The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-03
THE auLLIeLE RAoEeoER.
He Submits to Being Swipdled or
Every Hand.
From he New York Sun

One of the most notorious swindlers il
this country once said that New Workers
were the most provincial people in tn,
world, and that it was easier to separate
a Gothamite from his money than t.
swindle a farmer out of a cent. How
true this may be is question, but one
thing is certain, and that is that ten
New Workers, if not more, fall victims to
confidence men TO every one Out-Of-
towner. The crowds that frequent a race
track are naturally supposed to be com
posed of shrewd men, yet there is not a
class of people in the country to-day who
are victimiled so often and repeatedly.
and yet submit without a word, as a lot
of race track people
Every one takes turn at bunkOing the
racegOer. and trip to any of the tracks
with a crowd of hOrSemen will furnish
the best veritication in the world of the
swindler's statement. In the first place
as soon as a race track opens its meeting
all of the railroads which connect with ii
immediately raise the price of tickets.
Where it usually costs but 40 cents to 90
10 and from COney Island, ii now costs %
cents for an excursion ticket to Graves
end, which is only about two-thirds of the
way down. COney Island visitors can
still get tickets at the old rate, but if a
man happens to be going to the race track
! he must pay extra money. On the little
elevated road which runs from Weehaw-
ken to the Guttenburg race track the fare
all the year round is but cents When
the race track was open, however, it cost
10 cents to get to the track, unless you
happened to be one of the natives, and
then by explaining to the ticket seller
Just who you were you could obtain pass
age 1t the regular rate.
Then, again, the admission to a race
track is eXorbitant. 1t has been shown
that with free admissions the associa-
tions can still make a tremendous amount
of money, yet they charge S1.5O for
badges and without paying that much
one can not get inside the grounds. Once
in, everybody takes turn at the poor
speculatOr. At every upump and water
faucet on the grounds or in the buildings
there is man who insists on drawing
water for you, and then calls your atUen-
ton to a cigar box with a slit in it which
is suspended near by. In the toilet
| rooms it is case of Tip half a
dozen people to get abused like
rufian, while in the matter OF
meals the prices are simply
fabulous What money a man has left
altar running this gauntlet the book
makers get, nine times out of ten. and
all in all, the average man is a decidedly
dlSconsolate individual when the last
race is run and in his haste to get home
he jumps into a parlor car. only to find
that there is not seat left in it, and ther
is obliged to pay % cents for the privilege
of standing up where he might have had
seat and saved the money by taking an
ordinary passage All OF these facts &c
TO show what easy victims men are who
belong to a class which is supposed to be
exceedingly shrewd.
But these swindles are mild compared
with the games that are run on the Bay
Ridge ferryb boat which carries the racing
the train at Bay Ridge. This trip con
sumes about half an hour and gives The
gang of swindlers who infest the boat
ample time in which 10 hook a few vic
Tins. 1t will be hard for a great many
people to believe it, but the game worked
on this boat successfully is the old
thread bare, timeworn shell game. The
same old gang of bleriggers who
used to catch drunken sailors and soldiers
and fresh young clerks on the Bowery
have had the temerity to carry their
game right into crowd of gamblers, and
Judging from what Sun reporter saw
the other day, they are meeting with
marvellous success Every one knows the
old shell game, yet there seems TO be a
fascination about it which men cannot re
sist.
gents; pick out the little ball" the prin-
cipal shell man came walking across the
cabin manipulating the shells on a little
clOth-cOvered board, which was sus-
pended by a string around his neck, and
followed by three or four cappers, who
were betting and winning great stacks OF
bills. 1t was five minutes before the first
victim came TO the front. He leaped from
his seat as the shell man passed him, and
CHI
said: TN bet you IS it's under there"
Take YER" said the swindler; get uI
yer money"
The young man took his hand off the
shell for a second to pull a s. bill from a
big roll that he had with him. and in that
second the shell man, with a lightning
like movement, had changed the position
of the shells. OF course the young man
lost He seemed surprised and sat down,
while the rest Of the people in the cabin
burst out laughing,
Out upon the deck went the swindlers,
the cappers betting and winning, and oc-
casiOnally an outsider stepping in and
losing a dollar or so. Finally, in the
other cabin the gang struck just the sort
of snap they wanted. 1t was a half
dozen young men of the Jimmy Fresh or
der, and when one of them stepped up to
bet, the swindlers located right there and
let the young man win his first bet, which
was for 81. The next bet was So and
amid shouts of glee from his friends the
young man picked out the correct shell
Then he bet s. and lost and in his excite
ment bet 80 to get square, and lost that.
Somehow or other he couldn't get the
right shell. In the meantime the cappers
were betting and winning, and the young
man looked on as though he couldn't quite
understand it all One by one the other
young men stepped up. and each one of
them lost from 81 to SIS before the swim
dlers made up their minds it was time to
60
On the boat there were about 500 people
and at least fifty OF them bit at the game
before the boat reached Bay Ridge. Over
half of them were men who have fire.
quented the track for years, and to see
them deliberately swlndleu was amusing.
When the passengers had disembarked
the swindlers stayed on board and went
back to New York to work the next boat
load. For the first four days of the
| Grayesend meeting these were worked
| without interference, but on Saturday the
police got at them and refused to permit
them to play any longer, much TO the in
dignation of nun Der of misguided PEG
pie who were under the impression that
they could beat the game and wanted tc
bet their money where they hadn't a
chance on earth Of winning.
mo, MISS Danks, have never crossed the
ocean. have a great dread Of the water"
Dear me / didn't suppose YOU felt that