Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1903 — A "FAKIR'S" CONFESSIONS. [ARTICLE]

A "FAKIR'S" CONFESSIONS.

Chteago, Heßayefls the Only “gquare” City. In the current Independent are published the confessions of a street ’fakir” who for obvious reasons remains anonymous, from which account it appears that the business to profitable. The fakir’s real beginning as an independent operator was in Chicago, of which he says: “Chicago is the only ’square’ town in this country—that to, ’square* from a fakir’s or grafter’s point of view. You pay for protection and you get It” He paid the captain $5 for a week for permission to sell knife sharpeners, and gave the man on post about a dollar a day. He was warned not to try any “jamming” or “slum” at this low rate. These privileges cost $lO •nd $5 a day, respectively. “Jamming” Is getting possession of the money of a crowd on the understanding that It Is to be given back, and then whipping up a fast team of horses and driving away. “Slum” is selling packages of jewelry, handkerchiefs, etc. There are toVras that are not “square.” In Cleveland the confessing fakir paid for “protection” and was afterward arrested and fined. Then he went to New York, concerning which It is his testimony that it is a town of “easy marks.” New York Is "closed,” except just before Christmas, but there Is something doing in “sneak pitches”—that is, in “squaring” the man on post and selling for a few minutes between the visits of the “rounds.” However, when the artist tried it he was arrested by the very man he had bribed, and thence went to Philadelphia, of which he says:

“Philadelphia is the cheapest city in the United States. The policemen are paid at the rate of $1.75 per day, and a fakir who gives one of them a quarter for protection is bailed as a Carnegie. For a dollar a day the guardian of the beat you are working on will keep your territory clear of other fakirs and vote you prince of good fellows. “There is not much money to be made in Philadelphia by a fakir, for various reasons. First, the people have an inherited trait of thriftiness; second, they live their lives less feverishly than in any other large city of the United States; and there are ‘home guards’ in the town, who take care of all the surplus cash floating around.” New York and Chicago are the headquarters for new novelties, and fakirs of the first class secure the new things. The fakirs keep in touch with the novelty supply complaints for new things, and scan the papers constantly for announcements which indicate some unusual event that will draw a crowd. “I think that for straight faking aluminium gas tips were the most profitable things I ever handled,” says the account of the fakir in the Independent. “They cost me, with the brass pillar attached, $1.35 per gross. I laid out SSOO in tips and printed matter, planned my campaign, and began an itinerary whish occupied four months of my time. My bank account showed a balance to my favor just $4,527 in excess when I had completed my tour.”