The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-09-08
FLIMTLAMMERs AND BUNc0ERs.
Four Of. the SkilIfuI but Unemployed
Artists Arrested.

Victimize One Man-These Fellows
| Should Skip Portland.
Yesterday afternoon at about twoso' clock,
| two young men, well dressed yet quite rough
| looking. entered Lords candy store, and
! one of them bought some candy, He had
$40 bill and handed it to Mr.. Fred Lord
| to pay for the half pound of candy that
| ne had bought. Mr.. Lord took the bill and
gave him the change. Then tie man wished
to have a ten dollar bill changed. Mr..
Lordssaid that he couldn't change it. Then
he said: s'Give me some change for a five.''
Mr.. Lord said that he would and proceeded
to.do so. but the mans handling of the bill
made.him suspicious and he realized that
the old trick of ''fiim-aam,', or tho mani
pulating of change SO as to get an extra
bill, was being tried upon him.
The game was up then and the fellows
got out as quickly as possible. Mr.. Lord
was congratulating himself upon his mar
row escape, when. he reflected that the fell,
lows might cheat somebody else and ought
to be arres ted.
He put on .his hat and followed them.
He saw them go into the United States
hoteband on his way down Congress stl Get
met Officer Jones. Tho latter applied to
she police station. Officers Quinn and Moore
were therein citizens clothes and immedi-
ately .started after the ''fiim-fam'' men
with Mr.. Lord.
\ The twos fellows had n come tout of the
hotel and came down Congress street, They
went into the park and sat down. They
couldn't be arrested then because they had
accomplished no crime, but the officers were
waiting to catch them in the act.
The two men finally took a car up Con-
gress street and the two officers and Mr..
Lord followed. One of the men went into
the grocery store of Edgar A. Whitney.
near the Kavanagh school. He soon came
out with al bag of coffee. Officer Quinn i'm
mediately slipped into the store and found
that Mr.. Whitney had just discovered that
he had been cheated out OF five dollars in
making change.
That was all that the officer wanted, and
he soon nabbed the fellow, while Moore
arrested the other.one 1t must have sur
prised Mr.. Whitney to have lost his money,
andshaveshad it rescued for him all in few
minutes. But for MIR. Lords thong htful-
ness fl others and determi nation in carry
ing it out, not only Mr.. Whitney, but others
might have suffered from these two men.
They gave their names at the police sta
tion as William Hennessy, the one who did
the operating, and Edward Ward. The for
mer claims he is Billy Hennessy the pugi-
list, the man who brought East the mysteri-
GUS Billy Smith. He was in Portland.
Oregon. two years ago and came from thore
to Boston. Ward claims to be citizen
of New York.
1.-THE BUNCOERS.n
Another couple of shady characters
tried toTget in sstheir work yesterday after
noon. A man, who has since given his
name as MCGEE, met on Franklin wharf
fisherman named Brinton Slower of Booth
bay. He slearns his name and home. and
then said that he was goingsto Boothbay,
that his goods were on the way down there
from Boston. andsthat also he was trans
porting the dead body of his sisters nus
band. He proved very pleasant compan-
ion, Mr.. Slower says. talked about the tar
if, fish, etc.
They were walking along when they smet
a.fIiend of .McGee's. He .was introduced
to Slower as the transportation agent, who
had charge of McGee's goods. Soon the
supposed agent developed pressing need
for. payment. Mr.. MCGEE produced check
for $3.50, as the only funds on his person.
Could Nh. Slower cash it? Mr.. Slower could
not. Gould he kindly accommodate Mr.. Nc
Gee with the money to pay the agents bill,
Mr.. Slower could not. He wasn't SO green
as all that. Moreover, he resolved to get
the men arrested if possible. He stayed
with them. and going to public house,
where they could find place to.themselves
they produced their shells and ball and
wanted Slower to s'play the game.'' But
he wouldn't and sleft them. Soon after
officers Ball and 4Cousens had the. two men
at the station.