People's voice., 1896-05-21

| hec0fuer In spite
OF police reform and Lexow committees
New York city is still their head
quarters and general redezvous. and
they are at present engaged in organiz-
Ing and laying out their routes for the
coming summers campaign. From
New York they will start out on regu-
lar circuits all over the east, working
the various fairs and gatherings from
Maine TO Florida. But they are sure
to get back to New York two or three
times year, and invariably come here
to squander their gains. Most persons
who have attended county fairs and
suburban race meetings nave seen the
sharp-eyed swindlers at work. The
rascals are by no means numerous
and except for a few free lance"
operators are organized under one
mans leadership, with their head
quarters in this city.
The life OF a thimble- -rigger is full
OF the mysterious. He appears and
disappears and no man knows when or
where to find him. No commercial
traveller knows his way about better
than the thimble-rigger. Sometimes he
is in hard luck, sleeping no one know.
where, haunting saloons in miserable
attire and eking out existence by bor-
rowing from his friends or standing
in with some infatuated girl.
Then, perhaps, We meet him at tbs
extreme end Of Long Island working"
q country fair. He lives ut the best
hotel in town, wears huge diamonds
buys champagne at the bar and drives
around in the best rigs the local
liveries can supply.
He is the envy of the countrymer
and knows all the minor fair officials
in fact, he has "staked" them for the
privilege of working" the fair, and
has free rein for ev!l-doing. He nod:
to the farmers and fatters them whil'
he takes their money. Before the fail
closes he has disappeared.
And so he travels from one fair tC
another and when he has gone tho
shopkeepers compare notes and coun
up their losses. They swear vengeance
against him and are swildled in pre-
cisely the same manner the follOEins
season.
When the Long Island fairs elost
the sure thing man" suddenly bobI
up in New York. But he doesn't Dc
any borrowing now. We find him o.
an evening at swell resorts, buying
wine and game for a young woman
who wears silks and diamonds, OF
swinging costly cane on The afternoon
promenade in upper Broadway.
Soon he is in Rhode Island, at tbs
sg Providence fair A few days later
- turns up in Connecticut. He goes
tie rounds Of the Nutmeg state fairs
Sr1 reaps a rich harvest. Next he i:
seen in Vermont, or even as far north
as Ontario, and anon he appears in
Delaware and Virginia.
About this season Of the year he
carries hundred dollar bills in every
vest pocket and is very apt to run into
Nsw York in order to get rid of some
OF his money. He spends a good deal
on his girl, but the largest part eventu.
ally finds its way into the pockets oil
the faro dealer, the roulette twirler
anG the crap man, for your thimble-
rigger is a born gambler.
lie is known as "3ure-thing man.
ba:ause thimble-riggers are nor really
gvInblers. They take no chances and
s,tAer win or don't win. They never
lSse. 1t is all a matter of sleight OF
band, and the so-called pea is never
wider any Of the shells when the farm
S. lays down his money, but is deftly
Geld between the third and little
6ngers of the operators hand.
While these "sure-thing men" con-
fentrate their main efforts upon the
shell game" they are not averse to
utilizing other more showy apparatus
with the same Interior object in view.
Among these may be cited the shut
fleboard, the black-and-white, the three
dials and the drop case.
The latter Layout" is somewhat
new and brief description may prove
interesting. 1t is shaped something
like beehive, with a little hole in the
apex, and board below divided into
compartments, some Of which are black
and others marked with odds of from
2 to l up to 75 to 1.
The idea is to drop a marble into the
hole on top, at the same time placing
stake upon the table.
II the ball should chance TO 20 into
one Of the very few blank compart-
ments the player loses. Il it drops into
one of the others he doubles his stake
as many times as are indicated by the
odds marked. At first sight the chances
seem to be almost all with the player,
but as 4 matter of fact it is only another
sure thing" for the operator.
A simple mechanical device with the
"behive" directs the marble into eithe.
the blanks or the winning ccmpart-
ment, according to the button that the
operator secretly pushes.
By allowing the "cappers" to win
largely the spectators are kept on the