The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-10-26
YANKEE GRAFTERS ABROAD.
IUE PRESENT ENILES NOT IIkE
THE OLD-IINE CROOKS.
Most OF Those just Banished From England
simply 'ien who Wen, Broke The Man
Who T'hinible-Rigged the Prince Of vale,
Other Former american IN, a>ions.


Very few cf thu drc-s-~ui crooks from
this country vino have recently been warned
out o: H. gland bv 'ho Scotland Yard people
nave got rncr maps on N" H. 'h" New York
Rogue. Gallery" said an old. time head
-2-,er, .ete: ave. Mos of them az,
chaps Of good American ant"r"dents and
tearing. who. going broke Ia their wander
ings around the old countries, have simply
turned shady from what they considered
uece ssi'v
Their education and good manners
have enabled them 20 burt IN with good
people in England and soma Of them are
such finished ducks that they've Deen able
10 60 night on SHINING their English lambs
for years az a stretch without ever being
suspected cf aryrhirs EXCEPT the possession
Of a whole lot Of luck
One of the most polished of them, who,
7 understand, Is Tow oil his wav back 10
the United States under the decree Of ex-
pulsion. Is the son Of a rich Milwaukee man.
He was chucked out of Heidelberg University
six years ago for all-around deviltry. lie
went 10 Lcnjon ard took to the phony bust
ness like cat 20 a fsh-hrad, and he's been
tying his mob friends up in figure-of-eight
knots ever since.
'When he was put ont Of the German
university his father sent him word that
he'd get 500 a month Just a. long az he saw
the wisdom Of not setting foot on United
States soil The yourgster accepted the
old mans terms, hut the 500 a month
wasn't enough for his morning coffee. ac-
cording TO the way he wanted and intended
10 live He been shredding 'cm over there
In slttis and b,I.n. and 1lII, -.
boxes ever since
He, Ike the rest Of the dude American
grafters. is victim of our breaking onto
the English turf on such large scale dur
ing the past four or five YEAR,. The Amerl-
can horse invasion in England attracted
30 that country a slew Of out -and-out
American crooks of all kinds and degrees,
who we're Filling To take a chance in any
old way To get the money. down To- the 7 iece
Of lad pipe wrapped in mouchoir This
tribe killed the graft for all the Americans.
high and low, I the fish Isles
These spiked-tailed shooting-lodge
American graf er> in England are. as | say.
4 comparatively new breed. hut you don't
want 70 imagine that American grafters
of a less topiuftv kind haven't been spin
ming the fngliShineu for their wad- tor a
good deal longer than generation. There
vas Gcorg" Madcr. "A Western crook. who
went over to England 10 see what h" could
sae In is7I.
He had a bank roll at the time and didn't
have TO work, hut he been thimbe rigger
so long IN 'li- country that after awhile
he got res; - and began To ache TO get in
motion. !" took in the fairs all over pro-
vinciai England with the pea graft, and he
found that 1t was like taking the Yeast
money from little girl Oh ',rr way to the
grocery.
He was running lis little game at n fair
IN Yorkshire one afternoon when ne had
the fun of trimming no less an individual
than : he Prince of Wales now the King of
England The Prince didn't g,Iess where
the pea was FIVE straight nj - NJ a guinea a
clip, and then he laughed and moved on
with his party.
Minder had pair Of cuff buttons made
out Of TWO OF the qrild that Albert Edward
forkcd over, aud passed IN" other three
on TO pals as souvenirs. Tom O'Brien. the
gold brick man, who's now doing his little
lifer AZ a French colonial prison for killing
his pal. Kid Waddell, in Paris, carried one
o. these gIin"ns IA pocket piece for years.
"MOrtv Lane, an AmmcriCan crook
who spraug from an old tine New Orleans
family. Wa the boy who introduced the
cute Little game of 'hree-card mont" into
the Isls- of Britain. They're a good deal
more suspicious lot, the BritCns, than We
are over here, but they bit all right at
MortyS oait H. hooked like the president
OF four bank, and there never wa better
mont" mai than Lane.
When lac set out in England 20 work
the gaines or the trains he engaged an
English crook a. a valet, and travelled IN
styl.. IT. Gld tcsty, grouchy, gouty
part ~ thh trains, and kept bawling az
his va! = 70 wrap him IN rugs and all that
sort of t,.iIC.
Then. after a while, he'd howl at his
valet t,r his Sclitair" board and cards,
and he'd begin u gam" of solitaire. Most
people have 4 pguchant for ruDberiHr at
another mans game of solitaire, and that's
tn way Lane got 'om.
He'd t2Zie out with is solitaire ga me,
to the aEu-"rnent of the rubberers, and
then, IN snappy ill-huncred sort of way
Lane. ud invite them To pick out the monte
card willing TO divert the testy man,
they'd stand for the harpoon, and Lane
threw II INTO them for wears without the
least trouble.
H used to work tho Paris express from
London particularly, and ruce in while
he'd 90 right on and do profitable monte
stun through 90 Conetantnoplc or ST.
Petersburg When he'd sLakrd dish
pan full Of money he came back to the
United States. settled down in Southern
Caifornla, and began to enjoy himself
riglt. He's ther" vet, for all | know.
'Dinge lortc~cu', good-looking and
mighty crafty OctoroOn from Memphis
took swell band Of American dips over
10 England IL 1879. and what the FGrte,c,io
OUTFIT did TO provincial England was too
many 10 wrltn down. Ding" used he make
IN and graft Of an American S'rcct mcdi-
cine seller with the lory black hemp. the
somhrero, iruch coat, and that kind Of
STUFF.
He'd charter IN open carriage and sell
American yarD~, with gold watch and chain
and diamond pin with each shilling pack
age but That was only Il side is>uc the main
graft being to get the punches together
With the crowd around the carriage, Dnge's
squad of Kick -fnelcIs would begin To- work
the crowd's feathers.
Every one OF those dips on Fortcsc,Ie's
stan was Class \ man AZ tho game and
tho way they did dc-waletize England,
Scotland ! Wales was something scan
dalous. Il took the Furte-cuo OUTFIT more
than two year 10 cover Great Britain and
re.tau about half the feathers in the British
Isles, but they got away with 1t without nv
a solitary pinch. NoI a man OF that Gro yd
had TO work for three or four years after
returning I" Til, country after that clean
u
For th'rty-iyc years that know of
American iorg"r7 have been laying the phony
papers down on English paving tcllrrs'
COUNT Tom Haskell. on" Of the orgi-
nhl American merry -gp-round men, put
a >erlrs OF forged mortgage iob~ ARGOS.
The plat" ia Birmingham in 1871 that was
something o.'u'iiic.