The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-10-01

his com mGDd had Vlctiml2 3d porter
out of $500 by this ruse. Occasionally
he il 8 rural scapegoat, Who really
knows his victim, but in nine easas out
OF ten the assumption Of acquaintance
is false, and he is total stranger. he
has Travelled, however, perhaps on some
other dupe's money, and being gifted
with keen powers of observation, has
stored away in his mind for fortune con-
tingencies q mass of information con-
cerniug the status GS business men.
| Another variety of this dodge is thus
carried outi Porter Is addressed as
Taompson, Of Peorla. He turns to the
speaker, ami very likely, volunteers the
! information that he is not Thompson, Oi
Peoria, bat Porter, OF Oshkosh. The
one who has spoken to him bsg5 thons-
and pardons and steps briskly away
The chances are very strong that Porter,
before he has gone a block, will be ad
dressed as Porter by ar1oG5er well,
dressed-smiliDg youth, will be ashcd
how Oshkosh Is coming on, AMI under
! the genial influence of soft soap, will
| be in the fl Ocd tide Of conversation with
q rogue who does not know him from
siie of cole leather. By the by he viii
be subjected to q bill dodge or exposed
to fresh peril from the handsome gen
tleman at his side. The parsonage will
remark, after some conversation, about
| business prospects ct Oshkosh : "By the
way, | lust remember that I've got
| circular from q firm there informing me
| that I've drawn q prize in a lottery.
Now, don't believe in such things but
as Tve got the ticket and the notice
with me, suppose we go around aud Just
see how much I have draW Wn." The
country merchant accompanies his new
made acquaintance to d dingy room,
and the money-generally bogus, by
the way-is paid over. A su gestiOn is
made that a further investment be
made. The two are then conducted into
back room, and the first thing the
countryman knows his aVarice gst' the
best of his produce, and he finds him.
SELF betting at "skin faro" or losing his
$50 or 800 at " bunko." He has simply
been dtped through the assistance OF his
new friend, who is one OF those side-
shoots from the confdene9 tree--"a
bunk0 sharper"
Tne lower order of confidence shaIpers
are t. be found around some OF the rail-
road depots where they Victimize newly
arrived rustics by the freight-bill dodge,
Having seized upon a cOuntrymsn
sharper No. l takes him up the street to
show hiq q purchase be has made. a
con federate app6ars and demands his
money for hauling the goods to the
freight depot, No l protests that he
hasn't it, and produces a handful of what
looks to the inexperienced countryman
like gold coin. The "freight-man" will
not tase that, and the Gountfyman is
appealed to and hsnds over his cash and
receives the coin-whiCh is bogus, by the
way-aud known to the initiated as spiel
marks. TIE sharper disappears on the
promise to be back in few moments to
redeem the coin, and the countryman is
left to discover that he is swindled
When he complains at the depot he Is
taken to the central alton, looks over
the album of rOgues there, hnds the
likeness OF the man who has duped him,
and. after several weeks; has the pleasure
of appearing against him, amid the grins
of the central au1ience, detectives,
r6p6rtsrs, ete., nOue appre ciatiug the joke
better apparently than the prisoner him
AeIf-illustrating the truism that "the
pleasure is as great in being cheated as
to cheat ~
In April, 1876, woman named Mrs
Elizabeth Dash, an illsfavOfed creature,
conducted successfully short but very
remunerative career Rs q confidence
operator among people uptown. She
represented to some of her victims that
she was q German baroness and had
drawn the capital prjz9 in the Havana
lottery. To some she put the amount
at $13 900, and to one gudgeOn she exc
panded il into $S5,000l Sac said it was
necessary to engage a lawyer to secure
her prize, and she offered her dupes a
heavy share in her good fortune if they
would advance her the necess airy funds.
One lady she promised $11 900 as a bonus
for loan of $500. The cunning adven-
turess appeared to have selected the
victims, and appealed to their cupiditY
by the expectations of usuIious returns
for their loans. There were five CONS
plants against her out of a host who
were too ashamed of being gOveTTeached to |
appear against her. As it was, 1t appears
that Mrs. Dash had realized nearly |
81 coo from her shrewd scheme. She |
passed some time in prison.
Several years ago an uneducated |
woman, of forbidding countenance,
cleaned quite a pile of money by the |
story that her uucle had died in Ger |
many leaving her a large fortune. She |
confined her Establishments to the male |
sex and borrowed the money on the pre-
tense that it was to enable her to sub.
stantiate her claim. She promised to
make eacn of her dupes guardian of her
children and allow him to have the
of all the revenues of the estate. |
This was lhe baited hook that appealed
to the cupidity of the gUdgeons and took
them in every time.
A year ago another variation of the
game was successfully per-
formed upon an Italian, who had gath
cred together over 5000 by close devotion
to the peanut and hsnd-orgsn business,
and concluded he would return to sunny
Italy and buy him q title of nobility and
8 castle and settle down as az grandee.
Unfortunately he fell in with two of his
who were rascals. They took
him to an Italian saloon and got just
enough wine into him to make him con.
fdential. When they started away they
kindly took charge of his valise in which
he had his savings al In shining eagles
By a dextrous hOcus-pocus bars of lead
pipe wrapped in paper we're substituted
for his coin, and when the two shaIpers |
left the poor fellow his savings of years
went with them, and he had nothing but |
his bits of lead pipe TO show for his |
There are minor plots for the |
such as the "trick- k-box" and |
three card monte" that probably come |
within the category of confidence opera
tions, but the men who practice them are
wretched bunglers, and are constantly |
falling into the hands of the police. It |
is reserved for the rsscals at the top of
the ladder to make the 'big stakes" and |
affect fast horses and faster creatures of
the demi-monde on the road and at the |
races and the seaside resorts. The faro
table is also an Unsuitable claimant for
their iIlN0Otten lucre as was shown by