The Topeka state journal., 1897-10-15
HAS HIS AGENTS AT EVERY COR
NER, ON EVERY STREET.
AGE IS NOT A LIMIT.
THE POLICE POWERLESS TO CON
TROL THE CARNIVAL OF
CRIME.
VISITORS ARE FLEECED.
BURGLARS MAKING RICH HAULS
FROM SIDE STREET HOUSES.

The fakirs own the town. All of the
street corners in the business portions
of the city have been farmed out to
operators of a series of fake games
calculated to rob the unsuspecting in a
manner which makes train robbing re-
spectacle and dignifies the profession
of highway robbery.
The reunion has brought thousands
of visitors to the city and the more or
less alluring bait spread by the skin
game operators is bringing a harvest of
gold to the street gamblers.
Probably the most notable hOld-up is
the continuous performance show at
the corner of Fourth and Delaware The
propr1etOrs have regular KlOndike in
this investment. 1t is very cheap,
snide imitation of the celebrated Lit
tie Egypt dance which proved so dis
aStrOuS to the leaders of the New York
four hundred. LeaVenWOrth society
leaders are not so easy, however, but
the list of victims from among the Wis
itOrS to the soldiers reunion runs up
into the hundreds. The show begins
with a dance by Little Egypt, "a dance
which is 1udicrous in the painful efforts
of the performer to give a twO-fOr-a-
nickle imitation of the dance made so
popular on the Midway Plaisance at
the Worlds fair. After the audience
has witnessed this alleged dance a lee
scene and see the hottest show on
earth" The ''srays'' bite at this game
and pay an additional 10 cents to the
original entrance fee to peep behind the
curtains. The curiosity-stricken are
led into a vacant room in the rear of
the stage and after being told not to
divulge what they saw are led into the
street. They see nothing but vacant
room and the grinning face of the lee
tUrer. The whole affair is indeed a de-
cidedly warm one, and is novelty, if
nothing more. Joe RosenthaI of Kan
sas City is running the show.
A gambling contingent from Kansas
City are in full operation in every va
cant room that can be secured. On
Delaware street between Fourth and
Fifth a lurid canvas informs the dear
public that the noted picture of Adam
and Eve" is to be seen on the inside.
The alluring sign for men only brings
the suckers.
Upon the inside is a fully equipped
gambling establishment faro, roulette
and the "OId soldiers game" of poker,
all find ready victims. AS a rule the old
vets cling close to their coin, but some
are induced to invest and the shekels
go across the table in a game where
the percentage is always against the
man from the rural districts.
In various of the other rooms gamb-
lerS may be found, running spindle
wheels, chuck-a-luck, heirOnOmous, haz-
ard and Gaping on the outside.
Stud poker and craps are also provid-
ed for, and as an old soldier or young
recruit drops into the room, he is greet
ed with Get in the old army game,
boys" All games are old army games
this week.
The game keepers are experiencing
some difficulty in avoiding being fieec-
ed themselves, as among the crowd are
large delegations of the most notOBous
short arm workers in the country.
This class of operators depend upon
their knowledge of gamblers signs and
tricks to beat the games, and several
have been successful.
During the reunion week the power to
license and permit institutions such as
the above to run is vested in the re-
union committee, the police commits
sioners delegating this to the members
of the reunion committee.
Out toward the fort and Camp Alger
the scene is one which would suggest
the Midway Plaisance, as it has all the
features of that far famed district.
Along the road leading to the grounds
the fal1irs are holding full sway, and,
as with the gamblers, every game ever
invented to rob the deluded victims is
in operation
The gang which is turning Leaven-
worth upside down this week is the
same one which has been driven out of
Kansas City and is trying to get foot
hold again.
Detective James Brady performed a
duty yesterday for which a young IA
year old girl, whose name for reasons
is withheld, will be thankful to him for
the remainder of her natural life.
This young girl was down town en-
loving herself as everyone on the street
by a soldier belonging to Company A.
goth infantry who, pretending to be ac-
quainted with her, requested that she
accompany him to the Soldiers Home
The innocent girl, seeing no harm in
such a proceeding, consented, and the
couple boarded a south bound electric
car. When the conductor came along
to collect fares, the soldier requested
him to stop the car at the first road
house. Detective Brady suspicioned
ln Mt NJ To AI,,ot