Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-08-09
HOW He WAS BUNKOED.
A Wad of Experience Purchased by a
Man Who "Just Wanted to See How
ItWas DOne.''
[Chicago Herald. |

[Chicago Herald
IF you won't give away my name to a
living soul I'll tell you of the cleanest bunko
game that was ever played on me or any
other man."
The gentleman is very well known in
Chicago and has bank account that is the
envy of most of his companions. The Herald
reporter swore by the everlasting memory of
the star-route trials he would never use the
name of his informant
well, Charley Evans and I were sitting
in restaurant one day, not long ago, when
a well-dressed and respectable-looking man
came in. When he could do so without being
observed, Charlie whispered to me that the
man was the best bunko steerer in the
country. | said had never been worked by
a bunko man. and would like to be. To cut
it short, Charley told me how | could put
myself in the fellows way, and did it sue
cessfully, after leaving my valuables in
Charles care and making an appointment to
meet him in two hours. ...
"The Steerer knew who | was and soon
found way to ripen acquaintance into
familiarity, saying, OF course that my friends
were his friends. He said he had lottery
ticket that had drawn prize and wished
me to walk over to the office with him where
he would draw the money The game was
working well. went and he drew his
money. Then the manager of the Office got
out chuck-a-luck board and my friend
played with him and won a considerable sum
of money. Nothing would do but must
play Also, and he gave me aS1OO to bet with.
| bet and won more than | lost. Finally the
manager declared that the next bet should
be a'tripple one, and my friend said he was
glad Of it, and, laying down a. big pile of
money, told me to bet all had. l did so,
and the manager declared my friend and
had lost triple the amount we had bet He
figured that owed him $500. I said ] had
no money" .rr.,.i .uf o..
"Your check will do" said the manager >.
gave him my check; intending of course,
to go right to the bank and stop payment On
it. The manager put the check under a news
paper to blot it, and my friend who was
counting out money with which to pay his
triple loss, stopped, put his money in his
pocket, reached over and grabbed my check
from under the paper, tore it up and said:
Here this is some skin game, and l won't
stand it. l won't pay that bet, and you can't
have my friends check And he took out
pistol and said we were going out of that
place, and it wouldn't be safe to get in our
way"
I'VE went out together, and my companion
told me he had played good deal of chuck
a-luck there, and had considerable luck, but
he was now pretty sure it was skin game.
AS no further effort was made to get money
out Of me concluded Charley was mistaken;
that the man he had taken for steerer was
only a victim frequenter of the bunko shop.
He left me at the door of the hotel where l
was to meet Charlie. Charlie was waiting
for me in the office. I told him what had
happened"
you Internal idiot" said he, skip to the
bank as fast as you can. Probably you're too
late now"
"Sure enough when I reached the bank
the check had been cashed and the man was
gone"
''You see," said Charlie, che tore up a
piece of paper instead of your check-thats
one Of the tricks-and when they got you
out the manager rushed and got the cash."
Say, now, be mighty careful you don't get
my name in it."