Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-11-26

In the circus business your snare is
known as the grafters bit. l hope
have made myself sufficiently plain,
and I am Of the opinion that after l get
In that wagon and give you a few les
sons you will think its a whole lot
easier snap to wait for people to come
up and give you money than u IS to go
cut and chase after It,
The next day I took my first lesson
n selling circus tickets with Mac as my
tutor. Before the crowd began TO gath
er he gave me some pointers.
See that thin, smooth slat fastened
to the board you slide out change on
he said. That Stat looks to be about as
useful as q nose on the back of mans
head, don't It? Well, that little slat is
the greatest money maker in the show
business; but you can't use it until you
get pretty proficient It don't look very
thick. but it's just thick enough to stop
q dime or a quarter If you slide the coin
I'D against il. Now, suppose some con-
fding sucker passes you in dollar for
two tickets. and he don't look like he
would make much Of a hOller If you
held out on him. You slide the change
back TO him in such way that he Will
instinctively put his hand under the
window 10 keep from allowing any Of the
coin from splitting out on the ground.
This detracts HIS attention from the
change transaction for a second, and in
shat time you slide just as many dimes
as YOU can up against the Stat. We
call II a strainer.' and he gets what
comes out. Whenever you turn a guy
that way you simply remark, step
lively. please and one of the canvasmen
who will be standing convenient for Tnat
Dudpose. will give the jay q jos,ie and
mt him so far away from the wagon
that he won't have time to come back
before YOU forget him, and can honestly
say that Il was your belief that ne
dropped the money out OF his hand. see!
If a guy IS sucker enough to hand in
So bill, sort change MIN 20 a fare you
well. Make the change In small money,
drop It in his hand in a bunch, and
saw. for the information of the canvas
mans cue to crowd and you can gamble
vOur gold he'll crowd that RUDE so he
won't have chance 70 count his money
until he gets In the tent. BE careful or
old guys. but young dudes are real pud-
din's. especially # they've got a girl
with EN-. Whenever You see resA
Young country sport with his baby IN
tow come up and fash his coin take II
away from him, # You have TO jump out
of the wagon.
He will lose his right eye before he
will admit IN the presence Of the fairy
that he is mark enough TO lose his
money az O. circus. Now, with these
few Instructions and what you can PICK
up yourself think you can make sand
wlch money anyhow"
Inside of a week was the coolest
blooded daylight robber N the business,
and at night my work was marvellous.
I could beat anybody but Mac. l tried
70 short change him several times, and
he let Il go through. Then he skinned
NE so bad the next day that l felt as
though I had been working for moth
ing.
"Well. I went on and on in my gentle
way. coping the dimes OF the rural
population and letting Mac save them
for me until along toward the end OF thu
season. when the advance agent took
sick and Mac sent me on ahead to take
his place. He gave me barely enough to-
nav my expenses to three towns that
would lump me about 500 miles away
from the show, saying he would send
me some more as soon as 1 needed It..
I wanted my money l had made in
the ticket wagon, but he wouldn't give
it to me. He said he was afraid l would
lose 1t.
"By the time I hit the third town I
needed money and l wired Mac for some
to the town where ne ought to be &C
cording to the way l had billed the
show. He wasn't there. A few days
later I got a letter from the boss candy
butcher. Saltzmann, saying that Mac
had changed his mind about going so far
West On the very day left and had alscI
changed his route. The circus had
made kangaroo jump Of about a
thousand miles directly opposite to the
way l had supposed It was going, and
I was stranded in a strange town, with
no friend on the face Of the earth that
1 could appeal to. 1t took me many
weary days to get home because 1t was
the first time had ever been out broke.
I had to 90 by a roundabout route to
avoid the towns the show had played
in.
"It was two years before I saw Mac.
I asked him for my money and he re
called to mind the advice he had given
me the day he was teaching me to sell
tickets. He cody refused to give me
my hard-earned wealth, and l couldn't
get II by suing him, because all his prop
erty was IN his wife's name and he had
sold the show. All l got out OF him
was the information chat I was all right
enough. Martin Green in St. Louis
Republc.