Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-19
GENTLE ART Of GRAFT
How Some People Get Their
Liquor for Nothing.
MAN WHO DID NOT FORGET
Furnished a Big Christmas for Bar
keeps Children.
FINISH OF A CROOKED ONE
Asafoetida Cocktail Did the Business
The Phony Whisky Drummers
-Hurrp-Up Drinks.
FINISH OF A CROOKED ONT

-Hurrp-Up Drinks.
| Some fellows don't forget to remember -
! irrelevantly began the conversational bar
| keep, apropos of nothing that had gone be-
! fore. In 1903 the fall meeting at Benning
| wound up December ). On the morning of
December 6-pretty cold morning-a young
! fellow that I'd never seen before walked in
here and told me that he thought he knew
| of a place where he could stow about four
drinks to considerable advantage.
| He was well dressed. but he wasn't
| wearing any overcoat, and as 1 say, the
| bulb was trying to hide somewhere around
| the bottom of the thermometer He was
shiverng from the cold and probably from
| the aftermath OF the wtizzy game he had
| been up against.
But he had frank chart on him and an
on-the-level way Of handling his converse
| ton, and SO l put up bottle of the right
| goods and told him that L wouldn't be look
| ing. He pushed three long ones in in a
| hurry. Then he told me that he'd come
! over here from Wilmington for the Ben
| ming meeting and that they'd taken him. A
| couple Of days before he'd dropped off the
| aqua vehicle after nearly year thereon.
and from that time all the rest one
lOOp-tne-IOOp cream. lie u been frlSked Tor
his money-what was left of the bundle
| that the bookies hadn't got-and his gig
| lamps and his watch and even his over
coat, and when he'd come to the morn
ing of December he found himself to be
properly trimmed and shredded and ready
| to be slowed away in the ornamental can.
Now. there isn't much going around, in
Washington or anywhere. that gets me
lumpy around the neck for I've been heav-
| Ing out the red-eye for long time. But I
| felt bit sorry for this young chap with
| the albright stack-up. and SO I pushed my
fin into the pajams and harpooned an
acerino.
You'll be there with a one-spot. any
how, bo. says to the young fellow. trying
to hand him the one iron man. and thatll
run for a shave and shine anyhow.
He shook his head and thanked me-
making me feel, just for half minute, JUS
| little bit cheap. But then 1 was dead
me that he'd land back on the home sack
all right. tossed one more in. and was on
his way.
Stranger Came Back.
well. he was only an incident and I'd
forgotten all about him when he came
a-jouncing in here the day before last
Christmas. carrying q suit case. with his
initials it above the Wilmington, Del
He had on all the raiment that was At to
wear. and there was pin of sapphires and
diamonds In his ascot that would have
made chicago Stlck-up man take chance
at high noon right on State street. He
didn't have any Of the souse with him,
but fell for a vichy and milk. Then he
began to kind Of rubber areund-after I'd
recognized him and told him SOTO find
out if 1 was travelling tandem and had any
young ones. He yanked it out of me that
1 had both wife and kids-I'm liable to get
gassy. anyhow, when my young ones are
newfoundland then he put the gimlet in
me again to find out where my family dump
was. He got that. too, though 1 wasn't
anywhere near hep to his lay. Then he
settled for the drinks I'd tossed to him a
year before when he'd needed them right
bad, made good on that acerino I'd slipped
him and drilled.
That same evening - Christmas eve "a
wagon. loaded to the roof, fetched up at
the curb in front of where l camp with
my family, and the two men In charge Of
the cart began to drag the stuff into my
plant. l gave them the nix-nix on that
and told them that they must have got me
twisted with some other Rockefeller down
the street, but no, they said they had it
right and one of them slipped me neat
little note of Yuletide greetings for self
and family-signed. simply, In grateful re-
membrance of a kindness extended, at
bad minute. to WILMINGTON There was
enough Christmas gear In that wagon to
stock a navy yard department store, and
for about fifteen minutes the wife was
looking me over out of the slants of her
eyes, trying to dope 1t out whether I'd
turned shoplifter or was starting shop
litter fence.
II haven't seen Wilmington since, but
the kids still playing horse with the
big stack of plumber that he sent around
to my dump just to make gooG for a few
little old gulps out of a bottle when things
were so framed for him that he needed 'em
the worst way.
Booze Grafters A-Plenty.
That's why I'm saying that there are
some ducks who do remember. And then.
again. there are others. AS general
thing, there are more booze grafters pound
ing the various Washington beats than
there've been cases Of grip in this town
during the past two weeks. And, as
general thing, these offside buns who fol-
low the ponies are the foxiest booze graft
ers in the business. l fall for plenty of
them, at that. when the races here,
and then. again. there are some of them
that don't get by in the long run. l had
to give one Of them his during the last
along toward the middle of the meeting.
put up his few lines of horse chaw. took
look at the list Of entries hanging up
and asked me If was going out today
for this kind of a pony-folloWing CRATER
thinks that he makes hit with the bar
keep from the jump by taking it for
granted that the barkeep's dead game
and that he visits the track every after
noon while they're here. He passed along
that day. but the next morning he sham
bled in with a kalsomine Of gloom spat-
tered all over him.
"'Uh-huh.' says I. like a RUDE. passing
out the bottle, you will. will you?
"'Well they turned me off for two hum
dred yesterday, said the tweaker-and I'll
bet that If he ever got a flash at $500. all
at once, he'd need quinine. Yep he went
on. they for Sweeney, but they crawled
for me. Didn't get in line once. Swung
out of the gate without SO much as hair
cut. Guess you'll have to put this on the
Ice, meaning the price of the drinks he
was hurting into his frame, until l get
break.
Sure says I. for the tweaker had built
up pretty good superstructure for HIM
self. you see. by calling around and dig
ging up few times and 1 didn't want to
give him the turnover.
When he skunk in the next morning he
had the dreary with him, too, and he told
me that the hun that he'd plowed up the
afternoon before had made only little
bit of greasy smoke in the bookie's satchel
when the numbers went up for the first
race. He swung me for the price of the
ten or a dozen that he tossed in during
the couple of hours that he was around.
and this went on for five or six days. AL
though I'd had lot of experience with the
booze grating railbirds. didn't figure that
1 was doing the come-on thing for this
one for he was up in his lines and he sure
,NlD,. &01 rtrvns