The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-23
BILL THE BUNK'S SLIP.
TWO YEARS OF HONESTY IN HIS
LIFE ARE ACCOUNTED FOR.

]
! From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
For two mortal years. in the prime
| OF his life, Bill the Bunk was out of the
/ swindling business" said Sidewalk Jack
! He was a disguised man. and he de-
| clared that so long as he lived he'd never
| follow circ1s or a country fair troupe
again He swore that all the suckers he
or anybody else had ever worked, put to-
| gether, wouldn't make half as big suck
er as he was. that he wasn't fit to talk 10
the humblest capper he had ever employ
ed, that he was the champion all-around
idiot of the universe. and that he'd be
dinged If he'd ever presume to play horse
with a countryman again; no, not if he
was starving.
Did you know BIZ the Bunk? No?
Well, you wouldn't be apt to by that
name. He was a Boston man and his
name was Johnson. He used TO be called
| Boston Bill, but he got to be known on
the fair circuit as Bill the Bunk. He was
a nervous little man, with a ierky way of
talking. He had eyes that took in every
thing and convincing way with him
that used to work havoc in country towns.
tie was really one of the best sharpers
that ever took to swindling as a trade He
piled up considerable fortune by his
operations, and although he was shot at
several times and once came near being
the central figure In a lynching bee never
quit his hazardous business until he made
the mistake that Disguised him and con-
verified him into private citizen for two
whole years
! was working for Bill then He had
a contract with a company of fair boom
| ers, allowing him the exclusive privilege
Tor games of chance on fair grounds
where they had charge The comnanv
USED 10 arrange with farmers of places
| about fifty miles apart for an annual fair
ne farmers supplied the grounds and
| most OF the exhibits. The company had a
| lot OF old plug race horses, a portable
merry -so-round, a shooting gallery. a
| Sldss-ploWmg outfit, few acrobats. and
| menaSerie of moth-eaten animals They
carried this from place to place, and ev-
! of the year
| Blu, the Bunk, had shell men three
card monte men and pocketbook men our
all over the grounds working the farmers
| Tor all they were worth. Bill, by the wav
was the inventor of the pocketboolx swim
! die. He had firm in Boston that used
70 turn out the pocketbooks for 10 cents
!
looked like fine leather They were gaudv
affairs with tin trimmings, which were
made to look like silver. About fftv of
these, packed tightly in box. like lot
1 OF envelopes, would constitute an outfit
Tor one operator. The crowd which con
gregated around the man with the box
would be Informed that two-thirds of the
pocket-books contained sums ranging
from so cents to $50. Ii was so cents or
VI a chance, according TO the apparent
prosperity of the crowd and, win or lose.
| the SPECTATOR could keep the pocketbook
Now, there wasn't cent in one Of
| these pocketbooks. but Bill had a great
scheme for Turing the suckers on. Al ev-
| cry place We struck he would so out and
corral some ten or fifteen of the natives.
! He would pay them 81 apiece TO keen
their mouths shut and do as they were
told. When they left Bill each one mad
| one of the pocketbooks, containing good
sized bill, in his pocket Their work was
TO distribute themselves i'm the crowds
around the pocketbook men and boom the
! business by purchasing chances After
making purchase they'd slide the pock-
etbook into a pocket and a minute later
! hand out the one that Bill had given them
! Then they'd open it in front of the crowd
and display the $40 or $40 they had APP
| parently won.
Say, it was a great game, and no one
ever tumbled TO it, because I've always
! hired men living in the town and well
known to their fellow citizens. If Cy
| Jones won $40 at the game il spread around
like wildfire, and in ten minutes a hun
dred of Cys friends would be around taxi
ing chances. At the close of the show
! Bin would settle up with his cappers, get
! back his money. and get out of town as
| soon as possible, for it wouldn't be COM
| Portable for him if one of his late en-
ployes took it into his head 20 talk
We'll il was a bright June morning
when the fair outfit deposited itself in the
tlourishing little village of Cross Corners.
/ Bin was in great good humor, having
| mulcted the natives of Mosby Junction in
! very considerable sum two DAYS before
! We got in the place at in the morning
but there was a crowd on hand to greet
us and lend us a hand in arranging things
The farmers had their prize pigs, cows
bulls and displays of vegetables all ready,
and everything looked so nice that Bill
| remarked 10 me that it looked like a good
thing for us grafters.
Standing around the fair grounds look
ing at everything with mouths and eyes
| wide open we noticed number of queer
looking men, They were all dressed alike,
| with shirts of blue and white striped stun
il looked like bed ticking, and were an
amazingly innocent appearing lot.
Behold the honest sons of toll said
/ Bill; they've come to town to see the
show. l think we can use a bunch of
them in our business
"A few moments later l saw Bill in
earnest conversation with group of the
men and knew that he was hiring them
to cap our game We opened up full blast
when the people began to come, but busi-
ness was slow. so / winked TO one OF the
fellows in bed ticking and began to talk
! in his direction / wanted him TO make
| a purchase, show the pocketbook BIN had
given him, and get the other interested
! The fool looked al me with a bland smile
on his face, but didn't say word
worked at him for several minutes. but
/ never a move did he make. Finally it
got so exasperating that | sided up 10
him, gave him a kick on the shlns, and
whispered:
" Buy, will your
"A light broke over his face and he
said i'm loud tones Shall l do II now?'
80 'Now's the time, gents / said. with
a laugh, but l wanted TO kill the dog right
| there.
Well he bought a pocketbook, stuck it
In his pocket and started to walk away.
Hold on, there l eXcla med. lets see