The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-07-20
Short Changing.

49, SSt'
The art of short changing is studied
by walters, ~bartenders, street takers
and various other servants of the pub
lie. The man to whom all other short
changers doff their headgear is he
ticket seller in the circus box Office,
and next is the ma wis. climbs about
among the seated throng in the big
tent disposing of concert tickets.
There are two ideal methods of re-
turning change in al apparently hon-
est manner and at the same time re-
tanning part of it. One of these is used
is employed when bills are handled.
For illustration, a 50 note is en-
dered in payment OF some article cost
ne 10 cents or u quarter. The person
making the change counts it correctly
from his left hand into his right. He
lakes particular pains that his victim
Shall see that it is correctly counted.
Then he dumps the handful of silver
into the hand of its owner. This looks
so fair that few persons take the trou-
BILE to recount the money. Here is
where they are easy. In turning the
handful of money into the outstretched
hand the artist retains a half dollar or
a quarter in his palm, which is slightly
contracted to secure the piece.
Perhaps a $40 note is rendered in
payment for a ticket. The man in the
gilded box first counts the bills over TIC
himself. Then he reaches out to the
waiting hands and 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 ends
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 impatient
victims hand. The operation is so ap-
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 50 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 Sc
note is rendered in payment for an ar
ticle costing a 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 al
"one." the first quarter placed in the
buyers hand being two" etc. He
says, "One, two. three, four-ope dol.
lar; one, two, three fOur-tWO dollars,
one, two, three. four, four twenty-five
four fifty, four s~eventy-five, five dol.
lars" At every count the operator
places a quarter in the palm Of the vic.
tim.
The pieces are counted rapidly, ano
there is nothing suspicious in the op.
Grafton; but the reader will notice tha,
the manner of counting changes wher
the third dollar is reached. Instead OF
saying, "One, two. three, four-three
dollars" the artist says "One, two
three, four, four twenty-five, four if
ty," ETC., thus skipping a dollar en-
tirely. 1t may seem preposterous thai
such a barefaced swindle could be sue
cessfully worked on even a denizen OF
Podunk or Railway, but in practice
it is successful ninety-nine times out
Of a hundred.
A minor method of holding out
change when selling 10-cent tickets TIC
the grand concert after the big Show
is frequently used. If a dollar is
handed to the ticket seller he hands
back the ticket, counting it as ten
then in dimes he counts, twenty, thir-
ty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty
ninety" concluding land the ticket is
one dollar" The ticket is thus counted
I wipa