The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-08-10
SNORT enansE" men.

"saoar enaneE' Men.
The Revelations Of = Travelling Cirsu
FAkir.
Nearly everybody knows more o
less about all the attendant featurel
of a circns-the side show, the hors,
tent, the cooking tent, the dressing
room, the red-lemonade man, anc
the peanut fiend. But not many
people, even among the foxy old
timers who have patronized circuses
for forty years, know anything abou,
the "short change man." His vic
TINS are many, but they prefer not
to trumpet their fsh-like quality
from the house-tops. They swallow
their chagrin and keep silent, while
they economic in a number of ways
to get even on the money that the
"short change man" has taken.
A number of years ago I ran
across one Of the most accomplished
short-change workers in the country
and got we'll acquainted with him.
He didn't suspect me of being a
newspaper man, and in the three
months that / knew him I didn't
enlighten him. He grew very con-
fidential and chatty and gave way
to me the innermost secrets of
his craft. He was little, slim
fellow, of Irish extraction, and
as bright and as sharp as a new
needle. He had a way. of fitting
his head back and looking at folks
with half-closed eyes, while he
smiled slightly that was clever
enough to make great hit in a
dramatic creation. It was perfectly
fetching, but the fine contempt it
had for the suckers" whom his
kind bled and the way he had of
speaking of them was much more
SO. It was winter time when Iknew
him and he was resting until the
season opened up. l approached
him a dozen times to get him to
tell me all about the short-change
act before he came pliable. He
would take a coin and palm it as
clever as Mr.. Hermann and laugh
and turn away. But one evening
he opened his heart to me.
l had been talking about the
telegraph" method of making
short change, and he spoke up and
said quite scornfully:
"That's no good! There's no
money in that. You can only get
fifty cents or one dollar out of that.
There's lots of ways that are strong
er than that ~
/ asked him what they were.
"Well," he said, taking a roll of
small bills, mostly ones and twos,
out of his pocket, "they're worked
this way: You do it with the long
green" :
Hesmoothed the bills out straight
and caressed them affectionately.
"Ahl When these new ones were
first issued" he said, "the boys
worked all the banks in the country
for them. They were the best graft
the boys ever struck. You see they
look just like a five or ten if you
don't show the figure. Well, thisis
the way the boys take the money
away from the suckers You've no
ticed lot of hustlers in the crowd
selling tickets and saving people
the trouble of getting in the jam at
the ticket wagon, haven't you?
Well, you naturally think they are
hired by the proprietor of the chow
because they sell tickets at the reg
llar price. But they are not. They
pay 100 cents on the dollar for every
ticket they sell, and they depend on
heir ability to swindle the buyers
out of few dollars now and then
'or their profit.
"a young man with his best girl
comes along-or an old man alone,
>r a solid business man with two or
hree of his family; it doesn't mat
er who it is, they're all victims
md he sees a great crush around
he ticket wagon. There isn't much
nance of getting a ticket there in
ess than ten minutes, and here at
lis elbow is a young man with
Choice reserved seats at regular
prices How many? We're here
o relieve the rush at the wagon
70 extra charge, sir !! How manyT
nd he says Two, please which,
ssuming that the man buys re-
erves, would be 81. He gives the
'oung man q $40 bill or may be a
there's any place on earth
ghere man will fash big bill,
nd where he hadn't ought to, it's a
ircus. We'll say he offers him a
20 bill this time for the sake of the
etter illustration Of the story. The
oung man takes it, puts it in his
,ocket, draws out a handful of bills,
axes a ten, two, and five ons, and
IL A. 1,, - %ho h,,,,or nfI