The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-12-12
NEW FLIM-FLAM GAMES.
From the Pathfinder.

|
One trouble with education is that
it makes the rascal as well as the
worthy man more efficient. Some of
! the modern schemes for getting mon
ey without working for it call for the
highest kind of abilities, and it is a
shame that these abilities should be
thus subverted and made use of to
the injury Of society. People in bus
! mess nowadays have to be more Wig
| liant than ever to keep from being
outdone by these schemers, who
abuse the most sacred confidence and
| take advantage of the noblest and
most generous traits in human ma
ture in order to enrich themselves
at the cost of others.
The big city stores have to employ
detectives to be constantly on the
watch to head off professional pilfer-
ers and fiim-fam artists. Occasion
ally even women of supposed re-
speciality are caught stealing ar
ticles. Their plea when cornered up
is usually that they are victims Of
"kleptomania'- uncomfortable
and insane desire to take things. So,
frequently they are let off on restor-
| ing the goods, where a poor and
friendless person might be sent to
jail.
The professional store thieves, who
are mostly women, cultivate an ele-
CANT appearance and dress in the best
and most refined taste-as they can
well afford to do. Even when caught
they can usually then pretend to be-
come very Indignant and thus divert
suspicion and get away.
In some cases these women carry
a Bible or other book with them
which has been cut out so rs to leave
a space in which jewelry or other
valuables can be secreted. Even
when a merchant realizes that some
valuable has just disappeared from
his stock he cannot arrest all the Gus
toners in his store and have them
searched; and when once an article
is concealed it is q difficult matter
to find out who has it.
In Washington only recently one
of the biggest stores of the city was
victimized by woman who worked
novel scheme, and one which the
most careful merchant might be TAX
en- in on. This wOman-who appear
ed to be a lady of wealth and cult
ure, used to having the best there
is-came into the store and asked to
be SHOWN the finest fur coat in the
stock. This was $3.50 and she indi-
Gated that she was pleased with it
and would take it. She handed the
clerk a crisp new $1,000 bill and
asked for the $3.50 change.
The merchant decided that he
could not afford to take such a risk
without making sure that the bill
was genuine, so he sent it round to
a bank. The bank pronounced the
bill perfectly good. Meantime, how
ever, the woman, who must have
been a firstclass actress, pretended to
fly into a towering rage. She was not
used to being doubted or having sus-
picion cast on her, she said, and she
intfmated that she would withdraw
her patronage, which was very valua-
Bile, from the store. Snatching the
bill she started to depart, saying Ihat
she would not take the coat after
such an insult.
The merchant, who was anxious to
make the trade, tried to appease her
and after a time she consented, with
assumed reluctance, to take the coat.
She put down the bill and they gave
her the coat and the $3.50 and she de-
parted. When the bill was deposited
the bank refused it as it was a coun-
terfeit. 1t then became evident that
the woman, when she snatched back
the good bill, had changed it for an
other one that looked exactly like it
but was a counterfeit.