San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-08-26
FAKIRS ON THE STREET.
SOME OF THE SCHEMES TO CATCH
THE PEOPLES MONEY.
Wonderful Performances of the Man Who
Sells "GoId" Pens-A Razor That Will
Cut Wood, Tin or Hair-A Telescope Man.
Revenue of Hand Organ.


Only five cents. 1t beats any other gold
pen ever made or ever will be made. I'll
show you. Here, one of you gentlemen select
pen-any one on this big dishful OF them.
Now, see me write with it."
Scratch, scratch, ON a sheet of white paper.
"You see this pen makes broad strokes as
well as fine ones-it Is the boss pen. Talk
about fountain pens-why, this one beats all
of them hollow. 1t is the finest pen ever
made, only five cents. You go into State
street store and you'll have to pay from
dollar and half to three dollars for a pen
that isn't half as good as this one. No, sir!
You try it, that's all | want And now
watch mel You see, stick this pen into the
wood with all my strength" And he did
stick it into his little table, so that the pen
and holder quivered and trembled Then he
pulled it out "And now I'll try it again.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, this
pen won't stand in the way of abuse. You
see stamp on it with my No. II shoe. Just
as good as ever. Notice that hair stroke!
Did you ever see anything to beat its You
never did You never will This is the boss
pen, gentlemen, only five cents"
And then the fakir showed his 'silver" pen
cils-only a nickel. He made further expert
ments with his gold" pen, which seemed to
really stand any amount of abuse. But the
crowd around him wasn't much on the literary
line None of them bought pen. 1t was
crowd made up of wicked young darkies, of
frowsy women and begrimed children, and
probably few of them knew how TO write at
all.
WONDERFUL ELECTRIC EMERY"
This particular fakir stood at the intersec-
ton of Fourth avenue and Van Buren, street,
and there were six or seven competitors of
his to the right and to the left of him. Some
of them were, however, doing rushing trade.
The weather was fine and hundreds of people
passed 20 and fro There was the razor man,
for instance He had only one razor in his
stock 1t was an extraordinary razor. Any
other razor would have given up the ghost
and split if subjected to half the hard usage
this one was The fakir had little case rest
ing on sort of adjustable tripod, and in that
case he kept his wares. They consisted of
tiny boxes filed with electric emery"
He had also sheets of tin and big block
of wood. He chopped away at the block and
he sliced off long shavings of tin with that re-
markable razor of his, just as if he were cut
ting soft butter, without any effort. What
this razor was made of goodness only knows.
1t couldn't be made of steel, for in that Case
it would have broken into fragments. What
ever it was made of, it was very phenix
among razors. The fakir was very glib of
tongue, and looked as if he would just as soon
cut somebody's throat with his razor for a
living as to try and sell his electric emery"
He pulled out little box of it, put speck of
the greasy brown stuff on his razor, and then
he whetted his knife on a common BARRIERS
strop. After that he seized boys arm and
shaved off the hair on it, He chopped off
chunk after chunk from his block of wood.
He jagged the tin sheet in the most desperate
manner and then he seized that boys arm
once more and cut off more hair The razor
was just as sound and sharp as ever Won
derful razor
"Instead of going to the BARRIERS to get
hone he screamed, you buy a box of cleo
trio emery-the wonder of the age, my own
invention, for which | was offered $4,000
cash down, copyright secured and refused
and then you are fixed for life time. It's
only ten cents box or three for quarter
Cheap as dirt, and it can't be beat. Why,
gentlemen, I've had offers from the sultan of
Turkey. But despotism is mine, not mind.
It's true only earn about $50 a day, but |
prefer poverty and freedom to riches and
slavery"
GIVE me a box of it," said a seedy looking
elderly man, who carried a small sachel and
a steel watch chain 1T will sharpen razor,
as sure's you're born. | used to go to the
BARRIERS, but find this to he the boss stuff
| wish you'd tell me how To make it..
"Thatll cost you 500 and a written guar
antee that you won't divulge the secret to
anybody else.
Cant you make it a bit cheaper I'll
give you $50, cash down"
Couldn't think of it, Hundred dollars or
nothing"
So the elderly man with the sachel paid his
10 cents for small box and meandered off
He didn't go far, though He stopped at the
nearest corner. and from that coigne of van
taGe he eyed the crowd, and as he two min
utes later spied another man that looked like
a sucker" he wandered past the stand once
more and bought another box, saying he
couldn't get along without it, and would be
glad to pay five times the price if he couldn't
get the stuff any cheaper
A blind mendicant young and we'll dressed,
a dark mulattO, sat on the opposite corner.
He had before him an organ. 1t was an au-
tomato one, and on top of it was a slot and a
bell A tin sign read Il am blind and need
your help, kind stranger" Another sign read
drop a nickel in the slot and see it regis
tered" Somebody did drop nickel in the
slot Immediately the organ played tune
and the register marked. 1t showed that
within one hour and thirty-fve minutes the
young darby had taken In Sll
At this juncture a man with thing he
called a ''cammery obscury" came on. He
promised to show the sun, the moon, the plan
cts the stars and the tMhola solar and stellar