The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-28
THEY NEED THE MONEY.
Schemes Employed by "Grafters" to
Get the Coin I'm New York.
Washington Post.

Washington Post.
IF there is any town on earth where the
cheerful grafters need the money worse
than they do in New York where they'll
frame up any foxier schemes to annex il,
then ii isn't mentioned in the Postal
Guide, remarked a Washington business
man who recently returned from a trip with
his wife to the elephantiasis burg. II say
this in general sort of way, and not par
ticularly because / permitted myself to bite
on little piece of patent fly bait this last
time that set me back just $40, and pretty
mean sort of a quarter of an hour III the
bargain. Try as l may i can't quite figure
it out that after forty years or so of life
in the city of Washington I'm stage Rube
TO that little scheme like any old gas-biow-
ing Uncle Eph in the act Of purchasing
new, crisp, green money.
My wife and L stopped with some friends
in New York, and on the night before We
came away 1 decided to blow the party off
TO A box at one of the extravaganza shows
/ bought the box while | was down town
that day. and it warped my little cid wallet
to the tune of an even $50.
We'll, we all went to the show, and were
duly conveyed to the box by one of the
TuxeGo-coated ushers. We arrived at the
theater pretty early, but even then there
was n big crowd on hand, and the ticket
spectators in front were dragging down
the money like bookmakers on a stake
event About ten minutes before the cur
tain was due to rise a natty young fellow
in Tuxedo suit-just the makeup of the
theaterS uSherS-pOked his head into the
box door and said to me-
would you mind letting me look at that
box coupon of yours for a second?
II thought for a sure thing that he was
an usher, and l unhesitatingly handed over
the box coupon.
Just minute said he, there's a
slight mix, and I'll return 1t to you when
it's Strengthened out. and then he bobbed
out of sight.
-Four minutes later-when 1 had quite
forgotten having surrendered that box
coupon-a portly man with a lot of women
folks behind him appeared at the rear of
the box, accompanied by an usher.
" Sorry. SIR the usher said to me. but
this gentleman holds the coupon to this
box, pointing to the putting fat man.
Il tried to explain that i had given the
coupon to one of the ushers only few
minutes before. but il didn't go. The usher
called all of the other ushers, and looked
'em over. but my happy CRATER was, of
course not among them. The fat man ex-
planned that he had bought the coupon on
the sidewalk from q specula tor, and then
had purchased admission tickets to the
lower floor in order to make ii good. The
joyous worker that had got the coupon
from me had slid out and sold the same to
a Spectator for few dollars. Roar? OF
course / put up n roar but what was the
se?-you know how they fan you under
such oircums tances in New York. My party
had to get out of the box, not having the
coupon to show for ii, and that's all there
was about it, 1 could have picked up one
of the box chairs and run amuck, of
course but that would have made me an
even-money shot for a boat ride to Black
wells island, and / wasn't looking for that.
It's lovely old place. New York. but the
push on the pave over there surely do re-
quire the plum duff coin worsen any gang
of grafters that l ever heard of, and that's
no tOreadOr'S top note"