National Republican., 1883-04-07
THE MORAL SHOW.
a Reformed THIEF Tells How the Patrons
OF the Circus are Robbed.
Clepeland Leader.

Clcrtldnd Leader.
Il am q reformed faltir," said q sleek look
ing young man, as he drew the reporter over
into corner, "and s'pose IL won't kill me
If give away some of the secrets Of the bust
ness. DO you know, sir, that the small
est show on the road has TO carry eigh-
teen thieves along? Yes, sir and the bigger
the show the more numerous the workers. l
know of one big show last season that had
sixty men at work, and received s., 600 week
in privileges. OF course the proprietors of
the show disclaim all relationship with the
fakirs but every Monday morning the poor
thieves have to come down with the dust. 1t
is wonderful how many privileges there are
with big show, aside from the legitimate.
One man contracts to work the big joint and
pays from $3.50 to 81 900 q week for the privi-
lcge. Don't know what big joint Is Why
IL is where fat guy drops his Doodle on
represent. You never hear about II unless he
makes a kick, and as the chances are he Is q
deacon in the church, or n model man in the
community, he keeps quiet, bearing his loss
in silence. The big Joint is only worked for
big money, and only once day. A wealthy
granger, greedy lawyer, or whoever is
spotted is induced to go over to the show
grounds by two finely dressed, moral looking
men, whom he has met on the street while
around the side show tent talking about the
weather, or the crops, or whatever, No. 3 is
given the signal, and he comes up and begs
the strangers (p) to come in and see his line
of curiosities-no charge-meroly wants to adj
vcrtise his show, &C., and the victim goes in.
He runs against brace His new aCquaint-
ance tells him how to win. If he has the
money in his clothes he lays It down. If bo
hasn't he goes to the bank and gets it, No. 8
accompanying him. OF course the poor man
sees tho show before he comes out. These
fat guys are worked for from 800. to 1900,
according to the amount of credit they have
in the bank, and you can bet your life that the
big joint has il all sized up before the meat is
tackled If the gilly makes kick, then the
square has to work. A square is one of the
most important men of joint. ltis his busi-
ness IL he secs kick made TO square the
authorities, and then If the victim attempts
to havo anybody arrested he cimnot succeed.
In some places we were in. the square would
90 around in the morning and buy the town,
that is, he would fix the mayor, police, and
justices, and then the boys could work all
day and night, and If any one threatened
they would laugh mt him. | remember in an
Indiana town, the square had fixed the place,
and the very first man roped in was the high
sheriff of the county. The lads got 5000 of
him, and he kicked. BY paying back u 200
they got it settled. know man who had
lnb DlR lOlub Nllu " bnOW luSL SpdSOu, VINO
cleared $4,000 As soon as the season was
over he went to Chicago and bought out q
clothing store. He says he'll never go on tho
road again, but then we all say that, Well,
there's the little joint the drop CASE the
go out and dozens of other privileges for
thieving, in smaller way, aud the show gets
a big share of the plumber The reason they
rent these privileges is this: These thieves
would go right along anyway, and tho pro-
prietors might as well have benefit. You
have seen the man who sells tickets away
from the wagon? Well, that fellow pays 30
cents apiece for every ticket he's got, and he
sells them for just the same, and besides pays
$l5 to S35 week for the privilege of doing IT,
How does he make any money? In making
change. The man who sells tickets for the
the side show works in the same way. Lots of
the butchers work without any salary what
ever. One man pays from 800 to 5000 a week
for the privilege of working the go out =
picking pockets in the jam after the show"
But, l thought the large shows carried
detectives alongY
"Ha, ha, ha-aw So they do, and those de-
tectives are paid their salaries by the other
thieves, All they have to do is to keep out
side thieves from working on the ground. If
an outsider is detected he is handed over to
the police. The privilege men are never de-
tected. ! was detective part of last season,
and the big shows are glad to bill the detec-
tive feature largely, as it shuts up the eye of
the masses. But I've quit the business. /
do think that some men are SO green they
ought to be knocked down and their money
taken from them, but somebody else may do
il hereafter"
"What is the reason so, many apparently
we'll informed men bite at the big and little
joint?"
Because everything is done ON repre-
sent You make u man believe that he can
get something for nothing and he's pretty
sure 40 como IN -