The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-14
TRICKS OF SHORT
 CHANGE ARTISTS Ticket Sellers Mistakes" In
 Handling Money PAL MING" COMMON TRICK Folding of Bill So That 1t Resembles Two Is Another Method Often
 Resorted to By the
 Delft Artist.
"PALMING" COMMON TRICK

Tribune.
 Some time ago I was sitting with other
 travelling men in a hotel at Oshkosh, Wis,
 when a young man joined our company
 ard amused us by throwing five silver dol
 lars into the air and trying to catch them,
 one after another, with one hand as they
 came down. Each time one of the pieces
 fell to the floor. Finally he offered to bet
 a dollar that he could catch all of them,
 but none of us was foolish enough to
 take the bet. We all saw the scheme. If
 we had bet he would have caught them
 all.
 ''1f you are such an expert in tricks
 with silver dollars, you probably know the
 trick which was once attempted on me
 at the ticket office during the yearly
 exposition in my home city, I said to
 him. Tt is like this''-but he laughed,
 and before I had time to take the dollars
 said:
 ''oh, that's an old one," He laid four of the silver dollars on a table, took them
 up with one hand and gave them to me.
 I opened my hand and found only three, the other remaining in his hand between the thumb and the palm. Then he showed
 us a schedule of his daily profits made by making change at side show, the
 atre or other public attraction. Tt Is a
 good business" he said, "and I some
 times pay as high as $75 to the managers for the privilege of selling tickets.' His net profits from making change, ranged rom $30 to $90 @ day. I was as
 founded by his audacity and the boldness
 with which he confessed his rascality.
 His tricks recalled some of my expe- riences with ticket sellers who had for gotten to give back the right change, and
 I related the following ones: "short Change" PaIming. Some years ago I and my little boy went to an exhibition in our city. The admission fee was 25 cents. I laid down
 a 8 bill. The ticket agent swept 1t in- side, laid 50 cents in small change on the board before me and counted aloud: Fifty cents Represented by my tickets), sixty seventy seventy-f1ve, one dollar" That was all There lay 50 cents in small silver; looked at the man; he looked at me
 "oh," said he. "did you give me a $5 bin?"
 Certainly did"
 Excuse me: my mistake. What do you want-bills or silver?"
 "I don't care which," I replied. Then he laid down before me eight 50-
 cent pieces I stretched out my hand but DelOTe It ndu tOuchtVQ lHt lbOIty lo hdu swept it up with one hand and placed it in mine. A certain unnatural position | or movement of his thumb attracted my l attention and caused me to count the sil- we'd fin my hand. To my engagement | found only seven 50-cent pieces, one hay l ing been palmed by the rascal. I threy | down the change and cried: 'I saw you | lay down eight 50-cent pieces but here are only seven. That looks like swim ding" Without a word the man laid down another half dollar
 The next day my two daughters went to the exposition. The elder handed the ticket seller a $5 bill. He counted out % cents in silver and then gave her what looked like four $1 bills, holding them and counting them at the ends before her. There was a big crowd behind her, so my daughter placed the money in her bag and went into the hall There she count ed the money and found only three $1 bills, one of them being doubled, so that if the money was counted at the ends there appeared to be four bills. She re- turned at once to the ticket window, laid down the money, and demanded another dollar. But it was of no avail. Counting at Both Ends. Making change at both ends is trick played in saloons and other places where there are dishonest people," said a dry goods man. "I make a 75 cents purchase and give a $5 bill in payment. The man brings the change and counts aloud, Sew enty-five cents,' handing me my pack age, and twenty-five cents makes one dollar, two dollars, three dollars, four dollars, four twenty-five, and seventy-five cents, your purchase, makes five dollars He has deducted the 75 cents twice, at the beginning and at the end. If you are in a hurry nine times out of ten you won't notice the mistake"
 substituting a $l bill for $5 Is an- other common way of swindling," said a
 glove man. "Your change from a $10 bill
 is s9 The man counts the correct change
 including $5 bill, before your eyes. Then
 he hands it to you, substituting $1 bill
 for the s5 by clever manipulation"
 'It pays to keep sharp lookout at all
 times," said a short man in the group.
 "I buy my mileage and excess baggage
 books at our home ticket office, and as
 I come home every Saturday and go out
 Monday mornings, I write out a check
 for the amount of the book and add s20
 or S3O sometimes little more, for expense
 money for the week. This saves me the
 trouble and annoyance of cashing check
 on the road. One day made out check
 for $50 bought s10 baggage book and
 received s15 in bills. q looked at the man
 
 glanced at the check and gave me the missing $25."
 Looked Him Right in the Eye. "On another occasion I gave the ticket agent a s25 check for a $10 book. He looked at the check, put it away, and attended to another man who wanted a ticket I said nothing, but waited until he had finished with the other man,
 and then looked him straight in the eye. He looked at me, but said nothing. Where is my change? I asked. Oh, wasn't your check for $10?' he said. Then he looked at the check and gave me $15." That reminds me of an incident which I looked uron as real mistake, but when hear all these things it strikes me that 1t may have been done intention ally" said another. 'I bought some un- derwear in a large department store, the price being $2. The salesman sent the $5 bill I gave him to the cashiers office by the cash railway When it came back the salesman had disappeared and I had to hunt him up to get my change It may be that he had forgotten it, but the fact remains that if I had also forgotten to wait the $3 would have gone into his pocket
 How One Man Was Stung. "Once I was sitting in street car, | one of the old variety, with two long benches on each side, drawn by horses. l It took about half an hour to get any where. In the middle of the car sat q 1 man I will call by the name "Whiskers.' | ite casually dropped from one hand into | the other six silver dollars. He did it so | often and so mechanically that every one l of the passengers knew how many dol