The Washington times., 1901-10-20
SHREWD TRICKS OF FAKERS
Ingenious Apparatus So Arranged
That Players Cannot Win.
Games Which Are Profitable to the
Opcrators-EIow the Wheel of For
tune Is COntroIied-Tbe Mechanism
of the Tempting Drop Case

The season Of country fairs is wisely
chosen, for the gathering of the harvest
is almost if not entirely completed. and
the farmer has a breathing spell for rec
reation.
But It is the full harvest season for
the faker. and he gathers in the crop of
shekels in an easy and bland manner,
while his victim supplies the childlike gull
libility; yet no countryman would think
he had received his moneys worth if he
neglected to wrestle with fortune, and
even the city cousin, with all his worldly
wisdom, snaps at the allurins cheap bait
offered on the wheel of fortune.
Chief among the catch-penny attractions
is the cane rack. Success seems almost
sure, yet few win the cheaper canes. and
fewer still ring the better ones, which are
still cheap.
The outfit costs but little. A net rack
may ''e bought for from So cents to sl.25,
and a canvas one for from 80 cents to
sl.30. Canes cost from 20 cents per dozen
to s1.60 per dozen. Rings cost 65 cents per
hundred. With this ouInt, and permit,
the faker sets up his rack IN four stakes.
which are purpOsely loose, so as to allow
the rack to sway slightly. Then he plants
his canes.
The cheaper ones predominate, but canes
with swelled heads are occasionally seen,
and here and there are crooks, some re-
producing in miniature, a lower member
missing, the torso of Venus. The rings
vary from IL to 1S inches ii side diameter.
The heads OF some of the canes are
almost as great in diameter, and those
with crooks are turned in such a way
that it is almost impossible to ring them
unless the ring is dropped directly upon
them. 1t is difficult even to ring the
smaller canes. for they stand loosely in
the rack, and a side blow tips them so
that the ring slides off
Yet, while there are many tricks in this
fair game, cane is great temptation,
especially when it seems possible to get
one so easily and cheaply. A cane is such
a nice thing to poke the cattle with and
stir up rumpus that everyone tries for
one, yet few succeed.
Next in favor is the knife board A
board costs from sl.25 to $3.50, and COM
plete outfit. board, 100 rings, and S4
knives, may be had for s14.50 and upward
Knives may be had from 80 cents a dozen
to S3.9S dozen.
One of these, which may be taken as
fair sample of the whole, is patterned on
a small scale after the Spanish navara, a
curious and Ggly-sooking weapon, but this
imitation is about as utterly worthless
for practical use as the proverbi-
al pewter jackknife. The little
blade has been bent up at the point
into hook. and the large blade has been
bent and Strengthened again until It
makes one dizzy to look at it.
These knives the cheaper predominant
ing and costing about 21z cents apiece
are conspicuously displayed witt all the
blades open, and therein lies the secret of
the knife board. The wise faker arranges
his knives in such a way that the rings
slide over them as water does on a ducks
back.
Nothing looks fairer than a striking
machine. but these are ingeniously ar
ranged, and in the words of an advertise
ment of late form can be manipulated
without a helper" One of these may be
had for so, while prize cigars are offered
to the faIer for so per thousand.
These machines can be so manipulated
that the faker can make the strong man
appear weak and the weak man strong.
AS for the cigars, no comment is neces-
sary
The wheel Of fortune seems as fair as
arrow has sneak and the faker can
stop the pointer at any number or arti-
Gle that he may desire. One may be
bought as low as so. including 25O pieces
of jewelry. but this is of the cheapest
kind, rings for example, being quoted as
low as l cent apiece. With this cheap
wheel the first profit, at 10 cents a whirl.
without any sneaking, amounts to SIS,
and the business requires no previous
experience" A fun outfit of 80 pieces of
jewelry, sosts but $, thus making a gain
of $50 and some takers make as much as
$50 a day.
The higher the cost of the wheel the
more easily and quickly the money is
made. as they are fitted with large pins
to separate numbers or colors, and the
arrow point has a screw feather. making
a certain winner of any desired number
or color and avoiding all possibility of
dispute.
II you come across a table with an in
nocent looking cone in the centre and
wooden ball suspended by a cord from
a crossbar above. don't try to hit the
cone with the ball, because you can't
do it if the faker isn't willing. The ap-
paratus is completely under his control,
and he can make you miss the cone by
a hairs breadth. no matter how true
your aim.
It's an easy matter. too; one of the
standards is loose, and the faker or his
assistant take care to be near the stand
ard. The slightest touch upon this stand
ard, always having the appearance of be
ing accidental, disturbs the equilibrium of
a ball and swings it clear of the cone.
Red, white, and blue is dealing game.
-, ..VNfa aI Ns- on
il. one red, one white, and one blue. A
box and sixteen balls, five of each color
and one dealers percentage" goes with
the outfit. Players place their money on
a given shield, slide is opened in the
box and out pops a ball.
If IT is of the same color the player
wins, but loses If it is of another color.
If this was fair game. the player, by
the law of chance, would stand some
show of winning. but as the box IS fix
ed" the dealer can produce ball of any
color he may desire, yet anyone not in
the secret can examine the box at any
time and find it apparently square" yet
it is very tricky box.
Then there Is a new drop case. with a
set of pins. which work with balls drop
ped in at the top, these balls travelling in
an erratic course and finally drop into
one of n series of numbered pockets at
the bottom. This surely seems fair, but
the faker looking for money knows that
a good drop case is worth its weight in
gold for while the layout is arranged in
q peculiar manner that has nothing to
do with the case.
In dice games, chuck luck, over and
under, and the mustang game, the fake
lies in the dice. which are loaded to
throw high or low. as desired.
Ii a top is used it is arranged so that
it can be fixed" to turn up any desired
number The rolling log" is also fixed
to roll high or low. so that the player is