Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-07-19
Short Chaneine.

From the New YORK Sun.
The art of short changing is studied
by walters. ~bartenders. street takers
and various other servants of the pub
nc. The man To whom all other short
changers doif their headgear is the
ticket seller in the circus box office.
AND next il the man VIII. climbs about
anions the seated throng in the big
tent GiS,loSirg of concert tickets,
There are we ideal methods of re-
turning change in an apparently hon
est manner II 1T the Same time re-
tanning cart of it. one of these is used
when the mango is in silver and one
IS employed when bills are handled.
t1r illustration, u 81 note is ten
dcre'l in Payment of some article cost
IL. 10 ccnts or Il quarter. The person
making tn chan counts it correctly
fra:a MS 1T hand into his right. He
takes particular PAINS that his victim
sail see that it is correctly counted.
Then b. dumps the handful of silver
into the hand OF It's owner. This looks
50 fair That few persons take the trou-
bic to recount the money. Here is
where they are easy. In turning the
handful II money into the outs,retched
hand the artist retains Il half dollar oil
a quarter in his palm. which is slightly
contracted to secure the piece.
Perhaps Il $40 note is rendered in
payment for II ticket. The man in the
gildel box first cunts the bills over tic
himself. Then he reaches out to the
waiting hands n counts the bills for
the benefit of the buyer.
He does not place the bills entirely
in the victims hands as he counts
them. however, but grips one end Of
The bunch in his left hand while he
counts the free ends. laying the end
back over his hand as he counts. He
does this slowly and deliberately.
Then rolling the bills into a wad he
smilingly places them in the impatien,
victims hand. The operation is so APP
%parently honest that nine times out OF
ten the man pockets the bills without
counting them.
If he should count the roll he would
find himself 81 or 81 short; for one Of
the bills reposing in the center of the
bunch is doubled in the middle, with
the two ends even with the single ends
of the other bills. One bill is thus
counted as two.
One of the most brilliant methods OF
short changing is known among the
profession as the quarter dodge. A 81
note is rendered in payment for an ar
ticle costing Il quarter. The smooth
one picks up a handful of 25-cent
pieces and counts them one at a time
into the palm of the purchaser.
He counts the article purchased a.
"one." the first quarter placed in the
buyers nanu being "tWO. etc. He
says, "One. two. three, four-one dol.
lar; one. two, three four-two dollars,
one. two. three. four. four twenty-five
four fifty, four seventy-five, five dol.
lars" At every count the operator
places a quarter in the palm of the vic.
tim.
The pieces are counted rapidly, ant
there is nothing suspicious in the Cd.
Grafton: but the reader will notice tina,
the manner of counting changes wher
the third dollar is reached Instead OF
saying, 'One, two. three. four-three
dollars" the artist a "One, two
three, four, four twenty-five, -four fif.
ty," etc. thus skipping a dollar en-.
tirely. 1t may seem preposterous that
such a barefaced swindle could be sue
c%essfully worked on even a deniZen of
Podunk or Railway. but in practice
1t is successful ninety-nine times out
of q hundred.
a minor method of holding out
change when selling 10-cent tickets tc
the grand concert after the big how"
is frequently used. III a dollar is
handed to the ticket seller he hands
bac the ticket. counting it as ten
then in dimes he counts. twenty, thir-
ty. forty, nifty. sixty. seventy, eighty
ninety" concluding and the ticket is
n dollar" The ticket is thus counted
twice