Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-02-23
FsKiRS ON THE BoWeRY.
III Many Ways Whereby They Trick
the Credulous Multitude.

away satisfied with the deception. The
knowing ones among the %frequenters If
the street laugh at the greeny whose
dimes and dollars they have gathered in,
and in an hour or two afterward skin
faro, policy or a ~neighboring bucket shop
has cleaned these very knowing ones out
of their last cent.
The bitter cold wind Of night sent its
sharp gusts sweeping up along the street,
and it was not a pleasant night on which
to lounge along from Chatham square to
Cooper institute. But the bows and girls
were N in force and the east side had
On part of its holiday clothes. On nearly
every corner was the irrepressible fakir,
and in front of him the always seen open
mouthed crowd of gadding women and
wonder chained men. How the glib
told stories rolled out from the quick
bps Of the sharp eyed operator, as he
rung in here and there the well timed
praises of the articles they were TO DO
gulled into buying.
AT the intersection Of Canal street and
the Bowery, a few yards from Pythagoras
hall, a big frowsy, red eyed fellow, with
aface like a shark, was the attraction.
Stufiing his capacious mouth full of cot
ton he chewed it with a gusto that
seemed 10 bespeak long fasting. and
touching n light to it breathed ont flames
, until his head seemed like a vcritable
Vesuvius m eruption. And then he sold
a tooth paste that he solemnly assured
the crowd would make the blacklist teeth
pearly white. He pulled up an open
mouthed street arab with teeth upon
which the grass could grow, and in the
hight Of an old torch wipel them into a
whiteness that shone through the night.
How could the crowd know that the
enamel on those teeth had been DESTROYED
and most of them would hardly have
saied, for they poured tier stock of dimes
into the dirty hand that was stretched
out for them and grabbed for the acid
= powder that was to destroy their molars.
Across the street from him was the
backing fakir, and his forte lay in his
lightning winged tor cue and his political
speeches " The men who crowded about
him. The headqu tiers of the Knights
Of Labor in Pytl sgoras hall were not
fifty feet away from him. and the fakir
gathered in the hprny handed toilers and
their money. H acclaimed against the
tyranny Of capital, and, holding an old
shoe in his hand, showed how his black
ing could make it shine. lie spoke f
the oppressed workingman. and rung
m the declaration that the laborer who
went with unshining shoes when union
made backing was being peddled on a
freezing night at five cent? a box was an
enemy 10 his kind.
Did he sell many boxes? Well, rather.
And what difference did it make TO the
honest toiler who wanted To help the
poor fellow, 10 find that the bottom #
the big looking box was hollow and the
alleged backing only SCOT and waterG
Just of the Of Bro0me AMI
Bowery, ear enough to catch the crowd
Of thrifty housewives with their loaded
baskets. the fruit fakirs had their stands.
Loud mouthed. hoarse thrCated. dirty
faced and reckless. they are the most law
less Of the peddler gang on the Bowery.
Rosy apples-yer you are, ten cents
apail-oniy a few more left-take en-
right along, and the ~cheapnesS tempts
the economical matron, though every
woman on the east side will tell YOU that
. peddler is a thief. She approaches
' with the air of a woman who knows she
is dealing with a dangerous character.
She handles the apples, the top ones in
the pail look nice enough and shr con-
cludes TO purchase. Then comes in the
nice work Of the adept fruit fakir lie
seizes the pail and into the open basket
OF the watching woman he pours the
apples, and with a sudden twist of his
hand throws the pail into the farthe.t
part Of the wagon. She has seen no
taking and yet She is hardly half satisfied
that she has not Lecn CHEATED. But she
knows it when she gets home and counts
her apples.
Was the pail full? Certainly. but the
two last layers Of apples in the bottom Of
the pail had been pressed in 80 tightly
that they would not drop out, and all sht
received for her ten cents was the loOs
fruit above these two LAYERS.
Along above Spring street. i'm front a
o big dime museum. with flaming pict
ures that caught the gaping strollers. {
finty eyed fellow, with a scraggy beard
stood out in the mud and toli stories tina
made even some of the Bowerv rounder
= raise their eyes. But the boys liked then
and the wide eyed girls. with cropped
hair and short skirts, laughed a. loud a'
the fellows, and the fun was fast and fu,
rious.
OF course he had something TO ring in
upon them. and they all knew IL: 50
when he pulled out his patent wash that
would Turn brass into a color so golden
that an expert could not detect the dif.
ference. he made some sales, though the
purchasers laughed half shcopishly az
they turned over their dimes. But when
be- took The brass watch Of q fellow with
checker board pants and, rubbing the
wash over It, held il up 10 view glisten,
ing like gold in the glare Of the electric
light, his sales increased, and the girl
were the biggest purchasers. They didn'
know, and they would hardly have careC
IL they did, that the bottle the fakiI
handed them Gas not at all like the opel
one he held in his hand. and that even 1
1t were the tinsel color would fade ava
In fifteen minutes.
So the money went all along the Bow
cry. To the fakir on the street corner
TO the blind beggar on the other, wht
kept one eve on bis tin cup list the thiev.
ing gamins Of the gutter would steal Ia,
nborttaHIa U~anpaag tknt -. -