The San Francisco call., 1909-09-05
"The Confession of a Con Man.
As told to VIII Irwin. Published by b. W.
Huebsch, New York. Price 81.

As told to VIII Irwin. Published by B. W.
Huebsch New York. Price 81.
A casual glance at the title "Confes-
sions of Con Man makes the reader
familiar with the work of the versatile
brothers Irwin think this is ascribed
to the wrong brother when it is seen
to be signed VIII instead of Wal
lace"
A bit of reading, however, soon
shows that no mistake has been made.
The book is filled with amusing anec-
dotes. but sadly neutrality-suspicious.
humorous These confessions first ap-
peared serially and Mr.. Irwin says in
his preface that friends and admirers
alike thought, Of course. they were
fiction He takes the opportunity here
presented to say in his interesting lit
tie preface: L hasten to assure the
reader that this is a genuine confess
sion that / figure in 1T but as the
transcriber of a life story told me-
believe with every conscientious effort
at truth-during a month of pleasant
association in New York. [
have disguised a name or locality
here and there; otherwise l have set
down only what he told me, trying
through it all to give some flavor of
the man and his vocabulary
Few writer's of today would have had
the courage to do what Mr.. Irwin has
done in this little book; he has sunk his
own identity so far out of sight that
nothing remains to tell the reader that
he had anything to do with the writing
of 1t; and yet who else could have told
these tales so graphically-or rather
who else could have drawn such con-
fessions from any man?
The book is divided into five chap
ters. entitled, II learn to cheat with
marked cards" II join the circus and
elope with Minnie, the elephant Il be-
come an eminent fixer and an adept at
big Joint" II rejuvenate three card
monte" andf"why 1 cut it out
For the purposes of review one quo
tation will be enough. In the third
chapter-"I become a fixer'-he is ex-
planning some easy ways to skin the
farmers who go to the circus and to
fairs. One is worth hearing about, for
lot of people will be glad to get the
real meaning Of "23" at last.
"'Cloth' is an easy money dice game.
The operator has before him a sheet of
green felt marked off into figured
souares-S to 4s. The player throws
eight dice. and the dealer compares the
sum of the spots he has thrown with
the numbers on the cloth. Certain
spaces are marked Tor prizes. 0Ve OF
six are marked conditional and one.
number 90. is marked lose The deal
er keeps his stack of coins over the 23
space. so that II isn't noticed until the
time to show It. These spaces marked
conditional are used in a great many
gambling games, such as spindle; they
are the most useful thing in the world
for leading the sucker on. for when he
throws conditional the dealer tells him
that he Is in great luck. He has
thrown better than a winning number.
He has only to double his bet and on
the next throw he will get four times
the indicated prize, or if he throws a
blank number. the equivalent of his
money. He is kept throwing 'condi-
tionals' until his whole pile is down.
and then made to throw 23-the space
which he failed to notice and which is
marked lose Z"
The slang expression comes from this
game. The player hasn't chance on
earth. for the tables are filled with
boosters" and other confederates of
the dealer, who simply count him out.
There have been other exposes of
card tricks and various cheating de-
vices to catch the green and the un-
wary, but for some reason they have
failed to accomplish their object and
the ICON" man goes cheerfully on his
way vigorously plying his trade This
book will amuse the willy city man and
will interest and instruct the unsus-
picious 1t is carefully written and IL
Illustrated with a few clever sketches by
W. Glackens.