Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1904-04-14
SWINDLBR'S
BOLD GAME


neat llttie trick, which although not
neW'sut iced to net them a small day. 8
work
Ib e fellows laid their plans we'll
The curb stone market was selected as
tie field of operations and they did
not begin work until a few minutes
/ before the arrival of the 1919 d. L..
q W. train, which shows that they
kept the possibility of detection in
view and had arranged for a speedy
exit from town.
They first appeared at the meat
stand of Levi Boyer where their
scheme panned them out five dollar
bill. The method employed was as
follows:
One Of the men. whose appearance
suggested fakir. stepped up to Mrs.
Boyer, who was assisting her husband,
and bought pork steak rendering heI
ten dollar bill in payment. Mrs.
Boyer very carefully handed over the
change, which the fellow had barely
pocketed, when another man. who
proved to be his pal, stepped up and
bought pound of sausage present
ing in payment a five dollar bill. Mrs.
Boyer made the change" and was
| about to wait upon another customer
when the first man affected to discover
a dollar bill in his vest pocket. He
was sorry, he said, to take so much
| change from the woman since it was
not necessary and asked her whether
she might not need it. He proposed
that Mrs. Boyer return the ten dollar
bill after which he would hand over
the change he had received along with
the Que dollar bill out of which she
was to take the price Of the meat. The
transaction seemed perfectly plausi.
BILE. The fellow was good actor and
Mrs. Boyer, who really needed the
change, did not doubt his good inten.
tions ana proceeded to produce the
bill.
The whole scheme was calculated to
disarm the woman 1t was known that
she would be to some extent abstract.
ed in looking after her interest In the
complicated transaction and that il
why the second purchase involving
the five dollar bill was made, the aim
being to confound the two denomina.
tious in her mind.
The plan worked we'll Pocketine
the ten dollars the fellow quickly pro.
duced change for five dollars and dis.
appeared in the crowd AS soon as Mrs.
Boyer had time to think over the mat
ter she realized that she was short
five dollars and she saw through the
whole scheme.
Mrs Boyer lost no time notifying
Chief Mincemoyer and in short time
both officers were in pursuit of the
"short change men. About this
time, however, the 10: :l9 d. L. & W.
train pulled through town. 1t was
learned later that just as the train
left the station the men materialized
from opposite directions and jumped
aboard, one taking the rear platform.
Chief Mincemoyer quickly called uI
the police of Bloomsbury and Ber.
wick. gave them description Of the
swindlers and asked them to search the
| FL 81 l.,
wanted were on board, to arrest them.
At last accounts. however, no arrests
had been made.
The swindlers also attempted to- work
Jesse Shannon. In payment for O
small purchase one of the fellows ten.
dered a ten dollar bill, received the
change and then luckily discovered q
one dollar bill in his vest pocket.
which suggested to him that he was
imposing an unnecessary hardship up.
on Jesse by taking his change. He
made the same suggestion as at Mrs.
Beyer's stand and Mr.. Shannon re.
turned the ten dollar bill. The fellow
counted the change for five dollars.
But Jesse saw through the scheme and
demanded five dollars more. " At
this junoture to complicate matters the
confederate came clustering into the
shop and wanted to buy some scrapple.
Jesse, however, stuck to the first man
and repeated his demand ID a way
which showed that he meant business
and he got the "other five" 1t is
thought that some others about town
may have been viCtimized, who did
not discover or failed to report their
oss.
One OF the men was of medium
height and wore light grey suit with
black derby hat The other man was
larger; he wore light trousers and
dark coat and vest with black derby
| bat Roth yUara SnpOthlv sbavan