Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1888-11-24
TRIALS OF BOX OFFICE MEN.

i
Treasurer Caused by swindIer.-
retty thieves.
Tho great and glorious public are
trying to beet the box office of n thea.
tire all the time.
The man who made this intere sting
statement was standing in box Office
at the time when he made it, with the
box office window framing his head
and the upper part of his figure. and
his countenance was lit up by n savage
smile. which, translated into English,
ment that the public might continue TO
try to get the best of him, but the pub
lie would not succeed. AS the speaker
Is at present the treasurer of n we'll
known playhouse. and has had n wide
experience in the box offices of the
theatres of the country, from San
Francisco to Boston, his statement
naturally attracted the attention of a
writer for the Mdll and Express, to
whom it was made, and he was asked
for ar explanation and an application
OF his assertion.
The treasurer proceeded to explain.
he said his meaning was simply this:
That all day long the procession OF
men, women and children who file up
to the box office window contains an
alarming percentage of persons who
deliberately attempt to swindle the
man from whom they are buying tick.
cts or pretending 10 buy them. The
ordinary mode of proceeding is for
them 10 put down 4 bill on the box
Office sheet. presumably as guarantee
of good faith and indication that they
have money TO pay for what they want.
Then the following conversation en-.
sues:
Il want two good seats"
There they are" And the treas
urer points out two seats in the middle
Of the house.
Have you got ANYTHING else?'
"Yes, there are two excellent seats
on the side aisle"
What have you got there?' The
applicant points 10 two seats in the
front Of the balcony.
Nothing" '-
The treasurer is tired now and wants
" VI W Il CIisIS.
"Nolhing?" This in accents of
aston shmenr.
Nothing" repeats the treasurer.
with n solemn emphasis that would
have carried conviction 10 any one.
Well. then I'll take the first ones
you showed me-"
The coupons are handed ont and
with the coupons the change of the
bill which the would-be purchaser had
put down before he or She started in.
Then the dialogue llows on somewhat
after the following style
"What is this?"
"Your change"
''But l gave You so.
mot me-"
I'm sure did. Just LOOK IN the
drawer"
The treasurer opens his right hand
and spreads out the bill which has
never gone into the drawer at all but
which he has palmed Immediately on
receiving it.
This is the identical bill. It's a five.
isn't il?'
The man or woman, and il is not
a woman. acknowledges
that it is. recogn yes the fact that the
man in the box office is shrcwder than
they thought for, takes the change for
The five and the tickets and leaves the
theatre.
The treasurer declares that in most
cases he can spot these people, and if
business is dull and he wants 10 divert
himself nothing pleases him better than
TO set traps and have them fall, into
Ihem. He related one experience he
had in box Office in a San Francisco
theatre, where the money received is
Tor the most part gold and silver coin.
A fellow whom he suspected of swind-
ing propensities came up to. the win.
dow one day. He prepared for him by
putting fifty-cent piece on the edge
Of the shelf Immediately above his cash
box. When the man handed in a ten.
lolar gold piece and said be wanted
.wO coupons the treasurer palmed the
gold piece. and. showing the
silver half-dollar off the shelf, it clink. |
ID in with the other coins The fellow
outside OF the box office frightened up
Is he heard it. He imagined, of course,
hat. his gold piece was now lost in a |
pile OF other coins, and as between him |
md the treasurer it was wholly a aues-
ion OF veracity whether that gold piece
vas ten-dollar gold piece or a twen-
y-dollar one. After good deal of |
bother and delay. SO as TO allow time
o elapse during which the treasurer
might become uncertain OF the |
money lie had originally got. the pur-
hase OF the seats was concluded and |
no treasurer laid down the change for
SO Then followed the stereOtyped /
dialogue outlined above. except thati
he man in this case was unusually |
'ersistent. The ten-dollar gold piece
which had been palmed was pulled out
N him. but he still refused to accept
and went away to make q complaint
o the manager. The manager came
ack with the irate customer; the treas.
rer said that he hadn't gone into the
OK Office for the first time the day be-
ore; that the man had given him ten
ollar gold piece; had got change for
ten-dollar gold piece. and he could
ever get any thing else. He kept up
he sham to the last. however; insisted
n being around when the cash was
nade mp for the day. and declared
nat he would not be satisfied until the
ash balance showed an extra so.
The treasurer said that he never on
ny account put bill of large de-
omination in the money drawer
'hich had been passed as pay for
ckets until the tickets had been pass
d out. change accepted and the pur-
Ilaser had left the window. After
rat the treasurer is safe even il