The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-01-23
4 FAKIR CONFESSES,
Fortunes in Prize Packages for
Those who Sell Them.
COLORED WATER FOR MEDICINE.
A Glib Tongue Will Sell Anyth1ng-Pro
Made-Sometimes Taking is Pretty
Hard Work.

A man stood in buggy selling prize
packages by the blaze of huge paraffi1
lamp. He wore frock coat, shiny silk
hat, clean linen, a benevolent smile and
half dozen badges.
I've been taking for twenty years." he
confided to a reporter after he had replaced
| prize packages with $45 and thrust it into
his inside pocket.
I've travelled the country from Maine
to California" he continued, "and know
every city, town and village where there's
dollar. [ either get permit or a license
at each place, and so I'm known to all the
mayors and chiefs of police from Florida
to Oregon. Pm 40 years old, and have been
street man just half my life
mo, it don't matter what fakir has to
sell, he'll sell tiff he only knows how It's
the gift of the CAB, solid front, nerve and
Judgment that succeed, and the goods have
nothing to do with it. To be successful
you must be grammatical, newsy and brief.
1t man will only wait until get through
talking I'll have his quarter If he goes
home he misses my breezy conversation and
his wife gets the money-mine does when I
go home, know
In prohibition states l advocate free
license. and in Chicago nigh, license for sa-
looms. If strike town where there has
recently been an elopement tell them an
elopement story and get 'em laughing. If
it's pious town I look austere, tell sober,
pathetic stories and stealthily wink at the
policeman, who usually goes away, and
chokes. If the town is Democratic | talk
GpVnOprQpN or
the principles of the G. o. P. ana nod to
the Democratic coroner.
HOW HE WORKS
Some audiences l have to work with a
carriage and pair and with a colored driver.
An hour later, in the same town, l am sell
ing to different crowd, mounted on a soap
box, with soft felt hat, blue flannel
shirt and overalls. / sell the same goods to
both crowds, but out of the carriage | get
a quarter and off the soap box | only get a
dime. However, | clear as much money in
an hour from one crowd as from another
as the stuff / sell does not cost me over
three cents, and if / sell 100 boxes at ten
cents and fifty at twenty-five l have done
well, even after paying for the carriage,
which costs, say 50 in small town. /
handle almost everything, but medicines
pay best. was once in town with a big
stock of jewelry and could not work it off.
II thought if l only had some medicine
to sell | might pay the hotel bill went
out skirmishing and found a sawmill
where they cut up good deal of mahoga-
ny and some ebony. l got a paper bagful
OF the dark sawdust and soaked it all
night at the hotel. We had a beautiful
medicine next day, and my wife bottled it
while went to the printers and had some
labels struck off. Each bottle was the size
of your little finger, and cost thirty cents
gross, the labels cost fifty cents and the
sawdust nothing sold 50 worth at noon
at twenty-five cents bottle, and that
night took in S37 in cold cash. PEOPLE
who felt all kinds of things at noon had
gone home. taken some, felt better and
recommended it. See!
START.
81 commenced on bird whistles on the
street. They cost me So per thousand, as
made them myself, and l whistled like
Mrs. Shaw, so l readily sold one for n quar-
ter, although now you may buy them any
where for one cent each.
After that 1 sold cheap jewelry-six
pieces for a quarter, including brooch, ear
rings, finger rings and scarfpin. Twenty
cents profit on each sale! Later I sold steel
pens, buying ten gross lots and carving
with me samples of pens in their different
stages of manufacture After that I sold
twenty-five cent packages of stationery.
These packages contained six sheets of
note paper, six envelopes, three Faber
steamboat pencils, one of which had
rubber top, six pens (brass), a nickel pen
holder, pair of cuff buttons, one collar
button, two finger rings, one gilt chain,
one key ring, six magic parlor tricks on
pasteboard, box of backing, a bottle of
ink and bottle of mucilage, with brush.
On this twenty-five cent package | realized
nine cents profit, and sold the boxes as fast
as L could hand out the goods and make
the change
Notwithstanding the fact that / often
cleared $50 a day l wanted to sell some
thing that was all profit. One day in
Sarnia | saw a fakir in carriage who
talked to the people about the anatomy of
the hands and feet and offered his salve
and Hniment as cure for every ailment.
from compound fracture of the ankle to
corns and chilblains In good weather
travel with a gypsy wagon. NV wife
cornet when not playing parlor organ
GETTING A CROWD.
In order to get my audience interested
1 take common newspaper, and while
folding and tearing it into Jacobs ladders
! give them history of paper, showing
how it is made and telling how useful it is.
from wrapping a red herring to bearing
the death warrant of q criminal, the will
of deceased person, the check of the mill
lonalre or marriage certificate. Then I
give them statistics. After this take this
piece of stiff yellow paper which my wife
cut out and juggle with it. I can turn it
into over hundred different shapes. in
Guiding poke bonnet, Partisan hat. a
coal bod, bread basket, flower vase. a
card receiver, cruet stand and a cradle.
All this catches the crowd
Then throw the paper down and turn
the joint, which is fakir for opening the
sale. l must have eyes, ears and mouth
open at the same time. My wits must be
alert so that if somebody in the crowd
makes remark calculated to hurt nv
sale or make fun of me I can reply as
quickly as a flash with something that
turns the laugh on him He sneaks away
and my smiling but sarcastic reply brings \
out a deluge of quarters from those who
have heard the colloquy
UNLESS you have sold medicines YOU
would never believe what lot of ailments
people have. Some of them never suspect
it themselves until they have heard me
talk. In an hour in some places | take in
$40 or s25, and as it is mostly profit and
am no hog 1 close my sales for the day. l
have dollar to spend and dollar to lend
and the latchstring hangs out to my
friends and my wife's relatives.-New York
World.
Dicks Tender Heart.
mig belonpinp to Dick Walker of