, 1886-09-10
A SHREWD SWINDLER.
CROWDS OF VICTIMS MOURN A ga
KRIS" ACQUAINTANCE.

He Gives Them Warning and Then Pro-
ceeds TO Gather In Their Cash
Chains and Watches Go on Like Hot
Cakes.
A victim appeared the other afternoon
NJ the city hall. in a vague search for re-
uress. He related the actions of a street
TAXI who succeeded in quilting crowds
and winning dollars by sheer boldness.
About the middle OF last week a lively APP
pearing man stood In "A buggy, beside Il
vapor light, in the square near the post
office. A crowd soon collected. The
stranger drew out a sachel and took from
it n quantity of jewelry. With a smile, he
held up several watch chains. and said,
Gentlemen. l want to sell you some jew
elry. Perhaps you think these are gold,
but they are not. They are a good thing
TO have, but they are not gold. Gentle
men, | Will sell you these chains for 81
each
While talking he drew forth a number
OF bills, and folding them lengthwise Sc
cured them TO his vest by passing them
through the buttonholes. The chains
giittered brightly under the laring 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 a curious INC He still
kept up his taking. "You must be
ca. cfu! or IN swindle YOU" he said,
lnughingly. This Is my business, and
they say it is hard to beat a man Mt his
own tricks. These chains are not gold,
and don't want you to buy them uu,ess
you really wish to do so.r
More OF the chains were sold, and finally
fba Of n oclyad 10 oo,,. nr. L.. fba
crowd had not received a chain with q
knot In it. The chain was passed up to
him. Whipping IA 81 bill from a button
hole, he passed 1t ~cleverly into the knot
and tossed the money and ohain 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 n beautiful, glitter
ing hunting case watch. "You fellows
think you're smart he said. "You think
this Is n gold watch. 1t isn't. This is not
gold. Neither is ii a watch. 1t is a good
thing in its way, but it is no watch. !
beg you not to buy it If you don't want 1t.
! will sell this for So" Tn crowd laughed
ENORMOUSLY, for the object In the
fakir's hand was Enthusiastically a fine
iOphAhb Aiin"pltCt. lie lHSl5lcu, however,
that the object was no watch and begged,
with n comical look on his face, that ali
who were foolish enough to buy them
would moi 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, |
believe | 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 men.
Now, gentlemen, | 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
board, but the deception was Gle yer. The
chains were worth about 10 cents each.
Lifting his hat politely, the smiling fakir
said, Good evening, gentlemen" extin-
guished the light, and drove away. Tine
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, neal the market
house, where he sold more OF his jewelry
to the amused people. Here he s)ld his
watches for Is, and one of them is said tc
be in the pocket of a prominent west side
physician. The fakir staid no more han
half an hour In any one place and proc
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.-Cieye-
land Leader.