The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-03
&-if-44.
Tho Various Tricks of tho Dealers--Thcir
Dream Book Method, and low They
Catch their Victims.


Dream Book Method, ana Low They
I Catch their Victims.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Gambling in tho old cardeplaying
fashion is 10 touch to gambling in
policy. In the former the patrons arc
chiefly persons of means and intclli-
gcncc, who. go into the game with
their eyes open, often less for the sake
Of winning money than to.gratiry their
passion for gambling, But in policy
thq case is different The business is
! a "dari horso,",so to speak, and when
g man goes into it he enters for the
single object Of winning money. The
mduccmcnt of drawing q hNndrcdGold
porc than he invests is held out to
him, and he drops his money into. the
policy dca ler's maW with just about
as clear all understanding of whcyc it
is going to as the man who drops his
purse into the mouth of a volcano. 1t
is among the poorer classes that the
policy men reap their harvest. ANY
sum from five cents up to any amount
ofdollars may be invested in policy but
it is not in dollars that the investments
arc usually made. Ten cents, fifteen
cents, twenty-five CENTS fifty cents
these arc the popular sums ortli-
narily paid in. a man with but ten
cents in his pockets will 60 hungry
often tliat lie may put that sum in the
hands Ola policy dealer and stand the
chance of winning ten dollars. lie
has about one chance in Il hundred
thousand. Occasionally some one will
be heard of who has invested fifty
cents and drawn fifty dollars. This
Will be widely circulated by the poll
cy dealers and has Invariably ;proyGd
effective in drawing hi n rush of large
~ increased revenues. There are two
methods by which the dealer PLAYS
upon the crcdulity of his victims, and
this is one. The other obtains chiefly
among the Ignorant and superstitioUs
and is chiefly popular among the col-
orcd people. 80.
PLAYING ON SUPERSTITION.
This is the drcanl-book method. The
hold the policy-dealcr has on the minds
of colorcd people through their super
stitious belief in dreams and the way
he plays upon this weakness is a whole
history im itself.
"Why, boss" said u colorcd man tho
other day, ''I'vc seed neh come into q
bar room where policy rpws arc sold
and sit down behind the stove and pull
their hats over their eyes and 30 to
drcainin' for a min,itc. Whc,i ali of q
sudden theX'll jump up and slap their
knees and say: 'Dy gosh, Pvn got it;
! dreamcd was in a prison. Then
they'll go right Off and Euy the prison
row-2l, Al, 81"
Without going into the methods Of
these policy men, it is only necessary
to say that for almost every object
known 10 the English language they
have combination filgtires belong
ing to that object for the special con-
Nenicncc Of drcamcrs. The names Of
these objects arc compiled for their
own purpose, and IL combination Of
figures attached to each, in which form
it is printed in small book form and
put before the ignorant and super
stitious, selling for fifteen or twenty
five cents Il copy, the whole design of
which is the more easily and ef1cctual-
ly to fleece their victims by operating
upon their rsupcrstitious natures. These
little books are in appearance like an
ordinary paper-back cookery book,
and usually number from 100 to 175
pages.
TIE POLICY DREAI-BOQK.
They come under the general head
Of drcam-books, but have various
tlashy titles calculated to catch tho
eyes Ofthc crcdul0us and superstitious.
For INSTANCE, the most common one III
use is entitled s"rhc Japanese Fate
Book; or, the Wheel of Cold"
This book, q well-thMmbed copy of
which lies before the writer now, has
been circulated by thousands, chiefly
among colored people down town,
and some Of them have been led to be-
licHc in it as firmly and fully as they
flo in their Bibles. Here arc q few
specimens Of its contents, its list Of
words being arranged III alphabetical
form from A to u:
AnYil-Success and honor in spite
Of al Opposition and your !enemies-
30, 81, So.
Applcs-To dream you sec green
apples, contention. discord and defeat
in all your undertakiligs--4, II, "A.
Dallet--Joy and pleasure to a young
lady and that She will become rich
6, s, 46,.
Police Ofliccr-If you dream you
meet police officer be sure YOU will
meet with some misfortunc-28,3 50, 67.
| The definition, it will be observed,
is a mere blind, the real design of the
book being to lead tho victim, when
he has dreamed about some one of the
thousand objects, animate or inani-
mate, contained in the book, to rush
to tho policy dealer and invest in tho
row of figures which belongs to that
particular object. The men he goes to
for this purpose are called policy
writers. They are not the head, men
in tho business. The writers arc mere
tools and get a percentage Of the money
thcy tako in. The chief men are
known rs hackers. But between tho
writer's and backers are tho "clcrks."
70 go through the routino Of invest
ing ip policy. First, there are the
writors at the lower end Of the lad
der. TO them the victim goes when