Work and Win No. 790: Fred Fearnot's Ruse

Fred Fearnot's Ruse This issue of *Work and Win* (January 23, 1914, #790), published weekly by Frank Tousey, contains the first chapter of "Fred Fearnot's Ruse; or, Turning Tramp to Save a Fortune" by Hal Standish. Fred Fearnot summons his friend Terry Olcott to Port Jervis with a mysterious telegram. Upon arrival, Terry encounters a seemingly destitute tramp—who reveals himself to be Fred in disguise. Fred explains an elaborate scheme: A deceased client, Mr. Bond, had made a new will leaving his quarter-million-dollar fortune to a poor widow and her daughter who nursed him back to health. However, the will disappeared when tramps robbed Bond's Long Island house the night he died. Bond's relatives, who would inherit under an earlier will, now stand to claim the estate. Fred intends to pose as a tramp to locate the red-bearded tramp with a scarred nose seen near the property that night, recover the stolen will through him and his associates, and secure the fortune for the widow and daughter. He recruits Terry to join him in the deception.