Sharp County record., 1881-05-05
Traps for the Unwary.

OF Jhe rural population, there Is no emu
in enterprising Gotham. The latest and
one of the most barefaced of the swim
dies, although not particularly neat is
reported to have been very successful.
1t is carried on principally by the
fakirs' about county fairs, taverns
and other places where rustic betting
men are most likely to be found. Two
qualities are only necessary to success,
and these are the two always found in
the wandering swindler, city Or country
plenty of cheek and the ability to en-
igrate without delay in an emergency.
The stock in trade is a bogus watch,
such as are now made in great quanti-
ties by the notion manufacturers. They
make Gilt stem winding watch which
has a solid look about it and readily de-
ceves the uninitiated, which they can
sell to the iobbers and wholesalers for
ninety-two cents by the gross 1t has
a spring and a pair of wheels set at a
sixty-minute to the hour gait, and which
will run for half an hour or so, just long
enough, in fact, to enable the swindler
to leave town or get conveniently out OF
Sight The stem has rachel attach
ment, which makes a sound on winding
up much like the genuine article, and
the main wheel has straight spring
ratchet. which, as the wheel revOlyes,
gives out a tick, tick of the right sort.
The whole thing is got up with an aris-
tocratic air and is as good looking as 1t
is rascally, especially when attached to
a ten,cent tire-gilt chain which won t
tarnish within twenty-four hours after
being exposed to the air, but whose ul-
innate destiny makes it so extremely
yera ai5tiglse that the verdegris sticks to
ones fingers. These untimely pieces
are sold by the jobbers to the fakirs'
at Sl.20 u piece. and the patent soap
and liver-pad man seldom leaves the
city without making 81 investment in
them, for he doesn' hide them in nap
kin or under a bushel, but, judiciously
handled, they bring him back his own
manifold.
The SO fakir," it may be incidentally
explained, is the gentleman with little
hand BAG and a folding stand, who
during the winter haunts Broadway
corners for short periods, and who is
constantly haunted in turn by ghosts OF
the Broadway Squad. In the summer
he prefers to get out of the city where
people are apt to know too much and
he takes kindly to any irregular and
rascally industry from three-card monte
and thimbe rigging to corn plasterS,
the lightning calculator and bogus soap
packages, containing mythical green
backs. He is greatly given to country
fairs and rural racing tracks. Tie
changes his abiding place frequently
and rapidly and is the nearest resem-
blauce in human way to the traditional
flea. ForSl.25 he can get five pounds
of soap suitable for his purpose, which,
cut in cubes and wrapped in tissue pa
per, complete his stock with the aid OF
two or three stray counterfeit bills or
ex-lager beer keg stamps or anything
else that looks like a greenback. Or,
in an emergency, half a dozen new
bronze cents Q8SD may answer for
quarter eagles. A little legerdemain
and ready TONGUE do the rest.
The enterprising young man from
Gotham generally manages, by glib talk
and one-quarter second glimpses Of sup
posjtitious greenbacks, to get rid Of his
twenty tive cents q pound soap at rate
a twenty-five cents an inch, at about the
time when the racing begins. Leaving
his tripod and handbag behind con
venient door or under a convenient
door. he makes his way to the spot
where the betting men are congregated
and proceeds to take a great interest in
the coming races He gets enthusiastic
on the tavorite-alwaXs the favorite-
learns the odds and picks out cen
venient greenhorn. The greener the
rustic the more likely he is to "know
all about it," The odds are, say, 800
to S8 on the favorite. The Gothamite
in his enthusiasm offers 800 to $50,
and hali dozen smart gawks offer to
take him up at once. They are even
anxious to show the stranger from the
cit, that they know thing or two and
that he is not as smart as he would like
80 have them think. His game is to
work up to this point every time. The
minute the rustic has got himself to
thinking he has - caught flat" he is
lost. and Gotham knows it only too
well. He gets out big roll of bills, a
iudicious mixture of greenbacks and
counterfeits, the many small ones be-
inc genuine and the few big ones bogus
and finds to his chagrin, of course, that
he has only $50, "Well, he says, "Ill
put this up against your $50. ." The
,countryman is too smart for that and
insists on the original terms, rather
sneering at the greenness of the city
man who doesn't apparently compre-
hend what is due from one sporting man
to another Gotham does not neglect
to become Immediately nettled. His
pride is touched He pockets his money
and goes down in his vest for his ticker
8" Here he lays, us my chronometer;
gave $50 for it six months ago. Up she
goes" If country expresses any doubt
upon the subject out comes receipt,
Tiffany & Co, New York, all regu-
lar, for Gotham is never caught nap
PING and the country accepts the situa-
ton. Moral-lf the favorite loses
Gotham is out Sl.20; if he wins he is in
$50. In taking off the ten-cent chain,
which is not in the bet, the fakir dex-
terously winds the watch, for its guar