Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-05-12

Tlth ~ e1uult xket ooen - Alu
check for $3,00o. He bagan to smell 4
mt. and as he had his family with him
~ the hotel be could not afford to
eQueal, but he bowed very stiffly Is hs
buttOned up his double breasted sack
and made tracks for the st. James Ho-
teL There vas fre in old Sheetz's eye,
and, although We knew he was too
proud TO admit to a living soul that he
had been fiim-fammed by bunco men,
we felt sure that we would have trouble
TO collect the old Jerseyman's check. A
counsel OF war was held and I started
by the morning train to collect of a
Jersey bank the $4,000. / was met by
the smiling cashiers bland assurance
that Mr.. Sheetz had stopped payment
on that particular check. We had our
regular attorneys and one OF these
brought suit against Sheetz, who plead
cd the baby act. and the jury brought
in verdict for him under the charge
OF the learned judge that contract ev-
en- in writing when tainted with fraud,
will not stand the test of the statute
law. 1t is safe to say that seven men
out OF every ten that bucked against
Q bunco layout had too much nerve to
squeal or to subject themselves to ridi-
Guile among their friends. The first
winter campaign of Miller and Ray
mond in Florida realized over $22 900.
but it was soon dissipated, gone like
the snow fakes on the sod, and the
bunco combine sought summer pastures
new, from Cape May and Atlantic City
to Newport.
A Disastrous Undertaking..
The second winter in Florida result
ed disastrously, for, like death, they
loved shining mark, and in a rash
moment they brought their blandish-
ments to bear on ew York million
aire, who parted with a $4,000 check
at the fascinating game ins the boudoir
of the Jacksonville artists. The check
was presented to and paid by Mckinley,
but the proprietor of the Jacksonville
Hotel was quietly informed of the char
acter OF some of his guests. He rose
In his wrath and gave the firm of Mil
Ter and Raymond just one hour to get
out of the town, with the alternative
OF term in the States prison. We
stood not In the order of our going,
but went at once, some on foot and
some behind a pair of dappled grays,
going 2:40 gait for the nearest sta
tion at which a Northern train could
be boarded. And that is how bunco. as
one Of the fine arts, became a lost art
at Jacksonville and ceused to be prac-
ticed in the land of the orange and
myrtle"
Railroad Man n Victim
MIR. Eastbrook began to warm up
with his theme, and in his elegant
home, putting away at his fragrant Ha-
yana, he looked more like a bank presi-
dent than bunco steerer He contin-
ued: "Avarice is akin to imbecility
and the chances are ninety-nine in one
hundred, that when a rich man visits a
buneo parlor he will go out poorer
than he came in. The first victim we
found in Atlantic City the following
summer was the then treasurer of a
well-known railroad, whose name |
will not give you, because he has pass
ed the great divide. I introduced my
self to the railroad treasurer as the
nephew of a celebrated financier, a
person we'll known to him. He glady
accompanied me to our bunco rooms
on the first-foor of vine-emlbowered
cottage, and after a glass of wine be-
came interested in the lottery, and
when informed that he had won $4,000
in cash, which was paid over to him
promptly, insisted On continuing to in.