The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-05-31
CHANGE At A CIRCUS TICKET OFFICE.
Some of the Ways In Which Ticket Sellers
are Able to Pay for Their Jobs.

are Able to Pay for Their Jobs.
about a year ago." said = veteran
of the ring, II was with q circus
travelling through the West A more
aren't set of thieves have never seen
than those with this show. They were
all swindlers. and they seemed to be
glad of it.
ITO begin, one fellow paid $50
month for the privilege of selling
tickets For the privilege, mind you,
and as he had to pay his own expenses
he had to steal $50 from the pnblic be-
fore he commenced to make any money.
He had to make good many mistakes
in order to come out even, but he al
ways managed to be from two to three
hundred dollars ahead at the end OF
each month. The amount depended
on the amount of business done by the
show, for it is hard to make very many
profitable mistakes except in rush.
The great London Shew was small
affair and stayed from two days to q
week in place, and charged 10 cents
for admission. You see it is a great
deal harder to make change for 1O-cent
tickets than for tickets selling for 20
and so cents. In the latter case the
ticket seller never has to hand back
more than two coins when changing
dollar or less, while in the former he
has to hand from two to four CONS
back, and not SO many people offer the
exact change. This particular ticket
seller was what the proprietor of the
circus called chain lightning. He was
a smart fellow, and he was aware OF 1t.
He would sit in the ticket wagon and
when there was a rush he would make
errors with precision and to such pur-
pose that no one handing him over 80
cents would get the proper amount OF
change. Most of the people who were
swindlcd did not notice the difference.
Some of them who did notice it would
not create a row for small amount in
such crowd. But some of them would
kick, and In that case they would re-
ceive the proper change, accompanied
by such hearty smile and apology that
they could not feel aggrieved at
the attempt to cheat them.
Whenever a guy kicks up rum
pus,' he would say, ! allus gives him
the right change, and pertends it was
all mistake. and that there never was
a straighter man than me. Thet is
tker best way ter treat ther bloke, fur
if yer tries ter argue and bluff him he
will raise such song and dance thet
every blamed guy in ther lot will tum'
be ter yer game. and will watch to see
if yer tries to hold out anything. SeeP
but the easest victims were young
fellows who had girls along. As the
ticket seller put it, They are just pie
you take young fellow with girl on
each arm and gloves on his hands and
he is lamb that circus man regards
as bounden duty to fleece, and he per-
forms that duty cheerfully. The poor
fellow is anxious to appear In the best
light before the girls, and when he gets
his ticket he presents ten or twenty
dollar bill
Thirty cents from twenty says
the seller, There is your tickets and
here is your change and nineteen
dollars and seventy cents is carefully
counted from one of the Snowman S
hands to the other and back again. i
believe that is all right he says, as he
counts it the second time. 1t is all
right, and he pOurs the change into the
outstretched hand of the swan, who is
anxious to treat monentary matters Of
little importance, and he drops the sill
yer into his pocket. He goes on his
way rejoicing. and feeling that no cir
Gus man man can beat him. But the
ticket seller is satisfied as he is two
dollars ahead. having deity .palmed
that amount when he pretended to pour
what was the correct change into the
hand of the man with the girls.
Another bolder scheme is for a man
to mount box and begin selling con-
cert tickets at the close of the perform
ance. He sells tickets all right till
some one hands him a $40 bill to change.
There is always crowd as the people
are being hurried out so the concert
can begin, and the young fellow jumps
off the stool and disappears N the
crowd. In moment he has jerked of
false mustache and walks into the
dressing-room, where he changes his
clothes OF course the man who has
been swindled creates disturbance. but
that is all the good it does him. The
circus men are all too busy to listen to
him, and if he becomes too noisy some
burly canvasman will whip him. Of
course this game can be worked only
when there has been large attend
ance At such time, if no one pre-
sents bill to the fakir, he will induce
some one to do so by offering a
ticket for nothing if large bill is
offered, saying that the show does
not want so much silver, as it is
too inconvenient.
With the show / was with there was
one shrewd inancier who sold tickets
for the reserved seats. He had benevo-
lent look that would seem to indicate
him as nice victim for a confidence
man, but there were no insects per-
ceivable in his immediate neighbor-
hood. When we reached new town
he went to all the candy, cigar, and
toy stores, to the news stands, and the
Post Office and secured all of the nickel
three-cent pieces that he could, These
he would pass for dimes very rapidly,
especially at night and on old people
and children. Oh, yes, these fellows
would swindle five-year-old or cen
tenarian with equal delight. They
did not seem to have a particle OF honor
when penny was in consideration.
"Its der slickest lay in der hull biz
ness, this fellow remarked to me one
day. 'Dere is no danger NV bein'
pinched an dey allus goes ef yer puts
dem in der bloke's duke wild der tree
down ez easy ez sleepin' an wild der
most innocent look in der world.
white pennies would also play to
pass for nickels. but it seemed that