The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-14
GAMES OF TIE FAKIRS
SMALL SCHEMES THAT LOOK HON.
EST BUT ARE DECEPTIVE.

EST BUT ARE DECEPTIVE.
How the Ring Trick wins-The Tripod
ana Gripsack NIan-smuggIed shawls
Which Entrap the Unwary--The Sailor
and His Cigars.
J There are a thousand and one ways in
which the unsuspectipg resident >r the bu-
collie visitor in New York may be relieved
I Of his money without in the least suSpecting
! that he Is being defrauded until the opera
/ ton has been performed. There are innu-
merable schemes daily in operation in this
! city 10y which a great and greedy army Of
social haTpies manages to take in quite a con-
/ siderable revenue from their practice.
Perhaps the most successful of these little
! games is that one generally described as ''the
! kid glove racket" The method adopted in
/ this game is very simple. but is nearly always
J successful because it works. so strongly ON tho
! imagination and appeals with such peculiar
! force to the gullibiGty which reposes in the
! mind OF the average man. The gentleman
| who plies this interesting game may be met
/ frequently Broadway, between Four
teenth and Twenty third Streets and along
! the Bowery. He selects a pedestrian who
! from his appearance may become a likely
/ victim He walks close beside the man for a
! few PAGES when suddenly he stoops to the
! ground ana picks up a dark OBJECT
." A RING IN IT."
Naturally the curiosity of the prospective
victim is aroused, aud he wants to know
what the young man has found. ''Pshaw.
it's only n kid glove, d it!n exclaims that
individual, as he makes a motion as if to
throw it away. He restraints himself with a
start and cries: There's a ring in it, by
goshl just feel it," and the man addressed
feels, while, surely enough, there it is. Then
| the young man draws out the ring, and,
holding it at arms length, exclaims with a
satisfied smile, ''Ain't she a beauty, thoughT'
and ''she" is, if glitter and size count for any
thing. To prove that the ring is a valuable
! one he offers tho glove for inspection, and
this being always of the best description, nat
urally excites the belief that person wear
ing such an excellent glove would naturally
wear valuable ring. By this time the vic
tim is in good shape, and the young man Of
fers TO sell the ring for s.. 1t is too much,
the man says.
ooh, well, I'm dead broke and You can
have it for So" At this price the victim
buys, and he walks away with the pleasant
impression that he carries a bargain with
him in his pocket which cost the young man
who sold it just three cents. Hesoon learns his
! mistake but seldom tells others of how neat
" he has been scooped, and consequently the
young man who works 1.-THE kid glove racket
-
Any person who passes along the Bowery
during the afternoon will probably notice a
man who, in and out of season, wears a high
white battered hat, a kind of linen duster, a
wooden muller around his neck and re-
markedly red nose He carries with him
portable tripod or stand and weather beaten
gripsaCk which he unfolds and erects at a
spot near Canal street, where there is always
a great throng of passersby. He chances
around to see that no hated "copper" is in
sight, and then he is ready for gudgeons.
His game is a modification of the three card
/ trick or a still further illustration Of the de-
gree to which the now you see it, now you
doTft act, may be carried. He has q hole
about two inches square cut in the partition
dividing in two compartments of the grip
sack, and in the outer partition are four or
five small pasteboard boxes, something like
those made to hold cigarettes.
He picks up one Of the boxes, and, pulling
out its drawer, shows therein five dollar
bin. Then he announces to the crowd which
gathers so easily on the Bowery that he will
allow anybody to draw that box who can dc
so by paying 81 for the privilege. The crowd
is not DESTROYS to try, when suddenly tough
young man wearing pea jacket ornamented
with great mock pearl buttons, says he will
try. He puts down a dollar, draws a box
and lOl ii is the one containing the bill
HE TRIES IT AGAIN.
Ee invests another dollar, draws again, and
again he is successful The red nosed man
expresses his disapproval of his i'll luck, but
announces that somebody must win. The
young man with the pea jacket says he will
not try again, as he is IS in pocket and is
happy, and he disappears from the scene. By
this time several men want to try their hands
| % the drawing-it looks 50 simple! The first
one draws and finds his box contains cake
of soap. He tries again, with like result
Nothing daunted he slaps down another dol
lar for a chance, but fails to get the box with
the bill
OF course that particular box is always
dropped sldlfullv through the little slot in
| the partition. Then other observers try their
luck, but the result is always the same-they
come out losers. When the crowd is pretty
well worked the red nosed man gazes down
the street and cries with a start, ''Here's a
cop" and suddenly bundling up his traps he
disappears down Canal street. OF course
there is no cop" in sight, and if any person
should follow the red uOsed man he viii find
him IN company with the young man with
the pea jacket in a saloon block away,
drinking milk punches while chuckling over
their luck.
The most euterprising and elaborate Of all
petty syvinlles Is the Struggled shawl busi-
ness. This IS really an artistic little idea,
and the man who practices it deserves to be
called Napoleon Of finance in his way. He
dresses in o uniform similar to that worn by
stewards on first class ocean steamships. His
story never fail. TO make the desired impress
sion on his victims.
lie goes around IN tenement houses during
the day while the lords Of creation are al
work and he carries a parcel which he de
clares contains a shawl of rare value which
has been Struggled from France or Timbuc-
too or some place far away. Sometimes ii
Is silk he offers, but his makeup and the
plausible story he tells usually get him pur-
chaser. In this way the guileless housewife
buys a shawl for $50 which the rascal gets
wholesale on Catharine street for SO G
dozen. To this class of swindlers belongs the
alleged sailor one meets so frequently along
the river front who sells struggled" cigars
at s. per box of 100 which he purchased OF
Park row at a cent apiece or less-Nev