Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-11-06
A SHREWD SWINDLER.
CROWDS OF VICTIMS MOURN A "FA-
 KIR'Sy ACQUAINTANCE.

He Gives Them Warning and Then Pro
 oecds to Gather fin Their Cash
 Chains and Watches Go On Like Hot Cakes
 A victim appeared the other afternoon
 at the city hall, in a vague search for re-
 dress He related the actions of street
 sfakir' who succeeded in gulling crowds
 and winning dollars by sheer bOldness.
 About the middle of last week lively ap-
 bearing man stood in a buggy, beside A
 vapOr light. in the square near the post
 office. A crowd soon collected Tho | stranger drew out a sachel and took from
 1t q quantity of jewelry. With a smile, ne
 held up several watch chains. and said, | aGentlemen. want to sell you some jew : eIrv. Perhaps you think these are gold, ! but they are not They are good thing | to have, but they are not gold Gentle
 men. will sell you these chains for SI l each
 While talking he drew forth a number | of bills, and folding them lengthwise se- cured them tO his vest by passing them | through the buttOaholes. The chains , elittered brightly under the fiaring light. | and the man was very jolly, blunt, candid | and straightforward One or two Of the ! chains were bought. and in one of them
 the stranger tied curious knot. He still kept up his talking. You must be careful or I'll swindle you he said, ! laughingly. This Is my business, and | they say It Is hard to beat a man at his own tricks. These chains are not gold, | and don't want you to buy them unless | you really wish to do SO"
 More of the chains were sold, and finally | the stranger asked if some one in the | crowd had not received a chain with a | knot in it. The chain was passed up to | him. Whipping Sl bill from a button ' hole, he passed it cleverly into the knot
 and tossed the money and chain back tO | the owner. still continuing his peculiar
 remarks. at which the crowd laughed, he sold chain after chain, right and left In some of them he tied one knot, in some two, and in others three.
 Finally he held up a beautiful. glitter ! ing hunting case watch. You fellows
 think you're smart, he said. You think
 this Is n gold watch. It isn't This Is not | gold. Neither is it a watch. It is a good
 thing in it's way, but it is no watch l
 beg you not to buy 1t if you don't want it.
 l will s-I this for S37 The crowd laughed | uproarOusly, for the object in the
 fakir's hand was unmistakably fine | looking time piece He insisted, however. that the object was no watch and begged,
 with a comical look on his face, that all
 who were foolish enough to buy them
 would not examine them until they ! reached home In half an hour he sold
 in this manner a large number of watches
 and chains. Finally he exclaimed -Oh, l ! believe l knotted some of the chains You
 needn't send them forward, gentlemen. Those with one knot are for little men,
 those with two for medium sized men,
 and those with four and five for big mea.
 Now. gentlemen, I said those were not
 watches. Observe me-
 He held one of the watches over his
 head, opened the case. and to the aston
 ishment of all, passed his finger com pleteiy through the dial and where the
 works should have been. The cases were
 of thin metal, stamped in the proper form. and the dials were merely paste ! bCari, but the deception was clever. The
 chains were worth about 10 cents each.
 Lifting his hat politely, the smiling fakir said, -GOOd-eyeninG, gentlemen extin- guished the light. and drove away. The fakir then went to Michigan street, near Ontario. and held forth for half an hour
 with great profit to himself Then he
 went tO the west side, near the market house. where he sold more of his iewelry
 to the amused people. heTe ee sold his
 watches for s5. and one Of them Is said to
 be in the pocket of a prominent west side
 physician. The fakir staid no more than
 half an hour in any one place and prob ably left the city at once. The victim was informed that the humorous seller of jewelry could not be reached by the law. as he had made no false pretenses.-Cleve- land Leader.