Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1902-05-08

told him that nobody had come In.
but he insisted that "a bunko man had
skinned DR.. Schneider out of 5000 not
five minutes ago. and that he had
seen the confidence man duck into
the dressing room within the minute.
"Well. sirs. poor Sim flew into
rage. He was for jumping off his mule
then aud there to help find the long
looked-for swindler. l persuaded him
to gallop out into the ring by promis-
ing to do the searching myself. and.
aided by the officer, / searched dill
gently. The bugler at the ring en-
trance had seen nobody enter from the
dressing tent. We opened all the
trunks and hampers, kicked over piles
| Of rugs, straw. canvas and properties,
but found nothing. Finally we de-
cided that the crook had slipped in at
one side and out at the other without
being seen by Mr.. Price, VINO was at
the time alone in his little dressing
| cell. The officer looked nonplussed,
but he left, after carefully describing
| the mans appearance. 1t tailed ex-
actly with all the previous knowledge
we had cf the elusive crook, and there
| was then nothing more to do but re-
Lew our vigilance.
| I'VE were doing q three-day stand
at that particular town, SO Sim and l
| sat up half the night discussing the
| scandalous Coings Of the bunko man,
who had now chung to our route for
two months. Sim was almost sick
with anger and the sense Of his disap-
| pointnent He scratched his bald,
shining head till it got red he pulled
cut his fat. cherubic cheeks till he
locked like an apoplectic, and then he
| CANE as near swearing as / ever heard
him. What made him so particularly
mad was tho fact that the confidence
man always did his tricks right by the
tent wall, so that every village paper
that had made a sensation of his swim
dies credited them to AN attache of
| the Rockwell SIMPSON, Circus
That fairly ate into the sensitive soul
of Sim.
well, sirs, jrst &c show you the au-
dacity Of tn, fellow the very next af-
ternoon at the matinee, or rather just
after II had begun, he attracted n
crowd of men and boys to a clear spot
near the very dressing tent which Sim
had just left 10 enter the ring. and
shell-gamed a farmer cut of $40. When
Sin heard that thought he was going
to faint. He made up his mind to re-
frain from his work in the ring until
he had caught the rascal, and, as
was beginning to realize the odium at
| taching TO our names, l reluctantly
agreed that he should not appear that
night. He stayed around the tent all
afternoon looking distrait, pale and, for
him, venomously disagreeable.
II think that night was one Of the
best we ever had so far as the attend
ance was concerned. l was obliged, at
Sims solicitation, to announce that
'Dumpy Uunpy' CHS ring name) the
famous clown would be unable to ap-
pear on account of sudden indisposi-
ton. Sim was such a stickler for fair
dealing he'd have returned every dollar
taken in If the people had asked it.
But it was n good-natured crowd and
they stayed for the show. We never
had less trouble. Every performer
seemed to be on his or her mettle and
even the trained animals did their
tricks with extraordinary success.
Mile. Du Barry was just at the climax
of her thrilling bareback act-the piece
de resistance OF the whole show. when
heard the familiar yell of 'Dumpy
Humpy,' the clown, as he galloped fu-
riously into the ring. In a flash l re-
allied that one of two things had hap
pened-either he had already caught
the bunko man or he was trying TO
surprise me with a novelty of his own
invention. For, clinging TO the tail Of
his mule, came a stranger in street at
tire, tugging like demon as IL to stop
the beast. Everything happened so
quickly and SO Unexpectedly that l
didn't have time 10 think that Sim
was running the effect of his wife's act.
"The mule nearly collided with Mile.
Du Barry's charger just in front of the
reserved seats, and the next thing L
knew the stranger had dragged the
clown down into the sawdust and was
choking him. Mademoiselle screamed
and galloped out of the ring. The
|
seemed to them the clowns grotesque
entree, but when / pushed into the
cloud of dust and sawdust raised by
the scufiier's l found the town police
man slipping a pair of handouts on
my partners wrists.
|; "'Here's your bunko man. he
; grinned, standing up and stripping Sim
OF his motley. Here's the shells and
: here's three cards, and here's"
The officer pulled out each article
as he spoke. Here's the flash roll,
and-oh. look here, Do you want any
more evidence? Here's his false mus
tache and his wig"
THE audience wanted TO lynch the
, poor clown when they began to see
that he was in the hands of the law,
; but we slipped poor Sim out through
the dressing tent and left town that
night. l never saw him again. but
understand that his beautiful wife
, stuck to him and that they have been
doing well without working ever since.
! | I'll n Do