copies be
made
and admonished "Don't break the chain" (p. 12). Government
posters
"improved" with anti-German messages (p. 15). BBC Danish-language
broadcast initiated use of "V" graffiti (p. 15). Methods of
distribution
(p. 21-2).]
KEYSTONE FOLKLORE QUARTERLY. 1972. Mac E.
Barrick,
"The Typescript Broadside." V. 17:1, Spring, p. 27-38.
[Several examples of erotic print folklore. Circulated since the
1920's.
Once typed with reversed carbon so only read with mirror. Complete
text
of "Fertilizer Club" parody & variant from 1971. Printed material
has
advantage over oral in the workplace since it can be read
surreptitiously.]
KIPLINGER'S PERSONAL FINANCE MAGAZINE. 1993.
Ronaleen
R. Roha, "Inside the Head of a Mail-Order Crook." Jan., p. 73-75.
[Strategies of mail-order cons including stuff envelopes.]
KITCHING,
I. J. & FOREY, P. L & HUMPHRIES, C. J. & WILLIAMS, D.
M. Cladistics - The theory and practice of parsimony analysis. Second
edition. Oxford University Press. 1998.
[From the back cover: "The book begins with an explanation of the
fundamental
concepts in cladistics, such as the meaning of relationships,
systematic
groups, and their recognition through processes of homology. The types
of characters that can be used in cladistic analysis are examined,
followed
by the methods used for coding these observations for computer
analysis.
The construction of cladograms and consensus trees is explained, and
the
contentious area of three-item statements, a different method of
representing
relationships among taxa, is explored."]
LAMAR TRI-STATE DAILY NEWS. 1979. Michael
J.
Preston, "Colorado Lore and Language . . . What Evil Will Plague
You If Chain Letter Is Broken?" July 30, p?
[Receives DL type LCL; partial text (have original
letter -DWV). Female recipient of LCL worried about bad luck
for three days, then sent 20 copies. General Walsh name and
amount
variants. Partial text of recipe XCL.]
LA PORTE HERALD-ARGUS.
1976. (Laporte County, Indiana). D. Reed Eckhardt. "Chain letters
blooming." April 10, 1976.
[Debunks pyramid schemes. Bicentennial Savings Bond scheme (send $2 -
$1 for each hundred years). Exchange of recipes and post cards
are not illegal "because they are not considered a 'thing of value'."
Claims post cards with threat of bad luck are prohibited "because it is
against the law to place threatening matter on he outside of mail." (Ruled unconstitutional in
1973 - DWV)]
LARDNER, RING. 1946. "On
Chain
Letters." The Portable Ring Lardner, New York: Viking, p.
567-570.
Originally from "Ring Lardner's Weekly Letter," distributed by Bell
Syndicate,
August 6, 1922.
[Complete text (no
names)
of Good Luck LCL. Name list: fifty. <numbers> Received twelve of
these
"endless chain" letters since the summer. Original source
supplied
by Scott Topping.]
LAWRENCE, WILLIAM. 1926. Memories
of a Happy Life. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
p.
282-283.
["For two or three years, beginning in 1906, I was harassed by an
outcropping
of superstition in the form of a prayer chain, the source of which I
have
never discovered. Complete text,
includes "This prayer was sent out by Bishop Lawrence . . ."
Lawrence
continues: "Letters of inquiry, protest, and condemnation came to me
from
over the country, Europe, and beyond. The Associated Press and
leading
newspapers cooperated in an effort to stop the nuisance."]
LETTERS
TO AMBROSE MERTON. 2001. Jean-Bruno Renard. "Chain
Letter
from France." Spring, 2001, p. 24-25.
[Original French text and English
translation of 1999 luck chain letter, plus image of
envelope.
Copy quota nine (including received copy). Miracle working sick child
attributed
as author. ". . . see what will happen to you within 4 days."
Write
"RF" on envelope instead of stamp. Renard suspects circulation among
children.
French post office response to chain letters, envelope stamped "Chaine
Inadmis".]
LIBERTY.
1935 (Day 92). Donald Furthman Wickets, "Chain Letter
Madness."
V. 12, n. 29, July 20, p. 30-33.
[Questionable text
of send-a-dime with fictitious names. Only source for LCL protesting
Sabbath
violations (c. 1902); specs q7d7w7, titled "The Prayer Chain."
Near
complete text. Text of
harsh threat says was added, then "tens of thousands of prayer letters
flooded the mails." Circulation in China, Africa and South America
(source?).
<immunization> "Folks who sent out some of the early
letters began
to receive their echoes." Plausible origin story of send-a-dime:
"A Denver attorney . . . told the writer a tale that seems likely. One
day early in April a woman client came to his office. She was deeply
distressed
over the plight of several families she had known for years. These
people
had been forced to go on relief through no fault of their own and at a
considerable cost of pride. She had worried and pondered. The result
was
a plan to help these families and possibly many more in similar
circumstances.
She proposed sending out dime chain letters to her friends, listing the
families' names. Did the lawyer consider the plan illegal? He
told
her he could see no harm in thus soliciting charity donations - and so
perhaps the snowball was started." Methods of cheating.
"Cheater-proof"
notarized letter. The "guaranteed" letter in which two copies are
"sold," letters pass hand-to-hand. Stories of winnings.]
LITERATURA
LUDOWA. 1988. Bednarek Boguslaw, "Lancuszek sw. Antoniego."
no.
1, pp. 23-30.
[<Polish> My copy is missing text. Contains text of nine
luck
chain letters. Have English translation by Yana Tishchenko of four
dated
ones (1, 2,
4,
5).]
LITERARY DIGEST. 1933. "Chain Selling Competes with
Jig-Saws."
June 24, V. 115, p. 31.
[Brief account of chain selling scheme from the Burlington (Vt.) Free
Press: "You buy two packs of cards for a dollar. Their worth is
questionable.
You then become a registered salesman with the playing-card sales
promoter.
You then sell three people the same article and start them selling . .
.You get a commission on the first three sales they make. You get a
commission
on all that you sell after the first three."]
LITERARY DIGEST. 1935 (Day 29). "Chain-Letter
'Prosperity-by-Mail'."
V. 119, May 18, p. 38.
[Send-a-dime. <variations> XCLs: liquor, hay, kiss, find lost
husband.
Benefits business: stationers, type-writer agencies, stenographers.
Recruitment:
hiring boys to drop CLs on porches. Calculations. Postal receipts.]
LITERARY DIGEST. 1937.
"Quick
Riches." V.123, April 24, p. 5-6.
[Questionable Prosperity type LCL text fragment. Prior letters
typed on tissue paper (Good Luck) - "this letter was started in the
fields
of Flanders for the good of humanity." Celebrity testimonials.
Send-a-dime.
Subsequent get-rich-quick schemes: radio club (Toledo),
recreational-park
membership (Dayton), vacation-fund (Atlantic City), Ruby Hospital
building
fund (Ponca City Florida, 1935).]
LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER. 1980a.
"Get-rich-quick
'chains' multiplying too fast to stop." May 21, p. A3.
[California pyramid schemes. Participants a "cross-section".
Los Angeles: hundreds of calls a day asking about legality; at least
100
clubs (c. 30 persons each). Parties busted. Herschel Elkins,
Asst.
State Attorney General: pyramid clubs were known in Los Angeles
in
the 1940's. 4 or 5 weeks to clean out an area before plan
collapses.
Alameda County High school pyramid: ounce of marijuana to buy in,
pay-off
a pound.]
LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER.
1980b. News Focus: "Pyramids: 'Brother can you spare a dime,'
1980-style."
May 22, p. A1+.
[<recruit, methods> Local pyramid schemes. Harold Gerard,
UCLA social psychologist, blames economy. About 40,000 attend "pyramid
parties" in Los Angeles last night (est. 150 to 400 parties). Accounts
of arrests. Most common ante $1000, win $16,000. Studio
employee:
"Studio people are talking about nothing else." "... experts said the
concept
has been around for a long time, as far back as ancient Greece or
Egypt."
Dr. Richard P. Barthol, UCLA Psychologist: "This (buying into a
pyramid)
seems like a way to get ahead of inflation, at least for a
while."
Dr. Jerald Jellison, USC Psychologist: "... if you can get people
to think bad times are coming, you can lessen rational thinking on the
advisability of the investment." Cash withdrawals from
banks.
Robberies of winners. Some brought to meetings blindfolded.
"I never saw anything like it in all my experience as a bunco
detective,
completely beyond the scope of my imagination." P. A15: "A
pyramid winner tells how she won her money." Elizabeth Kyger,
free-lance
writer, 24, tells of splitting $16,000. "I've made great business
contacts
because of this." Says Ventura freeway westbound jammed in evenings
because
of pyramid parties.]
LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER. 1980c. "Mood of
pyramid
participants turning ugly." May 24, p. A5.
[Two accounts of anger at Burbank pyramid party site.
Out-of-towners
now predominate. State Attorney General's office investigating possible
links to organized crime. P. A1+ "Ante goes up to $5,000"
Celebrity
attendants to day-time pyramid party attempt to deceive or intimidate
reporter
upon leaving. Photo (p. 1): Policeman holds up "Pyramid
Power"
T-shirt confiscated in a raid. Letter "A" of "PYRAMID" forms
pyramid.]
LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER. 1980d. "A Parable of
Pyramids and Pipe Dreams." -Marvin Chester, Ph. D. May 28, p.
A11.
[Analysis of s$500, q2x$500, n5 pyramid scheme. Hypothetical recruiting
calls. <origin> "Pyramid money schemes are quite ancient."
(?)
Mentions tripling pyramid scheme in Grenoble, France in 1971, 21 francs
to get on a list of 10 persons.]
LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER. 1980e. "500 rally at
Griffith Park to promote money scheme." May 27, p. 1+.
[Sign at rally: "Business Concept Power Happening." Attendants
defend scheme, claim winnings, exchange pyramid gossip (meeting with
237
buys, a $100,000 ante game). <law> Ventura county brings felony
conspiracy
charges. Lawyers address crowd - urge no guilty pleas.
Petition
circulated to DA. Citizen's Individual Rights and Collective Legal
Expression
(CIRCLE) distributes fliers criticizing police and media.
Photo:
Bearded man in pyramid power T-shirt, $ sign between the two words.]
LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER. 1980f. "I really
feel
like a sucker." June 1, p. 1.
[Young printer's account of collapse of pyramid. Printed 300
pyramid charts. Went in with 3 others at $250 each. Meeting
at 8 PM sharp, door locked, a letter was read asking law enforcement
and
tax collection personnel to admit role. Another person explains
pyramid
and asks for buy-ins. Last meeting: only people who had lost were
present, talk of violence.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1935 (Day 2). " 'Send-a-dime'
Letters Cause Postal Puzzle." April 21, p. 2:6.
[Housewives called newspapers wanting to know why the postal officials
did not mind their own business. "President Roosevelt wants to
redistribute
the wealth, doesn't he." <origin> Nelson suggested person
who
started may have placed fictitious names on list.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1935 (Day 8). "Senders
of
Send-a-dime Letters to Face Charges." April 27, p. 1:2.
["Asst. U. S. Attorney Palmer said the senders will be arrested and
charged with using the mails to defraud if any complaints are brought
to
his attention." "Postmaster Briggs said . . . the mailing was a
violation
of Sec. 215 of the Postal laws which govern endless chain
enterprises."
No local mail increase noted.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1971. "Pyramid Distributor
Plans
Put Under SEC." Dec. 1, Part III, p. 9: 2.
[<law> Means (1) companies must register multi-level
distributorships
as securities, (2) disclose information about itself and plan to sell
products,
(3) puts them under anti fraud provisions of Securities Act.
Exemptions
include selling in just one state.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1975. "Suit to Halt 'Endless
Chain'
Plot Filed." Feb. 12, Part I, p. 3:1.
[Three law enforcement agencies file suit to block massive 'endless
chain' schemes in So. California involving savings bonds. Names
of
26 persons indicted (misdemeanors). "An 'endless chain' is a
scheme
in which operators make money from the sale of memberships rather than
from commissions on sales or legal investments." Scheme: recruit
pays $37.50 to sponsor, receives list of 10 names and $25 savings bond
(cost $18.75) which goes to top name. Recruit makes two lists
with
his name at bottom, sends two bonds to his top name. Then
recruits
two, regaining $75. $3 dues and cost of materials also
asked.
Specs: s$37.50, q2x$37.50, n10. Pyramid company names: the Six Pack (6
names); the Century Club ($100 bonds); the Exclusive One Million, Inc.
(closes at one million membership); Uncle Sam Investment, Inc.; Your
March
of Bonds; the Inflation Defense Foundation. Fraudulent claims:
system
legal, infinite membership not required because of recycling, approval
of state authorities.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1980a. "Pyramid Scheme
Sweeping
California," May 21, p. 1: 4.
[The "Business List Concept" MCL, specs. s$500, q2x$500, n5,
max $16,000. Complaints to police. Legal: Section 327 of state
Penal
code reads "Every person who contrives, prepares, sets up, proposes or
operates any endless chain is guilty of a
misdemeanor." Parties of 123 (Burbank) and 235 (Costa Mesa)
raided,
charts and names taken. Shortage of $100 bills, rush of
withdrawals,
run on safe deposit boxes (to hold hoped for unreported
winnings).
<methods> Participants locked in meeting room for up to five
hours while
"cells" are sold. <origin> Investigator says pyramid
schemes are
as old as this century (?). May 21, p. 24: "Visit to a Pyramid
Party"
by Nancy Graham. "Players Buoyed by Faith - and Greed." "It is a
revival meeting, complete with exhortation and testimony and a final
coming-forward
of converts." Meeting arranged at a beauty parlor - venue shifted
for security. Prior investors divided from others; they call out
names of guests they invited, who cross the room to them. Speaker
declares
legal because of an expiration date. Demand for any law enforcement
officers
to depart. Claim untaxable (false). Testimonies: "This is
friends
- helping friends.!" ]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1980b. J. Michael Kennedy,
"Pyramid
Schemes are a Sure Thing - at Least for the Losers" May 22,
p. 3.
[Participants often professionals. All money exchanged at
meetings,
held by invitation only. <methods> Position indicated by a
chart.
To "buy a cell" (one of 32) new investor pays $500 to top name and $500
to person recruiting them (at bottom of list). When all 32 cells
sold pyramid splits in two, new meetings arranged. "The rule of
thumb
is that for every dollar someone makes, some one else will lose a
dollar."
Police usually stop pyramids by busting one and publicizing illegality
- didn't work this time. Economic inflation may be a factor. Meeting
described:
30 people, chart, door locked, fear of robbery. Male participant
was on two other $1000 lists that "will probably die" because he had
seen
people buy in who were not willing to recruit. Kennedy says good
luck letters started in WWI. Business List may be biggest MCL
since
depression fad. Origin unknown, describes spread. State: more
than
200 arrests for Business List under Section 327. Complaints of
supervisors
pressuring employees to invest. Over 3000 protest crackdown at State
Capitol:
spokesman Tony Stathor, lawyer. Speculation that con artists
start
lists without paying.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1980c. "Unable to Stop Pyramid
Games, Police Officials Say." May 23, p. 3: 5.
[Growing number of complaints from people who lost money and offered
to take undercover officers to the meetings. Location of
raids.
<methods> Shills now active in the pyramids, manipulation of the
pyramid
lists detected.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1980d. "Pyramid Party,
Raiding
Party Go to Queen Mary." May 29, Part II, p. 1+.
[Long Beach undercover police raid party of 100 people participating
in a "Paradigm Foundation Seminar." Seize $15,000 and arrest five
people. Group used circle divided into four quadrants, with seven
positions in each quadrant. Entrance fee was $2,000, jackpot was
$28,000. Half the funds go to "the foundation." The
foundation
"welcomes losers of pyramid parties ... for a "charismatic energy
exchange"
where participants "give, take and share while being together and
having
fun." Five pyramid parties raided in a Hollywood recording
studio,
8 of 200 participants cited.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1987. "Despite Claims
'Chains'
Ignore Letter of Law" S. J. Diamond. Oct. 2, Part IV, p. 1:
1.
[Describes MCL received in Los Angeles, originated by "Edward L. Green"
- untraceable and probably fictional. Sells token
"reports."
Specs: q200+, s4x$5, n5, max $55,550+. Phony affidavits. Quotes
Don
Davis, manager of U.S. Postal Inspection Services fraud branch on
illegality
and prosecutors strategies. Return: $40 one month after mailing
400
copies (Alton Fulton, Ky.).]
LOS ANGELES TIMES. 1990a. "Direct Sales: A Party
Line to Profit" - Susan J. Diamond. June 7, p. 1+.
[Direct sales. About 150,000 Tupperware parties in U S. on any
night.
Other products sold at parties: Sarah Coventry costume jewelry, Stanley
Home Products, Princess House crystal stemware, Deco Plants, Miracle
Maid
"Water Seal" cookware, oil paintings, wine. "Direct selling" includes
parties
and door-to-door sales, representing about 1% of retail sales.
Amway:
60% growth last year to $800 million. Stanley Home Products (est.
1931) credited with origin of home party sales - salesmen began doing
demonstrations
at club meetings. More the 80% of peddlers are
women
- DSA ( Direct Selling Association). About 33% sales done in
offices.
"The goods themselves are a necessary but minor part of the whole
phenomenon of direct selling" - Harry Davis, Univ. of Chicago
Prof.
of Marketing. "Friends, neighbors and relatives are the best
prospects
for any new recruit" - Amway training literature. Home parties:
hostess
gathers friends and neighbors for the
salesperson. Includes group games, entertainment.
Reciprocal
obligations promote sales. Amway has 4600 employees and 500,000
independent
distributors. Companies charge distributor for catalogues, order
blanks, samples, hostess gifts and shipping. "You can do it" pep
rallies. Praise and flashy gifts for sales achievements.
Motivations
of participants: (1) getting out, (2) meeting people, (3) belonging to
an organization, (4) money. "Truly God has a plan, a purpose for
our Company and He is working it out through ... our President." - Home
Interiors and Gifts. "...it is sponsorship that moves people to
higher
levels of command and income, usually depending on the total volume
of their recruits' sales and the sales of their recruits'
recruits."
"They have . . . been judged false and deceptive only when recruiting
itself
brings reward, untied to product sales, or when new members have to buy
their way into the organization." In 1975 the FTC found Amway to
be misrepresenting distributor earnings and fixing prices.]
LOS ANGELES TIMES.
1990b.
Jack Smith, "The Chain Stops Here - Then Again, Maybe Not."
July 31, View section, p. E1+.
[Receives q5 LCL, the "Media" chain, from friend Jonathan Kirsch, "the
distinguished attorney and literary person." Complete text (same
as others). ".
. . 28
previous letters enclosed, each signed by one person and addressed to
five
other persons." Most names are "well-known persons in the media,
publishing and related fields. Also, there is a charming
self-conscious
flippancy in their notes of transmittal." First: "I can't believe I'm
sending
this." Second: "Sorry about this. . .but the game must go
on."
Others include: "What the hell. . .better safe than sorry!"; "A man
will
do anything out of fear."; "It's a comfort to know that not all strange
behavior commences in California"; "Oh vey - this is the third one of
these
I've received - I should be really lucky by now. At least we're
in
tremendous company!"]
LUCAS, E.V. 1923. "The
Snowball."
Luck of the Year, Methuen, p. 34-35.
[A friend receives Good Luck LCL. Full text.
Long list of names not given: "...joined by the word 'to'. The
last
two names were written by hand, the last of all being his own."
Hence
a "sent-to" list. Motivations to comply.]
LUKACH, HARRY C. 1913. The
Fringe of the East. London: Macmillan & Co.
p.
243-245.
[About Turkey. Abgar was a dynasty name in a Frankish state in
the Edessa area - first home of Christianity east of the
Euphrates.
Legend: Abgar V., suffering from an incurable disease, wrote Jesus
asking
him to come to Edessa to live and to heal him. Jesus replied:
"Blessed
art thou who hast believed in me without having seen me." Says will
send
a disciple. Complete text.]
LURE, V. F. 1993. "Holy Chain Letters as a Phenomenon of
Traditional Folklore." Russkaia Literatura, N1, p.
144-149.
[Have copy (Russian), no translation - DWV]
LYND, ROBERT. 1923. Solomon
in
All His Glory. Putnam, p. 71+
[Same as THE NEW STATESMAN.
1922.]
MAD MAGAZINE. 1988. "A Mad Good Luck Chain
Letter."
V. 280, July, p. 48.
[Non-circulating parody of LCL with list of 10 prior recipients
- all celebrities who had bad luck in 1987.]
THE MAIL EXCHANGE. 1996. "Chain Letter
Collector."
Sept. / Oct., p. 2. (Collectibles newsletter distr. by Dianne Olsen, P.
O. Box 1277, Lompoc, CA 93438).
[Based on an E-mail interview with Daniel VanArsdale. VanArsdale
comments
on the ethics and illegality of chain letters, also early examples.
"They
(chain letters) represent an evolution independent of human needs and
beyond
our present understanding . . ."]
MIZUNO, KOGEN. 1982. Buddhist
Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing
Co.
[ p. 172: "The world's oldest extant examples of printing are dharani,
or magical incantations, printed in Japan between 764 and 770, during
the
reign of Empress Shotoku. A total of over one million copies of four
different
dharani
from the Great Dharani Sutra of the Spotless and Pure Light . . . were
printed to be placed in the Hyakuman-to (One Million Pagodas) built at
the command of Shotoku. In this sutra it is stated that if
a person were to build several million small pagodas and place copies
of
dharani
in them, that person's life would be lengthened, evil karma would be
expunged,
and rebels and enemies would be vanquished." A million 23
centimeter
high wooden "pagodas" were constructed, a printed
dharani was placed
in each, and they were distributed to major temples.]
MUNRO, ALICE. 1971. Lives of
Girls and Women. [Fiction]. New American Library. New York. pp.
137-138.
[Not examined.]
NASH, JAY ROBERT. 1976. Hustlers and Con Men.
New York: M. Evans & Co., Inc. p. 26-32.
[Detailed operation of the "Spanish prisoner game" (con) - said to
date from 1588 (ransom for Spanish Armada sailors imprisoned in
England).
By 1900 scheme involved wealthy prisoner in Mexico with beautiful young
daughter. Very little text of traditional letter.]
THE NATION.
1935 (Day 54). Jay du Von, "Chain-Letter Madness." V.
140, n. 3649, June 12, p. 682-683.
[First "widely spread chain letter in the years since the war was the
'Good Luck' letter, based on the 'magic seven,' which was supposedly
started
by an army officer in Flanders." (Quota was nine for the US Good Luck
letter
-DWV). Send-a-dime. Chisel-proof variants: specs s$1,q2x$1,n10, max
$1024
and q3x$1, n3, max $27 (?). Springfield Mo. phenomenon: salesmen hired
to sell letters, "chain-letter factories" sell your letters, lines for
blocks, 12 factories in Springfield (pop. 100,000). Letters mailed
wholesale
using city directories (Texas, Iowa). Relates to "Redistribute
the
wealth."]
NATIONAL LAMPOON. 1979. "Milo Kush." "Unchained Melodrama."
March,
p. 41.
[Humorous fiction. "I was opening my mail one morning and got one of
those chain letters. You know the kind -- very long, single-spaced,
with
a lot of instructions on how to keep the chain going. Something about
continuing
the
Great Circle of Zoki." Cartoon. Describes various misfortunes until
finally
Milo Kush escapes from a government institution and tells his story.]
NATURE.
1994a. Oliver R. Goodenough & Richard Dawkins,
Letter:
"The 'St Jude' mind virus". V. 371, Sept. 1, p. 23-24.
[Receipt of DL type LCL. Full text.
Authors' name for letter: "St Jude 1." Paul M. Griffo, national
spokesman
for the US Postal Inspection Service: ". . . it goes back farther than
the institutional memory of the US Postal Service, and has periodic
outbreaks."
Newspaper references to other receipts. Analogies to a
virus.
Anxiety from receipt. Immunization effect. XCLs: underwear,
postcards
of naked Asian girls. CL protest of a disappearance. Craig
Shergold appeal. Culture systems as "more complicated mental
parasites
and symbionts."]
NATURE. 1994b. Ian Dunn, Letter: "The 'St
Jude'
gambit" V. 372, Nov. 3, p. 49.
[Response to above. Booster effect: anxiety from not complying
discloses "a prior infection, a 'meme', that was successfully implanted
in them. It required a challenge from the St Jude virus to
uncover
the meme."]
THE NEW REPUBLIC. 1989. Joe Queenan,
"Chain of Fools." V. 201, July 17&24, p. 8.
[Author's parody of DL type letter]
THE NEW
REPUBLIC. 1990. Joseph Nocera, "Northampton
Diarist
- Chain Gang." V. 203, Nov. 12, p. 46.
[Nocera: "Got the media chain letter in the mail the other day."
Circulated among Washington media personnel last summer, New York
earlier.
Celebrity names and their comments. John Sterling: "I'm counting
on you to break this ridiculous chain." ]
NEW SCIENTIST. 1992. Robin Dunbar, "So
what's
in a probability?" V. 134, n. 1820, May 9, p.
49-50.
[Dunbar receives a "Media" CL in a large brown envelope "some weeks
ago." Usual q5 with "accumulated correspondence that had passed
successively
down the line from at least one starting point in the US." All
statements
were from "professional scientists," says all "ended with a plea
for understanding" for why they yielded to the threat of bad luck (e.g.
"grant application pending," "a job interview next week").
Dunbar doesn't comply, has bad luck (family gets flu, more).
However,
"the chances of something going wrong on any given day are actually
quite
high, though we tend not to notice most of them unless something draws
them more forcibly to our attention."]
THE NEW STATESMAN.
1922.
Robert Lynd (Y.Y.), "Good Luck." V. 19, April 15, p.
37-38.
[Prior postcard prayer chain: nine copies, to go around the world,
magic of repetition. Full text
of current secular Good Luck postcard chain: anonymous, disguised
handwriting,
received by half the population (England). Recipients annoyed.
Agonizing
over who to send it to. Same as Lynd 1923.]
NEWSWEEK. 1935 (Day 8). "Chain Letters: Cast a
Dime
on the Waters and Get Rich." V.5, April 27, p. 8-9.
[Basic facts of send-a-dime: a combination of "CL luck scheme"
and "share-the-wealth plan." Sheldon Hosiery "chain selling-plan"
of 1933.]
NEWSWEEK. 1935 (Day 29). "Chain: Al Smith Gets Thousand
Share-Wealth Letters, One Dime." V. 5, May 18, p. 9-10.
[Send-a-dime spreads. Cheating. <variations>
Springfield:
guaranteed letter, "Pot of Gold," "Chance of a Lifetime," "Cream of the
Crop." Photos. Humorous variations. Celebrity receipts.]
NEWSWEEK. 1979. "Fool's Gold." V. 93, Jan.
1, p. 56-57.
[Pyramid Schemes. Circle of Gold. Selling parties: pitches, Est
and New Age overtones. Circle of Platinum ($1000). LA Actor
Paul Kent charged with misdemeanor. <recruitment> Charges
brought
after organizers placed newspaper ad in Tulare County. Drying up
in California.]
NEWSWEEK. 1995. Periscope: "Femail." Vol.
126,
n. 7, Aug. 14, p. 6:1.
[Brief mention of the "Pretty Panty Exchange" XCL. ". . .
mailboxes
are flooded." "The girls-only nature of the letter is a big
draw."]
NEW WEST.
1978. Marlene Adler Marks, "Chain of Fools." Nov. 20,
p. 15-18.
[Circle of Gold MCL: specs s$50, q2x$50, n12. Letter claims legality.
Some text. Circle
of
Abundance MCL cost $1,000. Many comments of participants: "High
energy,"
"It's the community," "Life is the number ones helping the number
twelves."
Recruitment parties: Vern Black (700 in SF); Beverly Hills (25);
Est-like;
pyramid power tie-in. "Gabriel" came from "the unknown Marin county
headquarters
of the Circle of Gold to address the faithful." <gender>
Women
participate five to one according to one authority. Origin: No.
California,
Marin County since July, "no one seems to be able to pinpoint the
letter's
original source." Woman in no. 1 position attends party, announces she
has entered Circle of Abundance.]
THE NEW YORKER. 1995. The Talk of the Town:
"Trust
Funding." V. 71, n. 20, July 17, p. 23.
[Describes charity CL sponsored by the Orphanage Trust, legitimate
British charity. Generated $200,000 in last 2 years for support of
Romanian
families willing to offer homes to Romanian orphans. Some
text:
"Please retype this letter on your letterhead and send it to ten
individuals."
Asks for three dollars - "no more." Media chain letter (or
Brill?):
"As with the self-conscious chain letter that seeped out of Hollywood
several
years ago promising good luck to those who passed it on and bad luck to
those who didn't, photocopied lists of recipients are enclosed in each
new appeal." Gives celebrity participants and in the case of Demi
Moore the ten people she sent it to. Lists are scrutinized. "The
lists are prime examples of the nineties phenomenon of celebrity
friendship
- the ethos of 'I'm not a celebrity myself, but some of my best friends
are . . ."]
THE NEW YORKER. 1995. Jay
McInerney,
"Philomena." V. 71, n. 42, Dec. 25 - Jan. 1, p. 76.
[Short story. A writer is losing his girlfriend. He discovers
a LCL that he had received and speculates that breaking the chain is
responsible
for his difficulties. Actual text of DL type LCL but not
complete.
Parody of the "office employee" lose-win testimonial:
"Collin
McNab left the letter sitting on his desk. A week after he
received
it his girlfriend packed up her diaphragm and disappeared. Two weeks
later
Collin discovered the letter. He sent out 20 copies and his
girlfriend
returned and said she loved him . . ."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1906. "Mason's
McKinley
Fund." Sept. 27, p. 7: 2.
[Statement that McKinley National Memorial Association is not involved
with an effort by Masons to collect money for a McKinley
memorial.
They received "a number of endless-chain letters" soliciting money for
a monument at late president's cemetery lot in Canton, Ohio. Two such
letters
have been collected [1901,
1905].]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1914. "The 'Chain Prayer' Nuisance."
Letter
- Maud Nathan, April 28, p. 12: 5.
[Complains of receiving a "chain prayer," LCL (q9) with an
"imputed
curse". No text.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1915. "A 'Prayer' for the Sick." Letter
- M. R. C., April 4, Sect. III, p. 2: 7.
[Hospitalized person complains of receiving an "Ancient Prayer" chain
postcard with specs q9d9w10. Much indirect text
.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1916. "Denounces
Chain Prayer." Jan. 9, p. 6: 4.
[<abate, law> Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cincinnati denounces
a "chain prayer letter." Ancient prayer type, specs q9d9w10,
complete
text
. "Any one who recites the prayer and believes in the promise,
sins
against the First Commandment of the Decalogue." Estimated
thousands
circulating in NY City. "No legal way yet devised to punish its
senders"
- U.S. District Attorney.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917a.
"Endless
Chain Binds Her." Feb. 9, p. 20: 4.
[Subtitle: "Nurse again urges that no more quarters be sent to
her."
Charity CL started more than a year ago by Miss Elizabeth Whitman,
Superintendent
of Nurses at the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary. Solicits quarter to
buy
anaesthesia for Allied hospitals. Collected more than $16,000.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917b. "The British Red Cross."
April
1, part II, p. 3: 3.
[American Committee of the British Red Cross has taken over the "Miss
Whitman Chain Letter."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917c. "War
Endless
Chain Overwhelms Nurse." June 3, p. 12: 1.
[Miss Whitman charity CL. Started more than 2 years ago.
Transfer to American Committee of the British Red Cross - agreement for
disbursement. "She proposed to stop the chain when it reached 100
letters, through the medium of numbering each letter sent out, but the
chain went on beyond 100, and is now on its way to the 500 mark."
Brought in $28,000+. Complete text
(no generation number). Committee answers inquiries.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917d. "Germans
Here Plot to Clog U.S. Mails." Nov. 5, p. 22: 1.
[<variation, numbers, politics> Subtitle: "Many endless chain
letters
started with view to overloading postal facilities." "The scheme, which
calls for flooding the mails with millions of letters, each letter a
link
in one of a dozen or more chains, is said to have originated in
Boston."
Some propaganda, "others for peace or the protection of American
soldiers
and sailors in Europe." Copy quotas: 1,6,7,9. Letter
targets:
Masons, other fraternal organizations, Catholics (this nation-wide).
Believed
a plot because "most of them are worded alike." Partial text
(Masonic
- several lodges instructed members to ignore it): "Masons of old
are
said to have used this prayer." "Those that say or write it to
another
person will be blessed with good fortune." There follows a
supplication
for peace. Complete text
of alleged German propaganda letter from Boston. Concludes: "Endless
chain. Please write at least one copy and send this and that to
friends
of immediate peace."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917e. "Denounces
'Peace
Prayer'." Nov. 10, p. 13: 4.
[<abate> Baltimore, Nov. 9. "The 'peace prayer' chain which
has been sent to many persons of this city in the last few weeks was
denounced
by priests of the city as insincere and an insidious attempt to further
the enemy cause." Ref. The Baltimore Catholic Review.
Cardinal
Gibbons urges destruction of the letter.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917f. Editorial - "A Familiar Form of
Stupidity."
Nov. 10, p. 12: 5.
[<numbers> "Great numbers of people in this vicinity as
well
as in other parts of the country are receiving just now, among the many
other appeals that come to them, anonymous communications asking them
to
copy and mail to nine other persons a brief
prayer for the success of the Allies." CLs often used to raise
money. Disputes possibility of clogging the mail, but gives
credence to plot. For compliance: a "great joy" otherwise
"misfortune." Federal receipts for stamps slightly
increased.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917g. "No Red Cross 'Chains.'"
Nov.
21, p. 8: 3.
[Red Cross announces "it does not approve the chain letter system of
raising money, and that it has never authorized any chain letter
promoter
to use the name of the Red Cross." They receive such letters. See New
York Times. 1917h]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1917h. "A Foolish
Chain
Letter." Letter - Mrs. Joseph Benhall, Nov. 26, p. 12: 6.
[Receipt of LCL (Ancient Prayer
type) titled "Red Cross Chain." Complete text.
Cites as waste of money for stamps, better to donate.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1923. "Criticize Charity Plan."
Aug.
6, p. 19: 1.
[The Merchants Association Bulletin criticizes as naive a current
charity
appeal that requests an envelope be passed for ten steps, each
recipient
adding a dollar, the last recipient sending it to the original
solicitor.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1927. "Reed
Chain
Letter Boom." April 19, p. 12: 6.
[ <politics> "Chain letter system" started urging support for
U.S.
Senator James A. Reed (Missouri) for the Democratic nomination for
President.
Similar prior effort for Champ Clark in 1912.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1927. "1,200 'Chain Letters'
Out."
Nov. 23, p. 24: 1.
[<politics> Chain petitions to draft Calvin Coolidge for
President
mailed out from Boston. Complete text.
Coolidge had announced he would not run on Aug. 2. The petition
plan
was dropped after Hoover disapproved. See New York Times
Nov. 23 (p. 1: 2), (p. 6: 4,5) (p. 24: 1) and Nov. 24 (p. 9: 1).]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1931. "Appeals
to
Boy Scouts." Dec. 28, p. 11: 1.
[<abate> London, Dec. 27. "Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy
Scouts, appealed today to Scouts throughout the world to destroy any
"chain
letter" that comes into their hands instead of passing it on."
Says
he has received and destroyed "scores" in his life with no ill
consequences. (Baden-Powell:
1857-1941)]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1933. "Seized for Fraud in Endless Chain."
May
19, p. 11: 1.
[<pyramid sales> Sheldon chain hosiery sales scheme.
Method:
"Sheldon and his aides . . . had mailed 12,500 sales letters promising
to deliver six pairs of stockings to every woman who sent in $1.
Persons
who parted with their dollars were informed that they would receive the
stockings upon inducing three friends to send in dollars." April
7, 1934, p. 5:3: " . . . the plan involved selling a coupon for
$1
and giving the buyer three other coupons for distribution. When
all
three were returned with a dollar each, the original buyer was to
receive
hosiery worth $10." About half received nothing for
their
$1. About 10,000 complaints. Bringing in $2,000 a day
through
mails, "$100,000 in recent weeks." Apparent method: (1) initial issue
of
coupons for $1 each; coupons have slots for two addresses, (2) X
sends in a coupon and $1 to company, receives 3 blank coupons,
(3)
X puts her address in slot #1 of the three and sells them to
friends
who agree to send it in with $1 to company, their address going in slot
#2, (4) the company agreed to send stockings upon receipt of the three
coupons and remittance with address of X in first slot. Note this is
$10
merchandise for $4 received. But any who failed to sell all
three coupons would lose the dollar they paid for them. For other
articles on case see New York Times Index, "chain sales,"
1933-1935.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 2). "Dimes Flood Mail in
Chain
Letters." April 21, p. 22: 3.
[Send-a-dime basic facts. Letter headed: "Prosperity Club
- In God We Trust." <origin> Letters said to have
started
in New York, among relief workers, but unconfirmed. Stories of winnings
(one woman got $400 - Post Office). <number> ". . . in the
last
five days almost every family in the city has received one or more."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 9a). " 'Send-a-Dime' Plan Is
Ruled Illegal As Officials Doubt It Can Be Halted." April 28, p.
31: 2.
[<law> Solicitor Crowley rules "scheme is in conflict both
with postal lottery and fraud statutes." Ruling also sent to Des Moines
and Mason City, Iowa (where scheme is also in operation). Decision
based
on ruling on a chain sales scheme.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 9b). "Denver Warns Other
Cities."
April 28, p. 31: 2.
[<number> Denver, April 27, AP: Stevic: "This fad is
spreading
like hysteria to all parts of the country and to foreign
countries."
A. A. Mc Vittie, Denver restaurant owner: "I have received 2,300 of
these
send-a-dime and send-ten-bucks letters" - places ad asking people not
to
send them to him. Mail volume doubles over year prior (4/26: 168,695 to
325,000). Also part IV p. 11: 7. "Chain-Letter Fad a
Postoffice
Pest." ". . . this perpetual-motion plan was devised it seems,
only
to gain quick unearned wealth for its participants . . ."
<motive>
CLs generally designed to: sell goods (fountain pens, hose), arouse
interest
in a movement or issue, or stir up religious or patriotic
feeling.
"Prosperity Club" method and calculations. <law> Legal
weapon
against commercial CLs is postal regulation: "Endless chain enterprises
designed for the sale or disposition of merchandise or other things of
value through the circulation or distribution of 'coupons,'
'tickets,'
'certificates,' 'introductions' and the like are held to embrace
the elements of a lottery and also to be fraudulent. Matter
of
every kind relating to such enterprises should be withdrawn from the
mails."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 13). "Send-a-Dime Letters Received
in New York." May 2, p. 23: 8.
[Five letters turned over to postal inspectors, one a $1 ante.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 16). "Chain Letter Urges 'Send Pint
of Whisky'; Four More Seized in 'Send-a-Dime' Case." May 5,
p. 39: 4.
[<variation> "Sweet Adeline Club" whisky XCL in Lincoln,
Neb.
High volume MCLs in Los Angeles, Spokane. Kiss XCL in Muskogee,
give
a kiss to person whose name was at top, "surely he may find a true
love
among the 15,000-odd trading kisses."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 19). "Dime Chain Letters are
Ruled Illegal." May 8, p. 4: 4.
[Subtitle: "Postal Solicitor Declares Scheme Is a Lottery and Violates
Fraud Laws." St. Louis, May 7: 330,000 CLs swamp mail
facilities.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day
20).
"Chain Fad Ties Up Business of a City." May 9, p. 23: 5.
[<pyramid scheme> Springfield, May 8, AP: Subtitle: "Crowds jam
Springfield, Mo. streets in mad rush for $2, $3 and $5 Letters.
"Society
women, waitresses, college students, taxi drivers and hundreds of
others
jammed downtown streets. Women shoved each other roughly. .
." "It started last night as a joke." Experienced salesmen
"pushed"
the letters. "Persons unable to sell letters to friends
turned
the copies over to the salesmen, who disposed of them on a 50%
commission."
<method for May 8 - "Springfield" type lottery> Seller
accompanies buyer
to notary where he encloses payment p dollars. Letter sealed by notary
for
25c , mailed in presence of seller. Buyer then escalates names on list
and becomes a seller himself, offering two copies with revised list at
p dollars each. Specs ($2): s$2, q2x$2, n10, max $2024. Claimed to be
"cheater-proof."
"Factories" sprung up in drug stores, corridors, any available
space.
Washington, May 8, AP: White House gets 200 send-a-dimes, turned
over to Farley. Legal aspects, could ban delivery. Govt.
workers
participate.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day
21).
"Market Crashes on Chain Letters." May 10, p. 23: 4.
[Springfield, Mo., May 9, AP: "Sad-faced men and women walked around
in a daze tonight, seeking vainly for some one to buy chain letters."
"Ten
chain letter 'factories' yesterday were swamped with customers.
Today
there were less than five and they waited on stragglers."
Springfield
variation: authenticate the list before notary public and work from
person-to-person
instead of through mails. "The Pot of Gold club" ($5), "The Cream
of the Crop" ($3). Scores of notaries involved. Grocery
store
manager got $400, spent almost four days & nights working
chain.
<method> "When you get into a chain you have to keep track of the
letters
your name is on. When some one gets one with your name on it and
can't pass it, you have to get out and help them sell it."
Washington:
"Government Seeks Evidence." Winnings. Legal aspects. Rush
in Denver, Los Angeles, Pueblo, Kansas City Mo., Kansas City Kan.,
Tulsa,
Joplin, Sioux City. Chicago, May 9. (p. 23: 4): "Telegraph
Variation Started." $5 chain telegram started to avoid mails or
to
cash in quickly. <numbers> Alfred E. Smith has received
about
1,000 send-a-dimes, coming in at 50/day.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 22). "Gambler's Fleece Chain
Letter 'Fans'." May 11, p. 6:5.
[After Springfield, fad swept over St. Louis, Oklahoma City,
Fayetteville.
$1 chain started in Pittsburgh, Kan. netted $1,500 overnight.
Hundreds
of complaints. "Promoters had left with batches of letters after
promising
contributors to deliver them elsewhere in Missouri to save postage and
avoid prosecution." Burglars rob post office at Springfield. ]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day
23).
"Sue 7 for $35,840 over Letter Chain." May 12, p. 26: 1.
[<law> Oklahoma City: Suit charges breach of contract - the seven
sold letters at $5 each, promised to sell other letters until the names
of plaintiffs reached top of the list. Promised profit of
$5,121.
Defendants failed to sell sufficient letters. Names of plaintiffs
and defendants. Church leaders demand closure of CL
establishments.
Three closed at Chickasha, Okla - three fined $13 each. Denver:
"Guaranteed"
chain letter sales. Says list of three names (error).
<number>
One factory sold 10,000 letters in two days. Pittsburgh:
Mayor
gets $5 chain telegram which asks him to answer the sender collect if
the
chain were broken. <variation> St. Louis: Chain letter
requesting
$1 to mayor of Concordia, Mo. (pop. 1,140) to fight against utility
monopolies.
Callandar, Ontario: Dionne quintuplets get CLs from U.S. and
Canada.
Pt IV, p. 9:2 Letter by W. Fowler, "Voluntary Foolishness." "At
least
a voluntary choice of participation is offered in a foolish craze while
the political shell game is forced upon us by judicial decree."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 25). Letter by R. J. Warshaw:
"Postoffice to the Rescue." May 14, p. 20: 7.
[Satirical letter stating the benefits from the postage on ten
quadrillion
MCLs.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 27). "Indictment is
Refused
in Chain Letter Test; Denver Jury Blocks Attempt to Halt Scheme."
May 16, p. 17: 3.
[Three men had mailed 1000 "send-a-buck" letters with their names and
relatives. Post office inspector closed Denver CL
"factories."
Since then most use messenger, express or telegraph service.
<variation>
"Gold Seal Club" (N. C. Mueller in Wichita) forced to halt, certified
letter
appeared like bond or stock.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 30). "Chain Letter Finds
Kin."
May 19, p. 29: 4.
[Arkansas woman spots name on CL of brother-in-law in Bakersfield after
15 years no contact.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 36). Editorial: "Dimes and
Morals."
May 25, p. 14: 4.
[Disputes send-a-dime claims with calculations. "As to the ethics
. . . they rest on the same sure foundation as the '520 per cent
Miller'
enterprises which every body recalls."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 37). "Chain Note Sender
Seized."
May 26, p. 7: 2.
[St Paul: High School teacher indicted - sent out 100
mimeographed
dime letters with his own name leading and closing the list.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day
39).
"Chain-Letter Fad Reported on Wane." May 28, p. 22: 3.
[Subtitle: "Postoffice officials deny it is 'cluttering up' mails -
carrier held as thief." A survey in NYC: "few of those questioned were
receiving letters by mail. <numbers> But almost every one
had
been approached by sponsors of a wide range of 'hand-to-hand' chains."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 42). Letter by C.E.B: "Chain
Letters for Relief." May 31, p. 14: 6.
[Satirical letter on the bonanza of helping people on relief
participate
in send-a-dime.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 44). "Odd Chain Letters Now Clutter
Mail." June 2, IV, p. 10:5.
[Subtitle: "Passing of the craze marked by fantastic requests and
humorous
appeals." XCLs: whiskey, hay, postage stamps, dates with college girls,
elephants. Origin of send-a-dime unknown. Activities by
telephone
and telegraph. Telegraph chains $5, $10, and $100.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 59). "Chain Letters Boomed
Mail
Pay at Denver; 1,400 Extra Hours Daily Gave Men $20,000." June
17,
p. 19:4.
["The chain letter has gone the way of miniature golf, but it left
a deep imprint behind it." Denver mail volume, overtime hours and
pay.
Mail box robberies.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 62).
"Chain
Telegrams in $3,600,000 suit." June 20, p. 15: 2.
[Trenton, NJ: William F. Zwirner of Merchantville NJ in role
of "common informer" names Western Union. Acted under Gambling
Laws
of 1877. Charges company had violated gambling laws by accepting
and transmitting chain telegrams. "Half of penalty fixed by court
goes to the 'common informer' and half to county where violation
occurs."
Says Western Union accepted 1,800 chain telegrams between June 7 and 15
in Camden.
Text of form.
Company claimed chain telegrams not a violation of laws.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 63). "Suit Asks $20,910,000
for
Chain Telegrams." June 21, p. 15: 2.
[Andrew W. Mulligan of Camden sues as "common informer." Seeks
$2,000 for each chain telegram. NJ counties listed with number of
telegrams in each.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 70). "Chain Letters in
Britain."
June 28, page 3: 2.
[London: MCLs now widespread throughout Great Britain. Sir John
Simon, Home Secretary: " . . . certain types of snowball schemes, to
which
chain letters bear some resemblance, have been held by courts to be
illegal
lotteries." Discourages participation.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 86) "Women Protest Tax
Plan."
July 14, P. 13: 3.
[<politics> Boston: "Chain letters are sent by 60,000 in Bay
State
to Roosevelt." Opposed "share-the- wealth" taxation. Goal
100,000
letters. Organized by Republican women. Some text.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day 89). "Chain Letter Aids Flood
Fund." July 17, p. 14: 7.
[Rochester, NY: Someone sends Red Cross a dime to aid flood
victims
with a chain letter he composed. Text
includes: "You have no chance for any personal gain." Writer says
mailed
200 copies.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1935 (Day
158).
"Chain Letters Ask for Quilt Pieces." Sept. 24, p. 7: 6.
[<variation> Concord, NH: Local letter requests six-inch
square
of new print cloth, suitable for quilt patches, be sent to top name as
in send-a-dime. To be made into "world friendship" quilts.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1936a. "Groups will Push Buy-At-Home
Drive."
April 5, p. 9: 6.
[Industry organized "Made in America Club, Inc.": pledge cards
"used to gather member ship are based on a 'chain' system with each
member
endeavoring to obtain five other signers to similar pledges."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1936b. "Chain Phone in Relief
Work."
April 5, III, p. 6: 1.
[N.C. welfare officer starts a "chain-letter revival" to collect $1
donations: a q5 telephone chain.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1936c. "Chain letter for Harvey." Sept.
8, p. 5: 2.
[<politics> "The chain letter is being revived, this time for
political
purposes." Supports George U. Harvey in primaries.
Text:
"If in favor of the sentiments expressed below, please copy the
letter
and sign your name. Then send a copy to not less than ten
Republicans
you know in the greater city."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1948. "Disclaims Chain Letters."
July 14, p. 46: 3.
[Subtitle: "TWA says it has no connection with 'Luck' messages."
A "luck" chain-letter is making rounds under facsimiles of the
company's
letterheads. Several thousand received at airline's Washington
office.
Letters are anonymous.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1949. "Chain Letters Ask
Elections."
April 28, p. 10: 6.
[<politics> CL circulating in Czechoslovakia asking protest
of Communist dictatorship be sent to U.S. embassy in Prague.
Communist
leaders ordered a counter-campaign but no examples of this known.
Complete
text.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1951. "Asks U. S. Tax Boycott."
March
24, p. 26: 5.
[Cincinnati businessman starts chain letter to five friends which said
"I solemnly swear that I shall refuse to pay a single cent towards
income
tax on March, 1952, unless the Government has taken action on the
house-cleaning."
More text. March 27, p. 31: 5: "Regrets Tax Strike Idea." Says
should
have taken complaint to congressman.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1955a. "U.S. Eyes Chain Letters."
Feb. 10, p. 35: 5.
[Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield says department investigating
new MCL titled "This is a Give-Away-Your-Wealth Campaign."
Advertises
a "possible return of $38,400 or $51,200 if you wait ten years."
See NYT 1958a]
NEW
YORK TIMES.
1955b.
"U.S. Workers Warned." Oct. 30, p.44: 2.
[<politics> Civil Service Commissioner warns Federal employees
against
participation in Nixon chain postcard / chain telephone campaign
scheme.
Oct. 31, p. 25: 5: "Nixon is Accused on Postcard Plan." Sent to
Federal
employees "by the hundreds of thousands." Violates Hatch
Act.
Nov. 3, p. 10: 1: "Nixon is asked by Senate Unit for Comment..."
Nov. 10, p. 31: 5: G.O.P. denies it targeted Federal Employees. Postcard
& instructions have been collected.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1956a. "Car Buyers Warned Against a New
Hoax." Sept. 10, p. 22: 7.
[Better Business Bureau warns of swindle. Buyer promised new
car free by referring six customers. Each referred worth $100.
These
six must in turn supply six more prospects, each worth $50 to original
buyer. Promoter sets base of 300 participants. See NYT
1959c.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1956b. " '150 Club' Based on
Chain-Letter
Idea Raises $45,000 for Eisenhower in Trial." Sept. 11, p. 28: 4.
[<politics> X puts up $150, gets 150 friends for $15 apiece, and
150 more for $1.50 apiece. Others ($15 members) become
organizers.
Celebrity contributions.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1957. "Chain Letters Revived."
Aug.
30, p. 12: 2.
[Brief warning on MCLs by Postmaster General.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1958a. "Chain
Letter
Warning." Feb. 15, p. 13: 2.
[P.O. Dept. warns of bond MCL. Says copy quota is 10 ( but q=2,
see NYT 1958b).]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1958b.
"Chain-Letter
Plan Gets a New Twist." April 1, p. 33: 1.
[Bond MCL. Prospect purchases list of ten names for $37.50 -
buys two $18.75 savings bonds in name of first person on list and
sends.
Makes two copies of list after updating - tries to sell to new
prospects
for $37.50 each. . Specs. s$37.50, q2x$37.50, n10, max $38,400
($51,200
when mature). See NYT 1955, 1958a, 1958c, 1960, 1961, 1963.
]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1958c. "Chain Letters Fight
Slump."
May 11, p. 85: 4.
[Chicago president of Insurance Company sends 1,000 letters to his
company's salesmen instructing them to work an extra half hour per day
and send five copies to any other salesmen.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1958d. "Bologna Prelate Sues Red
Journal."
Sept. 14, p. 15: 1.
[Ponzi? Subtitle: "Objects to report that he urged Vatican honor
for 'do-it-yourself' banker." Vatican had decorated former bank clerk
Gianbattista
Giuffre. After WWII Giuffre offered 20-40% interest. Later
offered
to double in a year - has done so for ten years. Often borrowed from
parish
priests who borrowed from their parishioners. Gave big to charities. No
charges or complaints yet. Also Aug. 31, 1958, p. 28: 4. and Jan.
23, 1959, p. 2: 4.]
NEW YORK TIMES.
1959a.
"L.I. Woman Receives Note from Pasternak." -Milton Esterow, April
11, p. 14: 2.
[<propagation> Subtitle: "She sent him 'Good Luck' chain letter
and he replies." Mrs. Roth received LCL (with name list) on
Friday 13th, 3/59. Some text.
She sent five copies to: 11 year old niece, Jack Paar, Alexander King,
Vladimir Nabokov and Pasternak. Pasternak replied: "It is not the
habit in USSR to make circulate such sendings, but I won't break the
chain
and so I return immediately the text of the Prayer to you to forward it
in other directions." Pasternak crossed out top name, added his.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1959b. Letter:
"Chain Letters Condemned." Apr. 20, p. 30:5.
[<abate> Letter to editor. "Such letters prey on the
weakness
of the recipient's character, create fears, undermine his
self-confidence
and are therefore not at all harmless." "Ministers and educators
should speak up against the spreading of these unreasonable and pagan
epistles."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1959c.
Carl
Spielvogel, "Advertising: Drive Held 'Phony'." Nov. 19, p.
58:2.
[Same scheme as in NYT 1956. Promoted by telephone calls by an
"advertising agency" claiming word of mouth campaign cuts advertising
costs.
Said to be limited to 300 participants. Also June 19, 1960, p.
72:3:
"Chain-Sale Plan for Cars Scored."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1960. "A Savings-Bond Chain Bilks
Harvard
Students." June 16, p. 15:2.
[Bond MCL. Banks near Harvard restricting sales of U. S. savings
bonds. Said to have started in Yale, spread to Princeton and
Brown.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1961. "Chain-Letter
Unlinked."
April 10, p. 21:3.
[Postal Inspectors claim 50% of professionals in parts of Puerto Rico
involved in bond chain.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1963. "Chain Letter Nuisance."
Jan.
25, p. 14: 1.
[Treasury Department denounces bond MCL. Even when many bonds
received, likely to be cashed quickly, burdening Treasury. Specs
s$75, q2x$37.50, n10, max $38,400]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1964. "Barnett Flooded
with Evers Checks." Feb. 27, p. 20: 2.
[Jackson, Miss: Former Governor Ross Barnett has received 5,000
envelopes
in response to a chain
letter
asking checks for $1 be sent to him to aid family of slain civil rights
leader Medgar W. Evers.]
NEW YORK TIMES.
1968. Marylin Bender, "The Chain Letter, Back Again,
Breaks Into Fashion and Society." July 2, p. 30: 1.
[<propagation, immunization> Useful interviews. Current LCL
"epidemic": depends on photocopying, circulates among fashion industry
and socialites. MCL: "Executive vacation quickie." Promises
$2190 for $15 in 10 days. Says check accompanies first receipt -
should return if you don't participate. XCL: recipes. LCL:
some text, q20, most
copies
made on office copying machines. Recipients (some names):
socialites
(4), fashion designers (2), editors, writers, art dealer.
Multiple
receipts of LCL: 5,7,6. Spoiler effect: most recipients
feel
compliance with first letter is adequate, but fashion publicist got 7
and
complied with all. Wife of industrialist, bothered by threats, made her
own copies (2): "I don't think it works with Xerox." Xerox costs
25c per copy. <origin> WWI dough boys wrote 'good luck'
variety.
1949 pyramid clubs: members recruited at parties.
<politics> Political
CLs: Free France from Nazis, Czechoslovakia from Communists,
Eisenhower-Nixon
campaign. Stockholm Peace Appeal, 1950: end Korean War, ban
atomic
bombs, seat Red China in UN.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1973. "Pyramid Sales Are Now
Chief
Consumer Fraud Here." April 3, p. 45: 1.
[Complaints against: Action Industries (fuel additive), Alexander
Taylor
(clothes), Ameriprise (home cleaning products), Bestline (soap), Bob
Cummings
Inc. (vitamins), Cash-chek (buying club), Computerex (buying club),
Dare
to Be Great (motivation course), Futuristic Foods, Galaxy Foods,
Golden Products (household items), Guardiante (fire and burglar
alarms),
Holiday Magic (cosmetics), Koscot (cosmetics), P.R.I.C.E Club (buying
club),
Princess Club of America (hosiery and cosmetics), Sta-Power (fuel
additive),
Steed (fuel additive). P.R.I.C.E Club in New York specialized in
minorities,
held "opportunity" meetings as respectable hotels, helped investors get
Citibank loans, used planned bankruptcy to bilk prior investors.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1978. "A 'Gold' Chain Letter Has
Come Full Circle, with Trail of Victims." Dec. 17, Sunday, p. 69:
4.
[Circle of Gold MCL aftermath. Workings. Origin and
tracking
(8 locations). No one prosecuted yet in San Francisco.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1979. "Abrams Gets Writs on a
'Pyramid'
Plot." Aug. 31, p. B3: 6.
[Attorney General obtains permanent injunctions from State Supreme
Court to shut down Circle of Gold ($100 ante). Against 15
organizers
in NYC, Syracuse and Rochester.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1980. "Fraud Investigators Report
Epidemic of 'Pyramid' Investment Schemes." May 18, p. 24.
[Pyramid schemes spreading around country (states named), possibly
related to inflation and harder times. Hundreds arrested in
California
- mostly middle class. Most popular now: the Business List
Concept
(described). Tony J. Stathos, Sacramento defense attorney:
hundreds
of thousands of participants in California. Parties: euphoric
atmosphere,
testimonials, those "cashing out" cheered. 3,000 protest crackdown in
Sacramento.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1981. "Four Agree to Repay
Pyramid
Losers." July 13, p. B3: 1.
[New York State Attorney General's office obtains 3 convictions on
misdemeanor violation of the state's General Business Law for pyramid
games
in summer of 1980. Restitution made to investors, payment of
investigation
costs. Involvement not illegal, recruitment is.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1987. " 'Airplane': High-Stakes
Chain
Letter." Elizabeth Neuffer. April 7, Sec. B, p. 7: 4.
[". . . an illegal pyramid scheme called the airplane game."
Widespread in state, on Broadway. Roles: pilot (1),
co-pilots
(2), flight attendants (4), passengers (8). Pilots collect $1500
from passengers and bail out. Co-pilots become pilots, attendants
become co-pilots, etc., two "airplanes" formed. "Each passenger is
required
to recruit at least one new investor." Specs s$1,500, q1+, n4, max
$12,000.
State law against promoting a pyramid scheme: $500 fine, year in jail.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1987a. "Finding Links in a Chain
Letter." Sept. 20, p. 72: 1.
[The Airplane game. See NYT 1987 for specs. "As far as
we know, the 'airplane' has crashed." - spokesman for Attorney
General.
3 guilty pleas, ll agreed to make restitution and inform.
New
game: "Corporate Ladder" promises $12,000, enter as "vice president."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1990. Alan W. Petrucelli in Ron
Alexander's
column: Metropolitan Diary, Sept. 5, p. C2.
[Receives media LCL. Says threats include "suicide, insanity
and bankruptcy" (?). Some standard text. Comments by
celebrity
participants. "Effusive epistles" from Oliver Stone, Tom
Smothers,
Dick Martin, chief executives of Lord & Taylor and Macy's.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1990a.
"The
Chain Letter Of the Rich and Famous." Deirdre Fanning column: The
Executive Life. Oct. 7, Sec. 3, p. F25. *check page designation
[Media LCL. Circulating "in the last year."
Recipients
and their comments. "Respondents are asked to send their signed
reply
to the letter to five friends, along with copies of all previous
responses
to the letter that they received in the packet." <origin>
Fanning's
packet suggests origin in Hollywood, then television executives, New
York
book-publishing, newsrooms, Washington political circles. Side
trips
to Wall Street and Detroit auto industry. "The originator of the
chain must have recognized that its recipients would be loathe to pass
up a chance for social cachet - to be among the inner circle."
Richard
Holbrooke (Lehman Brothers): "As soon as I broke the chain, I
ruptured
my Achilles' tendon."]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1993a.
"Book
Notes" by Esther B. Fein. Jan. 6, p. C19: 1.
[Used paperback ("of recent vintage", "not too badly worn") XCL
circulating
nationwide. Specs. q6n2s1max36. Four accounts of participants.
Receipts:
15-20, 2, 0, 0. Negative feelings about chain letters in general.]
NEW YORK TIMES. 1993b.
David
Gonzalez, "A Haven for Hopeless Causes." Nov. 10, p. B1:2.
[ Devotional practices of St. Jude, the "patron saint of impossible
causes." Raymond Orsi (Indiana Univ.): "... St. Jude is not
firmly
identified with the religious experiences of any particular ethnic
group.
. . Jude is really an Americanized saint." St. Jude classified
ads:
"some priests worry that the ads are part of an improvised religious
tradition
that in some extreme cases are more akin to superstition..." and that
"the
money spent on the ads could be better used on donations to soup
kitchens
or homeless shelters." A LCL "promises solutions to any
problem
in return for saying a prayer to St. Jude and other prayers over a
nine-day
period. It also asks the worshiper to leave nine copies of the
letter
inside a church each day."]
NEW
REPUBLIC.
1935 (Day 34). Ted Olson, "Brother, Can You Share A Dime?"
V. 83, May 22, p. 43-44.
[Send-a-dime: early text,
no "wrap dime" instruction. Denver mail volume, legends of
winnings.
"For the last two weeks most of Western America has talked and thought
of nothing but the dime chains." Originator unknown.
Comparison
to Huey Long (Share the Wealth), Father Coughlin (National Union for
Social
Justice).]
NORTHWEST
FOLKLORE. 1966. Alan Dundes, "Chain Letter: A
Folk
Geometric Progression." V. 1, n. 2, Winter, p. 15-19.
[CL structural pattern: (1) proclamation that the letter is a CL, (2)
injunction to send a specific number of copies, sometimes within a
definite
period of time, (3) description of desirable consequences of compliance
to injunction, (4) warning of undesirable consequences if injunction is
ignored or disobeyed. Full text
and psychological analysis of wife exchange parody. Full text of
scholarly reprint (R) XCL, specs s1q4n4d3 max 272. An XCL
"...like
other forms of folklore, provides a socially sanctioned outlet or
excuse
for the overt expression of an actual wish." Full text of Medgar
Evers social action & charity CL, specs C=9, W=10$100,000,
one
dollar to be donated to family in care of Ross Barnett, governor of
Mississippi.]
OMNI. 1992. Antimatter: "Chain-Letter Black
Hole."
V. 15, n. 3, Dec., p. 100.
[Mostly same content as Skeptical
Inquirer
1991. Since forming Chain Letters Anonymous (CLA) Emery has
received
163 letters.]
OUTLOOK. 1907.
"Superstitious
and Profane." May 11, V. 86, p. 48-9.
[<abate> Two LCLs "recently received." Ancient Prayer type,
prayer text given and
remaining
letter described. Letter claims it was "sent out" by Bishop
Lawrence.
"It was an outrage to associate his name with so gross a profanation of
the Christian view of prayer, and to make him stand sponsor to this
attempt
to turn the union between the human child and the Heavenly Father into
a species of cheap jugglery, a kind of vulgar magic." The chain
contained
a negative testimonial and accompanying letter.]
THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
Second
edition, 1989. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[Definition of "chain letter": "A letter written with an invitation
to the recipient to pass it on to another (or copies of it to others),
the process being repeated in a continuous chain until a certain total
is reached." Example: "1906 Daily Chron. 27 July
6/2
In 1896 Miss Audrey Griffin, of Hurstville, New South Wales initiated a
'chain letter' with the object of obtaining 1,000,000 used postage
stamps."
(This letter has
been
collected -DWV). Definition of "snowball": "A scheme or
project
that relies for its growth on a snowball effect (see quotes)."
Example:
"1892 Whitehall Rev. 17 Sept. 7/1. The system of 'snowball'
is multiplication at a very rapid rate, each giver being obliged to
bind
himself to find a certain number of others who will not only give, but
bind themselves each to find an equal number of contributors on the
same
terms." Other quotes.]
THE PATRIOT-NEWS (Harrisburg, Pa.). 1990. Robert
M. Andrews, "Chain (letter) of command.," Aug. 29, p. B5.
[Associated Press report. Media LCL - no complete text.
Celebrity recipients and some of their comments. Resulting luck
for
NewsWeek reporter (Iraqi invasion of Kuwait). Jack Nelson
(Washington
bureau chief of LA Times) breaks chain, no bad luck.]
THE
PATRIOT-NEWS
(Harrisburg, Pa.). 1991. Kathleen Hendrix (Los Angeles
Times), "Celebrities make up new kind of 'chain gang,' " Jan. 18, p.
C1.
[<motives> Informative survey of Media LCL. It is "the
chain
letter of the stars, real or wannabe, or the chain letter from
hell."
Multiple receipts. Los Angeles writer Nikki Finke (10 receipts)
breaks
it: "Maybe that's the bad luck: You keep getting the letter."
Full
text. Variant text has story of Dutch farmer who started the
letter,
had best harvest, concluded "God touched his land." "These accompanying
documents, most recipients admit, are what prompt recipients to play
the
game and write their own 'I can't believe I'm doing this' notes, as
they
pass the letter on." Started latter half of 1989, toured major
publishing
houses, television networks, newspapers and magazines, studios, law
firms
and public-relations agencies. Earlier 1989 letters now
illegible.
Participants comments. Tom Goldstein (Dean of School of Journalism at
UCB)
breaks chain (10 receipts) but retrieves phone numbers: "the chain
letter
could be a plot of the photocopying companies." Time spent
thinking
of who to send it to, and tracing how it got to you. Mention of
"Just
play golf" item. Jim Murray wrote about this item in May 1978 LA
Times.]
THE
PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN. 1949. Dr. Wilbur H. Oda, "The
Himmelsbrief."
V. 1, n. 21, Dec., p. 3.
[Summary of the types of Himmelsbrief (Letters from Heaven) Oda was
able to find in the U.S. Used during both World Wars. Often
rendered
in gold or blue letters, framed and displayed in homes. Many
variations.
Most enjoin Sabbath observance, alms giving and protect the bearer from
various harms and facilitate child bearing. Letter types:
(1)
Cologne stresses Trinities, no Sabbath admonition, (2) St. Germain had
added poems, (3) Count Philip [text]
protects against a long list of weapons, no Sabbath advocacy, (4) Lady
Cubass may have attached the letter
from Jesus to King Abgar, (5) King Charles [text]
protects from death in war, say five Vater Unsers and seven Ave Marias
daily, (6) Frauen letter ( Cologne, 1750) is introduced by a dream of
Mary,
(7) Madgeburger [another text]
is the most common, only one published in illuminated form. References
to early American sources.]
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCHMAN. 1953. "A True Prayer
for
Everybody." V. 5, n. 6, Oct., p.12.
[Contains English text of
a King Charles Himmelsbrief. Original is located in the Berks
County
(PA) Historical Society.]
PENTHOUSE. 1975. "The Sex Chain Letter." Thom
Racina.
Nov., p. 112.
[Fiction. In beginning author mentions common chain letters: money,
recipe exchange, pen pal (?). Gives prayer from luck chain letter: "Trust
in the Lord with all your heart and all your knowledge and He will
light
the way of consciousness." The purported "sex chain letter" is
fictional.]
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS. 1991. Stu Bykofsky column: "Pulling
the chain: Examining links in the letter." March ?, p. 37.
[Media LCL. "Do you strangle the person who sent it to you? Or
are you happy that a friend passed along good luck (and made if
necessary
for you to send out five copies to others)?" Links among
Pennsylvania
politicians.]
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. 1989. Clark DeLeon, ("The
Scene")
"Chains: What did Aretha Franklin call it?" March 28, P. B2.
[Humor. Receives KISS LCL, some text. Concludes with "Dale
Fairchild" warning. <numbers> Received about a dozen over the
years.]
THE
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. 1991. Darrell Sifford, "Chain letter's
welcome message." Jan. 1, p. 4-C.
[Receives Media LCL "in a big envelope, all 25 pages of it..."
Complete text. Senders' comments, mostly often quoted
celebrities.
Sends to five friends, gives motivation: "There's something about the
idea
of wishing your friends good luck that appeals enormously to me. If
nobody
gets anything tangible from it, we at least know that people who matter
are thinking about us, cherishing the friendship. " "I liked the letter
because it made me feel good." Interprets fourth day hence
for good luck.]
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. 1991a. Katharine Seelye, "Alas,
Goode's
chain letter doesn't deliver." March 22, p. 1-B, 6-B.
[Media LCL - no text. Mayor of Philadelphia, W.
Wilson
Goode, receives the chain during a city fiscal crisis and sends it to
"five
key players in the city's money mess." No luck results.
Other
well known recipients. GOP leader William A. Meehan did not send
it on and is presented as having bad luck after four days. Meehan
said: "I try not to put too many things in writing, let alone a chain
letter."]
PITTSBURGH PRESS. 1938.
"New
Chain Letters Take Religious Turn." Feb. 2.
[Clipping, complete text: "A new wrinkle in 'chain' letters - a
mysterious
message to St. Anthony that will bring good or bad luck - was making
the
rounds in Pittsburgh today and frightening many superstitious persons
who
have received a copy of it. Written in a poorly penciled scrawl
on
an ordinary penny postcard, the message requests only that it be kept
alive
'to go around the world' and that it be sent to 13 friends. Ill luck is
forecast for persons not following instructions. Postal authorities,
however,
who discovered the latest in 'chain' letters last night, believe them
to
be the creation of a religious fanatic." See Anthony13
type.]
POLSKA
SZLUKA LUDOWA. 1981. Czeslaw Robotycki, "Lancuch Szczescia W
Pól Wieku Pózniej", no. 1.
[Polish, no translation. Contains seven photocopies of old chain
letters (or Letters from Heaven) including 1826 and 1852.]
POSTAGE
AND THE MAILBAG. 1935. James Calhoun, "Within
Three
Days Make Five Copies." V. 23, June, p. 264-269.
[Send-a-dime MCL as a sales letter: (1) brevity, (2) simplicity, (3)
clearness, (4) direct, emotional appeal, (5) action-compelling
ending.
Complete text with
address
list. Population: early estimates. Modes of person-to-person
recruitment.
Purchases by winners. Families on relief benefit. Purchasing
power
theory.]
PRIMO TIMES (Bloomington, Indiana). 1976.
Letters: "Don't break chain." July 26, p. 2.
[Complete text of DL
type LCL.]
RÉSEAUX.
1995. Le Quellec, Jean-Loïc, "Des lettres célesetes au
'copy-lore'
et au 'screen-lore' : des textes bonjs à copier." no. 74,
Nov.-Dec.,
pp. 145-190. Molineaux, France.
[<French> No translation except for three chain letter texts.
Important
source. Covers luck and money chain letters, Craig Shergold, banknote
chains,
parodies. Discusses the Car
testimonial and initials on the outside of envelopes. Several chain
letter
texts within article. Thirty-eight texts in appendix (L-1 to L-38).
English
translations by Sarah Winter are available for L-7,
L-8
and L-12. Some English
and
German texts also in appendix. L-36
is from Dear Mr. Thoms, Jan.
1990
(not 1980).]
REVUE DES SCIENCES
SOCIALES
DE LA FRANCE DE L'EST. 1984, Serge Bonnet & Antoine
Delestre,
"Les Chaînes Magiques", no. 13, pp. 383-402. Strasbourg,
Université
des Sciences Humaines.
[<French> No translation. Many texts. Saint Antoine. Chain of
Lourdes.]
REVUE D'ETHNOGRAPHIC ET DES TRADITIONS
POPULAIRES. 1928. W. Deonna, "Superstitions
actuelles."
V. 9, p. 213-216.
[<French> Have English translation by Sarah Winter. French texts
(a,
b
with English translations) of two LCL's that circulated in Geneva in
1928.
Text (less a list of senders at end) in Italian of similar letter.
References
to earlier examples (including Christian World, referenced in Revue
D'ethnographic, 1927, p. 127). Supposed authors are an "American
colonel"
and "the ladies of the American army" - who are repeating "the
immemorial
formulas with a mentality that makes them and their disciples akin
to
primitives of all ages, and with the puerile naiveté typical of
Anglo-Saxons."]
RUSSKAIA
LITERATURA. 1993. Luri, V.F. "Holy Chain Letters as a Phenomenon of
Traditional Folklore. N1: pp. 144-149.
[Russian. Have translation by Yana Tishchenko. Stresses traditional
aspects of "Holy Letters." Structure: (1) title, (2) a prayer -
exorcism,
(3) legend about origin or finding of the Holy Letter, (4) thesis -
statement
of supernatural strength of the letter, (5) request that the letter be
re-written and distributed during a period of time, (6) promise of good
fortune for compliance, punishment for refusal. Possibly re-writers
introduce
what they have heard or read in a similar letter. Origins of Letters
from
Heaven (M. Beliayev). Much on Sabbath Letter (Verlovsky). Sabbath
Letter
said to have been used to counter pagan derived celebration of Friday
by
Slavs, up to 19th century. Sabbath Letter popular in Russia, spread by
singing and story telling as well as written form. Partial text.
Appendix
has three (1, 2,
3)
full texts of recent LCL's.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. 1935 (Day 21).
"Prosperity
Club Idea Is Replacing Send-Dime Letter." May 10, p. 3A.
[Subtitle: "Enterprises spring up to collect 25-cent notarial fee on
pleas for $1, $3 and $5." Local MCL events. Profiting envelope
manufacturers,
printers of blank letters, manufacturers of "play money" and printers
of
"fantastic parodies." First "Prosperity Club" in St. Louis opened
last night - by midnight six others. One started in law office,
$3
chain promising $3072. One had 100+ waiting in line for
opening.
Five and ten cent stores selling thousands of printed forms and
envelopes,
5 for 5c. Mail volume 798,200 letters; 19,000 more than previous
day, double over last year. <numbers> Downtown restaurants and
cigar
keepers have received and discarded hundreds. When handed one
they
pay for it with play money.]
SANN, PAUL. 1967. Fads, Follies and Delusions of the American
People.
New York: Crown Publishers. Chapter 15, p. 97-104.
[Send-a-dime incidents: requiem (Denver
Post, 8/15/35); Denver dead letters 100,000; photos.
Springfield
craze (thorough): extensive quotes from Springfield Leader and Press.
"The
Cream of the Crop" ($3) and "The Pot of Gold" ($5) hand
delivered.
Springfield crash (AP "Sad-faced" quote). <variations>
Biblical
citations; GOP square deal; American Legion support for Patman bonus;
GOP
tax protest; draft Calvin Coolidge; Hollywood $100. Humorous
variations:
Send-a-Pint; Sweet Adeline Club (Lincoln, Neb.); Good Riddance Club
("When
you receive this letter buy yourself a gun and shoot the guy at the top
of the list"); Kiss-chain (Birmingham, Alabama); "Send-a-dame" (UC
Berkeley).
National dead letter count: 3 million. Subsequent variations:
Defense
savings stamps (1943); Robert A. Taft fund; Pantie Club (Dallas, gets
30
panties, barred by Texas postal authorities); Stop-the-Bomb (alleged
Communist
plot); $18.75 bonds (1953, suppressed). Threats on MCLs (?): Japan,
England,
Germany, China, Abyssinia. Wife exchange full text.]
SATURDAY EVENING POST. 1947. Robert M.
Yoder,
"Sucker's Delight." , V. 220, Nov. 22, p. 12.
[Interviews C. W. Hassell, Post Office lawyer working on CLs for 30
years. New money CL: $2 in mail but copies handed out.
Complex
hosiery scheme (Sheldon?). League of Equity. Send-a-dime.
Bohemian
Oats.]
SATURDAY EVENING POST.
1959. "We Have Finally Reached the Ultimate in Chain Letters." V.
231, May 23, p. 10.
[Received wife exchange anonymously. Full text.]
SATURDAY
REVIEW. 1967. Goodman Ace, "Luck Be A Prayer
Tonight."
, V. 50, September 30, p. 10.
[Humorous treatment of compliance to a 20 copy Death20 type LCL.
Presumes
one copies by typing. Complete text.]
SATURDAY
REVIEW 1970. John Boni, "The Weakest Link." V. 53, July
25, p. 4.
[Humorous treatment of receipt of a quota 20 LCL. Name list: 60. Some
text.
Copying: typewriter makes at most 5 or 6 legible carbons. Complains of
20 copies even in "age of Xerox." Variations on Death and Money
protagonist
(Cal Napke, Cal Nips, Col. Napak, General Wasp). Mother once received
quota
3 letter. History: Hollywood celebrity letter received 4 years
prior
(name list had Agnes Moorehead, Elizabeth Montgomery, Larry Hagman,
George
Halas). Col. Napak variants.]
SCARNE, JOHN 1961. Scarne's Complete Guide to Gambling.
[Has section on chain letters and pyramid schemes.]
SCIENCE & MECHANICS.
1935. "The Mechanics of Chain Letters." October.
[Not examined.]
SCIENCE NEWS LETTER. 1953. "Chain Letter Lottery." V.
64,
Dec. 12, p. 372.
[<numbers> Wave of CLs "every few years." War bond chain in 1942.
Current money CL with specs. s$2q5n5. Calculations.
<immunization>
"Repeats begin early" - spread from where started.]
SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN. 2003.
Charles H. Bennett, Ming Li, Bin Ma. "Chain Letters and
Evolutionary
Histories." June, Vol. 288, No. 6. p. 76.
[Subtitle: "A study of chain letters show how to infer the family tree
of anything that evolves over time, from biological genomes to
languages
to plagiarized schoolwork." "We believe that if (algorithms used to
infer
phylogenetic trees from the genomes of existing organisms) are to be
trusted,
they should produce good results when applied to chain letters."
Describes
method of measuring the distance between two letters using a file
compression
program (GenCompress by Xin Chen). Constructs a cladogram of 33 DL type
letters collected by Bennett from 1980 to 1995. Advent of nine changes
marked on cladogram (two pairs supposed concurrent). Changes used to
diagnose
phylogeny include variations in names and dollar amounts. Differing
mutation
rates related to replicative functionality. Applications to biological
and linguistic evolution. Link to chain letters used (updated): www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~mli/chain.html.
SCOTTISH ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND
FOLKLORE SOCIETY PROCEEDINGS. 1937. Anderson, Walter.
"Chain Letters." October, 1937. 15.
[Not examined]
SEAL, GRAHAM. 1989. The Hidden Culture.
Melbourne:
Oxford Univ. Press, p. 66-68.
[Complete text of DL type
LCL with LOVE title which "has been circulating the world's postal
systems
for decades in one version or another." Husband XCL parody
complete
text (the "man chain") collected in Perth in 1986, "popular in recent
years
throughout Australia, and possibly elsewhere."]
SKEPTICAL
INQUIRER. 1991. Eugene Emery, "Chain Letter
Weighs
Heavily on Top Journalists." V. 16, Fall, p. 24-25.
[Derides participation in the "media" chain. Possible origin:
"The decision to copy other people's cover letters as part of the
package
apparently started with Judy Kurianski of cable TV's Consumer News
&
Business Channel." Gives celebrity participants and their
comments,
including Jody Powell and Pierre Salinger. Gene Foreman of the Philadelphia
Inquirer: "Understand that I am not doing this because I'm
superstitious.
I just want to avoid bad luck." Offers to receive LCLs to allay anxiety
at: Chain Letters Anonymous, P.O. Box 6866, Providence, R.I.
02940.
Also in Omni 1992.]
SKOLNIK, PETER L. 1978. Fads: America's Crazes,
Fevers
and Fancies from the 1890's to the 1970's. New York: Thomas
Crowell
and Co., p. 69-70.
[Basic facts of send-a-dime craze, Springfield craze, aftermath.]
SOCIAL
NETWORKS. 1994. "Defining and locating cores and boundaries of
social
networks." P. Doreian & K. Woodard. V. 16, pp. 267-293.
[Authors' abstract: We propose a general procedure for locating the
boundary of a network and a second, related, procedure for discerning
the
boundaries within a network. The first is an expanding (snowball)
selection
procedure. The second requires the specification of two critical
parameters:
the value of k for a k-core and the threshold, w, for the quantitative
magnitude of network ties. The use off these parameters generates a
sequence
of nested cores. Single sector and multi-sector social service
inter-agency
networks are used to illustrate the procedures.]
THE SPECTATOR. 1922. "The Evil Eye in Modern England."
Letter - A. Hugh Fisher, V. 129, July 29, p. 141.
[Complains of Good Luck type letter ("snowball-commands") with fifty
names. Text fragments.]
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. 1988. "Scorecard: For Your
Wardrobe."
V. 69, n. 1, July 4, p. 13.
[Briefly reports XCL for basketball T-shirts. Text: "we can
all use 216 shirts."]
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. 1989. E. M. Swift, "Post-nuclear
mutant
mayflies and other chain-angler items." , V. 71, July 10, p. 8.
[Detailed results of participation in the "Trout Fly Club". Partial
text, letter specs s1q6n3w21 max 216.]
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. 1991. "Chain Gang."
Jan.
21, V. 74, p. 47.
[Media LCL "made the rounds of the NBA recently." Recipients
named, incl. Pierre Salinger and Art Buchwald. Transmission to
NBA
traced: novelist Judith Krantz sent it to Laker general manager Jerry
West.]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 13). "Chain
Letter
Gang Riches Fade Under Investigation." May 2, p. 1:3&4.
[<motive> "Scores of exaggerated reports of Springfield people
cashing
in on send-a-dime chain letters were current today." Interviews dispel
reports. Woman received $1.50 instead of $18. Only a few dimes have
been
detected in letters handled at the Post Office. "Yesterday there was a
a widespread report that a waiter in a St. Louis street cafe received
40
letters containing dimes. I found that no mail was delivered to
the
cafe yesterday." ""Everywhere people were speculating upon the
possibilities
of the scheme for getting rich, and upon its legality. Stories of
people
who got $300, $800 or $100. Some thought the Post Office was going to
start
opening letters that contained dimes. Others claim legal because the
letter
said the dime was a charity donation, hence not gambling.]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 17). "The
Day's
Best Story." May 6, p. 1:4.
["Chain letters began to flood the postoffice here today. Between
8000 and 10,000 extra letters were handled." Mostly dime letters, some
quarter, a few dollar. Variety of envelopes, usually no return address.
Dollar chain letters being circulated. "They instruct the sender not to
give away his letter until he has made sure that a dollar has been paid
to the proper person. This is supposed to eliminate cheaters."]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 18). "Dollar
Chains
Hamper Business Here As 'Fortunes' Are Made Over Night." May 7, p.
1:5,6.
[Photos: (1) crowd lined up at print shop. (2) overburdened mail man,
(3) secretaries at work. Subtitle: "Postoffice Burden Vastly increased,
Printers Reap Quick Profits and Few Folks Are Talking About Anything
Else."
Lead sentence: "Springfield has gone wild over chain letters." 15,000
extra
pieces of mail this morning, thousands of letters circulated by hand.
"Printing
shops all over town are turning out letters as fast as they can be run
off." Many businesses virtually paralyzed. A barber (who had realized
$72
on his letters) could not remain in his shop - "the telephone kept
ringing:
calls from people who said they had a chain with his name on top and
could
he help them find a couple of buyers to carry it on." "Wild stories of
fabulous sums received . . ." Dime chains forgotten. Dollar chains:
mail
not used except to send $1 to winner. $5 chain, $5 and $10 chains
circulated
by telegraph. <method> Garbled account, reorganizing: (1) You
agree
to take a letter with ten names on it, and to send a dollar to the top
name (addressed envelope provided). (2) You go to a print shop and get
two printed copies of the letter and pay a typist to type in the names,
escalated, with your name at the bottom, plus two envelopes with the
address
from the top of the list. (3) You try to find two people who will take
the letters off your hands by sending $1 to the top name.]
SPRINGFIELD
(MISSOURI) NEWS
LEADER.
1935. (Day 19). "Money Making Magic Starts Fevered Boom." May 8, p.
1:4,5,6,7,8.
& other articles.
[Photo: Men, a few women, crowd around a bank of typists. Caption:
"Letter Go, Gallagher! We'll Make a Fortune.!" Col. 8: Subtitle: "Like
a Nation-Wide Lottery Chain Letter Craze is Causing Amazing
Frenzy."
By Docia Karell. Lead sentence: "Everybody's crazy!" "Dooley and me
haven't
been abed all night! We're just staying in and pushing 'em - carryin''
'em around - pushing our names up and everybody else with us." Compares
to the "good old days before the depression." Col. 6-7: Subtitle:
"Springfield Spins Madly on Financial Whirligig." "Chain letter
exchanges
popped up like mushrooms all over the business district and soon filled
with milling throngs eager to turn dollars into thousands."
"Hatless
men hurried along the sidewalks waving chain letters. They stopped
every
one they saw, desperate to dispose of their wares before the urge to
buy
should die down." Crowd presented a fair cross-section of Springfield's
population - cab drivers, debutantes, elderly matrons, business men,
clerks,
students, soda jerks. "Freak chains began to spring up. One is said to
be circulating for children under 14 years old, and another confined
exclusively
to persons with the surname "Mason." (surname?, or lodge!). Col. 3:
Alabama
kiss chain. Col. 4: "Chain Fortunes not Guaranteed."
<method>
"When you get a copy of the letter ($2) - you must . . . accompany the
salesman who sold you the letter to a notary, where you enclose $2 in
an
envelope addressed to the top name on the list on your letter. The
letter
is sealed by the notary, and you pay him 25 cents and buy a stamp and
mail
it in the presence of the salesman." <abate> School
superintendent
complains: (1) people are willing "to surrender their mind to the
collective
mind," and to refuse to see that the whole fantastic structure must
soon
"collapse of its own weight." And (2) "It isn't polite betting on your
own friends - you put them on the spot, and they either have to break
your
chain and feel they are not good sports, or else send money to somebody
they never heard of against their better judgment . . ." Banker
notes
that "conservative, cultured women that you would never dream would do
such a thing - out on the streets trying to sell their letters!"
SPRINGFIELD
(MISSOURI) NEWS
LEADER.
1935. (Day 20). "Day's Career as Chain Letter Gangster Takes Reporter
to
the Verge of Madness." May 9. p. 1: 5,6.
[Photo: Passers-by look at store front window with "Pot O' Gold" chain
letter sign. Reporter Allen Oliver recounts his experiences pushing
chain
letters. Details on methods in the "factories." (p. 2, dialogue):
<origin>
"Someone was yelling in our ear. 'They're starting a $5 one right
now.
If you want in on the bottom, now's your chance. Got all I can handle.
This one's a honey. You sell two copies, mail one $5 out, and pocket
the
other one. That way you get your money right back." Col. 8:
"'Chain
Gangs' Nearly Broke as Gold Ebbs." Subtitles: "Glittering
Fortunes
Turn to Brass as Everybody in Town Becomes a Seller." "Craze Swiftly
Waning."
"Tales of easy money and quickly-made fortunes continued to spread
through
the city, but to the thousands who came in late they were tales and
nothing
more." Well known Doctor denies story he made $2,700 on a $20
chain.
"Every one had a letter to sell, and no one wanted to buy." "It was
conceded
the craze would die down tonight and there was a grimness in the air
that
contrasted with the hysterical speculation of yesterday." <origin,
see
also nyt 1935-20> "One chain that was
doing
a big business last night and early today was supposed to be
unbeatable.
You bought a letter for five dollars and sold two copies for the same
price
each, keeping one five. It died before noon." <method> Postoffice
officials
investigating a printing plant . . ."Six men were operating it and the
name of one of them was in the pay-off position on every letter. They
got
a mailing list from the city directory of Springfield and are supposed
to have collected considerable money."]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 21). "Fever
Passes,
'Magic Money' Places Close." May 10, p. 1:1.
[Subtitles: "Most of City's 'Exchanges' Find Operations Aren't Any
Longer Profitable." "Shouts of 'Gyp" Heard." Many complaints from . .
."people
who 'just knew' they had gone over the top. - Their names were ahead of
someone's name who did go over the top, consequently they were bound to
have gone over." Others thought that because they went over the top on
one list that they would on all others. Others were told they went over
the top falsely, to get their help. Stories of success were
deliberately
fabricated. "A dollar chain was charging 25 cents to keep an register
of
all persons to whom money was mailed and agreed to check by phone to
see
if it had been received." p. 8: 4 "State Promoters Get Kansas Haul."
Accounts
of chain letter exchanges in Joplin, Poplar Bluff and St. Louis. Police
describe "professional chain letter promoters." "Copying the model
originated
in Springfield six exchanges were doing a rushing business in St. Louis
today."]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 22). "Stolen
Letters
Are Abandoned in Alley But Officers Unable to Trace Thieves." May 11,
p.
1:2,3,4.
[Photo: Postmaster examining letters. 680 letters stolen from a postal
substation. 444 opened, of these 236 taken out of their envelopes. Of
these,
"scores were love notes which started with such greetings as 'Sweetie'
and 'Darling'." "Only 25 letters were of the chain variety and
all
but one of them were for less than $1."]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 23).
"Guaranteed
Chain Spreads to Denver As Suckers Hunted." May 12, p. 1:6.
[Denver. May 11. "Factories" open in Denver to crowds. Traffic
increased
at Oklahoma chain-making facilities.]
SPRINGFIELD (MISSOURI) NEWS LEADER. 1935. (Day 24). "Probe of
Chain Gangs Promised." May 13, p. 1:2.
[Says will not go after dime chains, or letters passed friend to
friend.
Will target "the people who started big chains with promise of a quick
turnover."]
SPRINGFIELD
(MISSOURI) NEWS
LEADER.
1935. (Day 28). "Negro Sleepily Gives New Slant on Chain Letters. May
17,
p. 10:2.
[Police inquire about mobs that beset home of J. H. Edwards. He was
running the "negro personal chain letter exchange." Edwards says he
doesn't
put his name on any. For a week his home has been used by those trying
to sell their dollar letters. Hires two typists, three runners and some
relatives. Had not slept for six days. Avoids use of mails entirely.]
SPY. 1990. Aimée Bell & Josh
Gillette,
"Chain of Foolishness." Dec., p. 74+.
[Media CL. Described as co-opting of "numb, credulous
lower-middle-class
escapism" by the "haute bourgeoisie." "The letter was a goofy
exhortation
to play golf, combined with vague references to luck." Full text
(reduced so barely readable), includes leading office humor golf item.
Circulating "during the last year." Over 5 pages of linked
transmissions,
143 senders, hundreds of recipients & their jobs. "... a
sweeping
diagram of the American media elite."]
THE STAR.. 1991. Janet Charlton feature Star
People:
"Why Jane Fonda & Goldie Hawn are in Kennedy rape case file."
Sept. 17, p. 12.
[Media CL. Celebrity recipients, including Sally Field, "Pee-Wee"
Herman,
Charles Keating, Melanie Griffith, Whoopi Goldberg and Kennedy
relatives.
A copy is filed in court records in West Palm Beach, Fla.]
THE SUN (Rouses Point, NY). 1987. "Broken chain
letter
plagues woman with 100 accidents." Feb. 24, V. 5, no. 8,
p. 27.
[Subtitle: "...all in just a year's time." Tabloid article.
"A BROKEN chain letter tossed into the garbage by a 46-year old
housewife
has turned her life upside-down with some 100 near fatal
accidents."
Brenda Huggard (Toronto) discarded a LCL "telling her to send it
to 10 other people," the next day her car "spun off the road." "I
don't know how many times things have fallen off buildings missing me
by
near inches." Hopes her bad luck will stop this year, duration
not
specified by letter. Probably total fiction.]
TENNESSEE FOLKLORE SOCIETY BULLETIN.
1976. Michael J. Preston, "Chain letters." V. 42, p. 1-14.
[Essential documentation and analysis of mid 1970's CLs. Recipe
chain text, specs
s2n2q6
max 30 (deduces that prior quota was 5). MCL attributed to
William
Neham
of Nashville: full text,
specs s$1q4n20. MCL full text,
"As you give...", specs s$5n5q25. Observes that circulating luck chain
letters are a combination of two previously independent letters (Death20 and Lottery24). Gives full unedited text
of eight luck chain letters, the following
transcriptions
taken from original letters by DWV: a,
a1,
a2,
b1,
b2,
b3,
b4.]
THOMAS, JOHN L. 1900. Lotteries,
Frauds and Obscenity in the Mails. E. W. Stephens, Columbia,
Mo. p. 121.
["CHAIN LETTER SCHEMES, AS LOTTERIES. Sec. 105. In the
last few years a scheme known as the 'Chain Letter Scheme' has become
quite
popular and has been resorted to by the gamblers and by those who did
not
scruple to perpetrate a fraud upon a confiding and unsuspecting
public.
The scheme is this: The promoter writes a letter to some one and
states that he desires to raise money for a certain purpose and
requests
the addressee to send him ten cents or some small amount and to write a
similar letter to a certain number of his friends, the number varying
in
the different schemes, being three in some, ten in others, etc.
all
the addressees being requested to forward the required sum to the
promoter.
Each correspondent, it states, would become the starter or originator
of
a series and a prize is offered to each of these upon condition that
the
series, he originates or starts, would continue, without a break, till
10,000 or some other number named, is reached. For instance, A
starts
a series by writing letter to ten of his friends and thus starts a
series
and if all of his ten friend, all of the hundred, that his friends
write
to and all of the ten thousand this thousand write letters to write
similar
letters to their friends and send the required sum each to the promoter
the starter or originator is to receive a prize but if anyone of the
ten,
hundred, thousand or ten thousand fails to do this the prize is
lost.
It is very readily seen that the chances of winning such a prize is
remote
indeed. / In such schemes we have a forcible illustration of the
proposition
that a prize, dependent on what others may do or not do, is dependent
on
chance. / The chance feature in such schemes is too apparent to require
further comment or elucidation." Also gives history of postal
regulations
regarding lotteries.]
TIME. 1955. "Any Bonds Today." V.65,
Jan. 31, p. 80.
["A new person-to-person chain letter" exchanging US saving bonds.
MCL specs s$18.75, q2x18.75, n11, with seller guaranteeing bond
is
mailed to top name. Started in South last fall. Some
text.
Used-car dealer Cliff Pettitt of Knoxville got 252 bonds.]
THE SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON).
1974.
"Alan Brien's Diary," July 29, p. 28: 8.
[Receipt of two LCLs: Lottery24 type ( or LD?), name variation, q24
appears. <numbers> "sudden resurgence." Concludes, to a
sender:
"Drop dead."]
THE SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON). 1975. "The chain
gang's
icy finger" - Patrick Campbell. Jan. 5, p. 12: 1.
[Campbell receives LD type LCL mailed 16 Oct. 1974 from Spain.
Some text. Had name
list,
recognized sender. Humorous (?) association with bad luck.]
THE SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON). 1977. Richard Milner,
Inside Business, "Free gift?" July 24, p. 64g.
["Financial Gift Service Club" MCL debunked. Testimonial by "Ryan
Mann of San Francisco." Specs. q50+, n3. "Chain letters are
lotteries
(q.v. Atkinson v. Murrell, 1972)."]
THE TIMES (LONDON). 1978a. Richard Milner,
Inside Business, "Chain letters for charity." Jan. 8, p. 60g.
[MCL headed "THE INAUGURATION OF FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE - WOULD YOU
TRADE £3 FOR £125,000?" Signed by "Nelson Robbards of
Boston."
Some text. Says legal because participants asked to pledge 20% of
profits
(after £1,000) to charity. Possible s£1, n3. Milner
recommends
discarding, or contacting A-4 Dept. of Scotland Yard.]
THE TIMES (LONDON). 1978b. "The case of the
frightened lady." The Times Diary - PHS. Jan. 24, p. 14d.
[Brief mention of receipt by a secretary of "one of those nasty
letters."
LCL: q20w9, one "lost his wife," another died "for no reason." Fears of
recipient, and PHS.]
THE SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON). 1978b. Lorana
Sullivan,
Inside Business, "Still in chains." Aug. 27, p. 51g.
[MCL allegedly started by "Nelson Robbards of Boston."
<numbers>
One reader received 12 this year; received by nearly every advertiser
in
Business to Business classifieds. Promises £125,000 for £1
investment. See The Times 1978a.]
THE TIMES (LONDON). 1982. "Circle of Gold
turns
to ring of shame," Margaret Drummond. Nov. 27, p. 15a.
["Every second person in the Covent Garden wine bar . . . was offering
me the Circle of Gold . . ." MCL specs s£20, q2x£20,
n12, max £164,000. Some text: "Please do not decide to invest
in this paper until you are totally and completely sure and understand
the concept." Cheating by selling more than two copies: ". .
. tales of underwriters deserting their desks and stockbrokers
forsaking
the floor in order to copy as many as possible."]
TRUE
MEN.
1965.
"Good Luck 'Chain' Letters - Your Secret Invitation to a Mail-Order Sex
Orgy!" Robert LaGuardia. September, 1965, p. 16 &.
[Subtitle: "Read them fast, and they're innocent. But read between
the lines, answer them, and chances are good you'll be invited to the
wildest
- or the most frightening - party of your natural life!" Dubious
exposé of swing clubs. Names fictional. Claims a couple new to
San
Francisco received "what seemed a conventional 'good luck' letter
through
the mails. The letter promised that if they added their names to the
list
of its signers and sent copies of the letter to three of their own
friends,
plus a postcard to the sender, 'good luck would happen to them
within
30 days.'" Claims the couple complied with this and a second
such letter, with a different name to respond to. After this they were
contacted by a couple "who specialized in wife-swapping cults."]
UNITED STATES CODE SERVICE.
1979.
Title 18. Lawyers Edition, Rochester: The Lawyers
Co-Operative
Publishing Co.
[Title 18, Section 1302. Mailing lottery tickets or related
matter (¶1) Whoever knowingly deposits in the
mail,
or sends or delivers by mail: ( ¶2) Any letter, package,
postal
card, or circular concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar
scheme
offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance;
(¶3) Any Lottery ticket or part thereof, or paper, certificate, or
instrument purporting to be or to represent a ticket, chance, share or
interest in or dependent upon the event of a lottery, gift enterprise,
or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon
lot
or chance; (¶4) Any check, draft, bill, money, postal note,
or money order, for the purchase of any ticket or part thereof, or of
any
share or chance in any such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme;
(¶5) Any newspaper, circular, pamphlet, or publication of any kind
containing any advertisement of any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme
of any kind offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or
chance,
or containing any list of the prizes drawn or awarded by means of any
such
lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, whether said list contains any
part
or all of such prizes; (¶6) Any article described in
section
1953 of this title [18 USCS § 1953]-- (¶7) Shall be
fined
not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both;
and
for any subsequent offense shall be imprisoned not more than five
years.
Title 18, Section 1718. Libelous matter on wrappers or
envelopes
"(¶1) All matter otherwise mailable by law, upon the
envelope
or outside cover or wrapper of which, or any postal card upon which is
written or ;printed or otherwise impressed or apparent any delineation,
epithet, term, or language of libelous, scurrilous, defamatory, or
threatening
character, or calculated by the terms or manner or style of display and
obviously intended to reflect injuriously upon the character or conduct
of another, is nonmailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the
mails
nor delivered from any post office nor by any letter carrier, and shall
be withdrawn from the mails under such regulations as the Postal
Service
shall prescribe. (¶2) Whoever knowingly deposits from
mailing or delivery, anything declared by this section to be
nonmailable
matter, or knowingly takes the same from the mails for the purpose of
circulating
or disposing of or aiding in the circulation or disposition of the
same,
shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one
year,
or both."
Under Interpretive
Notes and Decisions:
"18 USCS § 1718
is unconstitutional in that it is overly broad and violative of the
First
Amendment which guarantees freedom of expression. Tollett v United
States
(1973, CA8 Ark) 485 F2d 1087. ¶Prohibitions of 18 USCS
§ 1718 must be construed in light of First Amendment rather than
in
light of any regulatory power granted to Postal Service; if purpose is
to deter potential libelers, who would not be frightened of civil
judgment,
while 18 USCS § 1718 might meet "rational basis" test, it does not
rise to level necessary to meet "compelling interest" test applicable
in
cases involving restrictions on First Amendment protected speech;
additionally,
18 USCS §1718 is unconstitutional because language is
substantially
overbroad and no indictment based on it can stand. United States
v Handler (1974, DC Md) 383 F Supp 1267." LCLs on postcards are often
said
to be illegal based on this section! - DWV. ]
USA TODAY. 1990. Pat Guy, "Big-Name Links for
Chain
Letter." Aug. 31, p. 7B.
[Media LCL. "Big-league journalists are supposed to be so
skeptical
they need a second source to verify that their mother loves them. That
hasn't kept a chain letter from making the rounds." Comments of
four
senders.]
USA TODAY. 1991. "Team-by-team Notes." June 19,
p.
5C.
[Media LCL. "Phillies utility IF Rod Booker received a chain
letter from Toronto IF Rene Gonzales." "Booker said he would do
his
part keep the chain letter in circulation."]
U.S. NEWS AND WORLD
REPORT. 1975.
"More States Turn to Gambling to Raise Money in Hard Times." June 30,
p.
22-23.
[State lotteries spreading. New Hampshire first in 1964. Now in 12
states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Illinois,
Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine. Sales
total 1 billion, up 47% in one year. More frequent drawings (many
daily).]
VANITY FAIR. 1935, Corey
Ford, "The Chain-Letter Priest." July, p. 13-15,
[Purports to be an interview with "Father Riddell," the "Chain-Letter
Priest." Difficult to distinguish facts from satire here, but
apparently there was a Father Riddell who cashed in on the chain letter
fad in some manner.]
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. 1979. Frederick C.
Klein,
"The Nice Lady Who Peddles a Chain Letter." Nov. 1, p.28:6
[Pyramid party in Chicago, max $32,000 with $1,000
ante.
Recruiters pitch: "rewards salesmanship and persistence."
Rockford,
Ill. hearing on charges had spectators in green T-shirts promoting the
"money pyramid."]
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. 1987. Paul B.
Carrol,
"Yuletide Chain Mail by Prankster Slows Networks at IBM." Dec.
17,
p. 34:6.
["The message consisted of an innocuous Christmas greeting plus a
drawing
of a Christmas tree... But the message also contained a program
that
searched the computer files of the recipient's personal computer to
find
the automatic distribution list that would be used to forward notes to
co-workers, bosses or customers. Once the program found those
names,
it forwarded the message to them." Circulated through IBM
internal
communication network "last Friday" - "slowed message traffic to a
crawl"
- spread worldwide. No files lost. IBM posted warnings on its BBS.]
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. 1990. Thomas R. King,
"Read
This Story and Pass It On To Five of Your Friends--or Else." May
9, p. B1:1.
[Media LCL. Says traveled from Hollywood to New York where it
is "making its way through media circles." Celebrities and their
comments. CEO of Fox Inc.'s TV production unit: "I would've
chucked
it, but the letter came just as we were getting our pilots ready for
the
fall." No idea who started; now 50 pages long. CBS
casting
director received three packets, sent the first two on.]
WARING, PHILIPPA. 1978. The Dictionary of Omens &
Superstitions.
Treasure Press, p. 52.
[Brief entry on CLs. <origin> "The very earliest
chain
letters date from the Middle Ages and carried details of simple cures
and
prayers to be recited with them. They were sold by travelers or
fortune
tellers and widely believed to be most effective. In the last
hundred
years, however, they have degenerated into what are little more than
begging
letters . . ." ]
THE WASHINGTON POST.
1991. Charlie Clark, "The Great Chain (Letter) of Being." , V.
114,
Sat. Nov. 16, A27: 1.
[Receives Media LCL (calls it the "VIP" CL) which "came clipped to
notes on letterhead stationery from a pantheon of big shots in
government
policy circles, corporate suites and the news media elite."
Complete
text
(same). "Once somebody got the ball rolling, a peer pressure set in
among
the elite, and these illustrious citizens indulged in thinly disguised
efforts to laugh off their obvious fear that an anonymous, fuzzily
photocopied,
threatening chain letter could actually be a tool of the gods of
fate." Names of prior senders and many of their comments.]
THE WASHINGTON POST. 1995. Michael D. Shear, "A
High-Tech
Chain Letter Hits Town." March 13, Washington Business, p.
17&20.
[Subtitle: "Get-Rich-Quick Scheme Involves Copying Disks." Spec
q5 (disks), s$5, n?, max $19,500. You receive disk with program named
Network!,
send $5 to top name for secret code that allows you to copy disk.
Copy and send to five others. Circulating in Washington area, has
a California address. Leading text: "Do you own, or have access
to
an IBM PC compatible computer and printer? Would you like to earn
$19,550 in just 12 weeks? Can you afford to invest $25 (only $5
to
start!!)." Quotes Paul Griffo on illegality.]
THE WENATCHEE WORLD. 1996. Elizabeth Weise (AP
Cyberspace
Writer), "AIDS outbreak on Internet." January 28, p. 11.
[Subtitle:" Boy's e-mail virus is fake but spreads faster than real
thing." Partial text: "Could you all pretend that I have HIV, and
I gave it to you. Then could you pass it on to your
friends?
Let's see if the entire e-mail population could get infected by me
alone."
Attributed to "young Bradley" as part of a health class project.
Has circulated "for the last two months." Sent out Wednesday as part of
the daily Internet AIDS news summary by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention in Atlanta.]
WESTERN FOLKLORE. 1948. D. H. Hall, "The
Spanish
Prisoner Letter." V. 8, p. 265.
[Complete text of 1898 Spanish Prisoner Letter confidence racket.]
WESTERN FOLKLORE.
1950.
"Folklore in the News" - "Chain Letter." V. 9, n. 1, p.
273.
[Cites Berkeley Daily Gazette. (1) Feb. 2, 1950: A
variant
of the Mexican prison treasure epistle. (2) Oct. 27, 1949: A LCL
said to have originated with a French army officer (text
of collected letter likely of same type -DWV). <number>
Non-monetary
CL said to be "novel"!]
WESTERN
FOLKLORE. 1956. Herbert Halpert, "Chain Letters." V.
15,
October, p. 287-289.
[Full text of
LCL
specs q4+1, d1w4. Full text
of wife exchange parody.]
WEST'S
ANNOTATED CALIFORNIA CODE.
1989. Penal code, St. Paul: West Publ. Co.
[Title 9, Section 327. Endless chain schemes. "Every person
who contrives, prepares, sets up, proposes, or operates any endless
chain
is guilty of a public offense, and is punishable by imprisonment in the
county jail not exceeding one year or in state prison for 16 months,
two,
or three years. As used in this section, an "endless chain" means
any scheme for the disposal or distribution of property whereby a
participant
pays a valuable consideration for the chance to receive compensation
for
introducing one or more additional persons into participation in the
scheme
or for the chance to receive compensation when a person introduced by
the
participant introduces a new participant. Compensation, as used
in
this section, does not mean or include payment based upon sales made to
persons who are not participants in the scheme and who are not
purchasing
in order to participate in the scheme.]
THE WORLD AND I. 1988.
Roger L. Welsch, "The Endless Chain." Sept., p.
500-511.
[LCL type Death20 testimonial variations. CLs: "long life,
anonymity,
variation of detail within a fairly constant larger framework."
"St.
Antoine's" (same as "Venezuelan" or "Dutch" letter): in India, Germany,
Japan. Send-a-dime basic history. Pyramid sales described in
revealing
1900 letter:
Parisian
skirt fad, coupons 20 cents, books of 5, value of skirt $5.
Author's
CL classification: exchange, money, merchandise (commercial), St.
Antoine's
(prayer), social action. LCL variant: sequences of two or three
initials
to be placed on corner of letter, or envelope containing it (?).
Full text of DL type LCL
(no
date) with TRUST leader (Proverbs) and REMEMBER trailer plus "May you
continue
to be encircled in gold." St. Antoine name variations (18), Joe
Dilliot
variations (7). Social action CLs: Shell Boycott (UPI, June 6,
1979);
Feminists poems; protest of movie image of Jesus Christ (1985 - Ann
Landers).
Parodies: Return of chain (full text, no date); excuses for not writing
paper; wife exchange (full text, no date, signed by King Farouk &
two
others); fertilizer club; Academic co-author parody (full text).]
WRIGHT, A. R. 1929 (?). English
Folklore.
New York: ? p. 103. (Also
[<gender> Good Luck LCL: "...the 'chains of luck' which for a
number
of years, right up to 1928, have worried nervous women." Some text.]
THE WRITER. 1993. Roving Editor: "Chain letter
with
a twist." April, p. 5.
[Used paperback XCL: all as reported in NYT,
Jan. 6, 1993.]
/end/ bibliography