The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-10-10

appearing lOT CtdTlty. "A lew o
them attempt to sing, but they soor
realize that it is too much to ask O
mankind to listen to their singing
and then give them money.
To do this trick successfully fol
any length of time is very etrainin(
on the eyes. and may result in gen
uine blindness. But some OF them
have practiced it until it is impos
sible to discover by looking at them
that they are not really blind. One
of the most successful of these bo
gus blind men is a young fellow who
works along Sixth avenue in the
vicity of Twenty-third street. His
outfit consists Of a long walking.
stick and small tin can. He tries
to sing when business is dull, and his
repertoire consists of "Comrades'
and ''Where Is My Wandering Boy
Tonight
One evening he was standing al
a prominent Sixth avenue corner
singing Where Is My Wandering
Boy" when a stranger approached
with a coin in his hand. A newsboy
who was standing near and who was
on to the beggar's trick, suddenly
rushed at him and made q motion
as if to snatch the tin cup.
Look out there! What are you
doin'? I'll swipe We in de jaw if ye
don't 60 long. Don't yer see de
gents goin' to give me quarter?''
The "gent" had seen and heard,
and he concluded that if a man was
blind it was the most wonderful
piece of mind reading that he had
ever witnessed. But he passed on
without giving the quarter.
l met an old man one day who
works on Lower Broadway and
about the City Hall park during
the day, and in the vicinity Of Mad.
ison Square at night. He has been
in the business ten years and is up
to all the tricks of his trade. In con.
sideration OF liberal contribution,
he consented to talk about the bust
ness of professional gambling. The
old man would not speak of his
life before he became beggar, but
he used good language and it was
evident he had seen better days.
"This business is overdone," he
said. There are too many beggars
now, and SO many Of them are fresh
and get caught at their tricks that
folks are getting suspicious of all of
US. We suffer from this suspicion
more than you suspect. Some geo
pie don't give anything any more,
and those who are not sure they are
being swindled now give a penny
where they formerly gave dimes and
quarters. I do not earn half the
money l did five years ago."
what particular tale of woe do
you find most productive of sub
stantial result?" | asked.
Il do not confine myself to one
story. The old chestnut Of sickness
and being out of work for six months
with a wife and five children to sup
port, do not work now, except on
country people who have never been
to the city before. Folks want some
thing new nowadays, even in tale
of povery and suffering. l often lie
awake nights trying to think of
some new story of suffering to tell.
l never tell the same tale the second
time unless happen to forget his
face. / have a score of good stories
that l have used successfully, and
am constantly thinking up new
ones. The best one l have tried in a
long time is my grasshopper story.
I was reading in a paper one day
about the grasshoppers eating up
the crops out in Kansas. | got
cue from that, and for a week told
a pitiful story of the grasshopper
plague. My crop in Kansas had
been destroyed by the insects, but
they did not stop at that. They
ate my cabin and fences and only
a stretch of barren plain was left
where my farm had been. They bit
one of my seven children SO badly
that it died of blood poison. l had
started back to my old home in
Maine with my little family and by
begging our way from place to place
we had finally reached this city and
now needed only a few dollars more
TO pay our way back to the Pine
Tree State where grasshoppers are
unknown.
This tale was absolutely new here
in the city and for a week it brought
me an average of five dollars a day.
Another good gag for a time, but
it's played out now, was that had
gone to Chicago to work on the
Worlds Fair buildings, but when |
got there l found that only foreign
ers were employed at starvation
wages and / was trying to make my
way back to my dear old home in
Boston. I made some money out
Of this while the jealousy against
Chicago on account Of the fair and
The recent census was at its height,
but the tale don't 60 now. When
strike western man | can most
always fetch him with tale of be-