Show BUNCO MEN A Special Effort Made to Explain Their Methods of Swindling So many people at the hotels and in other public places about town have lately been victimized sharpers that yesterday large cards containing a warning were issued by the police department de-partment and sent to the hotels These have been placed in the most conspicuous conspicu-ous places usually at or near the desk where the registering is done regstering At the Grand hotel there are several of these placards and at the Palace California Baldwin Lick and Occidental dental a greater or less number are displayed The department has also sent cards to the myriads of smaller hotels The army of confidence men that have arrived In the city during the past few weeks are flanked by sharpers of more or less note from different dif-ferent eastern cities They hope to reap harvests from visitors and residents resi-dents The notice of warning which has been issued and posted at the hotels is as follows Strangers are hereby notified to beware be-ware of bunco steerers shortcard players play-ers and confidence men These men Infest the Corridors of hotels the vicinity of railroad ticket offices and hotel wine rooms They obtain from the hotel registers the names of guests and places from which they come meet them on the street with a cordial good morning or good evening and calling them by name say I knew you at mentioning the place where they are from The man being in a strange place and unused to the ways of these vermin is only too ready to greet a person who may claim that he knew him at his home Then follows a friendly drink and an invitation to take a walk and finally he is ushered into the back room of a saloon where a game of cards or dice is in progress On the pretense to pass the time the steerer takes a hand be it cards or dice and wins some money He then asks the stranger to play often dividing divid-ing his winning with him as an inducement in-ducement This invitation is rarely refused After a little time he is dealt a hand at cards he then finds that his opponent has a hand that beats him I i should be a dice game he is also invited to participate which he does resulting in his losing his resuling money probably prob-ably all he has in the world The bunco steerer invariably extends sympathy to the victim and wishes him better luck next time They leave the place together but the victim is soon shaken off when the steerer re turns to the saloon to get his percentage percent-age of the winnings so obtained by fraud Shun all strangers who approach insist in-sist and claim to know you I you do not you may repent I I is doubtless a good idea to post the notices said notces one hotel man yes terday but If they dont read the papers and see the warning daily I dont know how this will reach them The public is very peculiar sometimes sometmes especially the traveling public While this class of people are usually better informed than any other they read the papers and straightway forget thinking they can take care of them selves As a fact those who tos really know much about the world can take care of themselves but i must be remembered that probably a majority of those at the hotels travel but little They are here from the country towns and from their stores and ranches and are not always awake to the wiles of these confidence men Different hotel proprietors say that during the past two weeks they have had to keep constant watch for card sharps and bunco steerers who come in seat themselves and try to draw strangers into conversation San Francisco Chronicle |