The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-04-24
FLIMFLAN,MiNG FOR A LIVING
Game With cone" That
Looked Like "Twenty.

N--4'~etr 7' 4 1 AOA1
/ Learning to be an al-round good
thief is a good deal like learning to
swim, remarked Rufus as he raised
a hand to shi I'll his thick gray mus
| tach from tne match flame And
some ways, 1t confined, IS more
! like it. It's Il question OF getting ac-
customed - ne clement,
The uardeee work in the world
! is to do s)'Lethin9 easy sometimes.
You take my own graft, the bank
sneak busi1ess. y hen a sneak gets
j so he can Walk in and pick up a
bundle of money and out with it and
/ act and feel as if he We're only get
| ting paperWeiGht--why, he's got
! things mostly dead to rights, bar
! ring the tumble you've got to expect
| some time; ninety-men II OF a hun
dred are easy if they are a. preached
! just right, but the wise ny is goin g
to turn up some where ike the royal
| flush.
What | started to say reminds
me that the first time ! did any big
work | didn't do it; that is to say,
got to the money, all right, while
my pals were stalling the clerks with
their nice game of talk, but | could
! uOt lulI tuE lllCh. COulull / loI get
those bundles We're worm thousands
| shook like leaf, and it was all ).
could do to take myself outlet
alone the money.
But | got all over that, and when
we turned bank in Sal lose | did
not get any more nervous about walk
ing out with trayfull of gold coin
than | would over emptying a waste
basket
This job I'm going to tell you
about was case of flimflam. Gen
orally speaking it S a kind of conf
dence game, but if a man started in
to describe all the con games that
have been pulled off in this country
he couldn't get started in a year.
You see, good man puts originate
ty into his work. He's got to be in
venting all the time, or he'll be try
ing the same game on q sucker that
the latter has already bit to--Which
makes it hard to explain.
Along about that time there was
a one-dollar bill in circulation that
looked so much like twenty any
body was apt to mistake one for the
other in making change. In fact, the
treasury department had stopped it's
issue for that reason. But there were
still some floating around. | had
some of my friends holding them
out for me, and | used to buy them
for 81 piece. They brought me $40.
No, | didn't raise them; | made
the sucker think he had given me
one in mistake for a twenty, and if
he bit all right he would go back
to his drawer and dig up a genuine
twenty for me, which of course, put
me SIS to the good. Why was | shy
the 81? Why, you see, he naturally
kept So? Why, you see, he naturally
kept this one-dollar bill that had cost
ne 50.
Well. here's what that iewelIy-
Nan gets for his that forenoon.
Wen call his name Jones' / step in
when he happens to be alone in his
store. My face and manner and gait
were full of confidence-no hesita-
ton, no rush or buster; I'm bust
ness man of good standing and / take
it for granted he sees all that in me-
Just to make that bluff strong, I've
taken off my soft hat and stuck it
out of sight before I come in, so I'm
bareheaded and have a pencil over
my ear
I've Just dropped in from my
place few doors up the street to
ask him to change a fifty dollar bill
for me. | hand him a fifty, while I'm
talking. as if there could be no pos
sible objection
Mr.. Jones flashes on me the
smile of my brother in trade and
goes to his cash drawer, carrying
my fifty with him, so far everything
is on the square. But-what | don't
know just then is that all the bills
he had in that cash drawer We're two
twenties and some fives-no ones at
all-and he knew it before / came
in. When he hands me two twenties
and five, ! slip the one out of my
sleeve and twenty into my pocket,
turn away casually counting my
change and return to the counter
with confident smile on my face
Guess you made>sa little mistake,
says, looking amused and sort of
expectant, as if | think he's going to
join me in the laugh when he sees
how he's blundered and given a one
for twenty-they looking so much
alike. But if this Mr.. Jones saw any
thing funny about it he didn't show
it. He takes the change when /
hand it back to him. He looks at the
one | point out to him lying against
the twenty and resembling it consid-
erably. He looks at it SO hard I'm
thinking he was trying to learn how
to engrave one from memory. He
opens the drawer and looks in it and
peeks in the corners. Then he looks
at the floor and up at the ceiling.
Honest, that mans face was study;
it reminds me of somebody who has
just felt pain in some spot that
never ached before. Next he comes
out from behind the counter and
walks up to me.
This looks interesting to me, but
! don't show anything but quiet
amusement and sort of growing
wonderment at his funny moves.
DO you know, says MIR. Jones,
this is a conundrum to me-it's in
explainable. Why, l was as sure l
had just two twenties in that drawer
as / was that | didn't have any ones.
Now I've only got one twenty, and
I've got one | didn't know | had,
and he shows me the money
Yes, | says, that's what you've
got. all right.
Il can't understand it, he says.
l.