The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-07-27
LONDON MOCK AUCTIONS.
whats "Crab' Has to Say as to Censpir-
acies.
From the l,nndnn

what trade did l follow before l became
a brokers' man? Well, l don't suppose there's
many that know what u crab is unless they
are In the trade-the furniture-auction trade,
L mean. I'll tell you how it is. There's a
certain class of auctioneers who depend on
their regular followers Tor making a good
SHOW OF attendance at sales. Say I'm an
auclloneer just gone into business, and not
very particular SO long as l can do a brisk
tfaoe. My first move is to make myself
known to and and to make friends with those
seconu-hand furniture dealers who regularly
attend private sales. L give 'em to understand
II they'll work with me, III work with them.
wen, say I've got a house of goods to sell.
soon as the catalogues are printed | send 'em
one each by post, 50 that they may see the
killu OF goods that are going, and 1.-The auc-
%tloneer, L ~mean-have been over 'em, and l
am apie 10 put q tick against what may be
specially worth their buying. Say that the
auction is advertised for II O'Clock; all hour
before that time the room in which the sale
is to be held will be packed pretty we'll full
with the auctioneer's followers, and by the
likes OF me who follow the followers, and
VINO are known as scrahs.' don't know why
They're SO called, unless it is that thei, bust
hess is to put a crab or a stop, or whatever
you like to call it, on the biddinss of the pri-
'aCe people who NAV come to the sale. How
40 they interfere with the priv, tie bidding?
On, there's twenty ways of doing it. They're
not a very nice lot, the Knockout crabs.
Nasty III their ways and not nice in their
language and manners. Them's the tools
they work with in general. That aud horse
play. Say there's q spectacle three or four
ladies and gentlemen of the noighborhood
come We y likely to give a COED price for
some things, and thinking in their innocence
they're doing the sold-ur party q good turn
by doing so. Well, it's the duty of the crabs
to work that respectable lot fore and aft, as
the sayin' is. A couple of crabs will get be-
hind 'em, and there's sure to be others before
EN-. aud the dodge is to pass orkard articles
OF furniture that's being put up showed
round back'ards and for'ards, so that they
the respectable lot, l mean-gets the benefit
OF 1t, and have bonnets showed of and their
hats knocked over their eyes,. and sharp cor
'lers o. mahogany picked agin their back and
shoulders. That n~at'Iallv gets 'em out of
temper, and then they get ci,alled and pushed
about and jrered at for being there at all and
aking the bread cut of the mouth Of the reg
ular trade. sometimes there'l be strangers
of the respectable sort, | mean--who have
just happened to drop in, and mean buying.
The way to choke them off is for the crabs to
ak amongs themselves, so as to be over
heard, as 20 whether it was small poX or ty-
phlts fever the late owner of the goods died
of, and if it is known whether the bedding
and that sort of thing has been seen to. One
way and another those that are not wanted
are in general got rid of before the sale has
beehon all hour, and then, of course, things
% smooth. Does the auctioneer say nothing
the crabs about their playful ways? Ratl-
y. lie goes on at 'em a good un, and takes
he part of the spectacle ones. But the
anne goes on all the same till they're get rid
# Won don't CON wbarA tbc oJyaptarn 10 9
Very true, and, as you remark, an a~uctisn-
"tr's gains is regulated by the amount of
money a sale realizes, and that if he ,ets the
-"ods 20 for less than they would fetch if
fairly treated, he has less to charge a client
II the way of percentage but you must un-
lerstand, according to the system Pm talking
lbout, the obligin' auctiOneer gets two per-
centages. What on? Why, on the second
,ale OF the furniture to be sure-on the real
sale of it. The auctioneer don't sell it again.
Oh, dear no; It's the cheerman of the knock
tut that does that. What's the Knockout ?
The swim-the followers, | mean. 1t don't
matter what the lots have been knocked down
1.-THE value of 'em has got to be regulated
afterwards. The followers, who have cleared
pretty we'll at the catalogue. come from all
ARTS so it's convenient to settle the bust
,ess before they separate. They generally
90 to a public house near the sale place, where
here is a room they can SIT in quiet and COM
Portable. They-the followers, l mean
choose a cheerman and the others sit round,
sach one with his marked catalogue. Then
tiley goes to business as ~follers: The cheer
man he SAYS: 'P'raps, gentlemen, the first
lot of ours is the ~drawing.rOoim chimney
glass. Thirty-fve shilIings was the hammer
price. Wot's it worth" Then the bidding
p-eins, and p'raps it goes up to two pun ten,
+ so that's fifteen shillinss for the pool.
There's pretty well sure to be amongst the
followers a regular buyer of good pianos, and
another Of old china. If such goods are Al
he knock. out and the regular buyer is pres
mt there is no opposition. He puts some
thing wot's considered liberal in the pool and
axes the article at the aM,ncr price. SO il
GOES on all through until all the lots are
,harcd in a satisfactory manner and nothing
remains to he done but divide the pool, which
is perhaps twenty or thirty pounds strong. II
is divided accord:n, to how much each man
has spsnt in buving at the Knockout price,
hrsc or four shillings III the pound, the auc'
~tioncer in general standing in for a sam the
same as that took on by the buyer first OF
lie list. What do tlc crabs get? They gel
what's chucksd to EN-, in 4 manner 0 speak
ing. They do dogs work. and they get dog
treatment. Nobody hires them they follow
he tn,l0werS-Lhcre agin, Just as dogs might
aud they know what's expected Of en-. an'
hey DO it, and they are thankful If The
knock out gentlemen upstairs send en- dow
Il shilling each. and allow EN- 4 feed of bieaI
and cheese and a drink Of beer. Il is :
wretched way tor a man to earn Il living,
mean and miserable way" said Mr.. i'ook
wayning his head doletully a the rernnaI' o
rum and water before him, shut it'll J." bet
ter than the workns anyhow, if its only ol
account of the privilege of sleeping in
cheer instead Of on q bedsteld.