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Show THE VILLAGE SUCKER. B Or You Needn't Leave Home to Be Buncoed. H The actors in this little local comedy-drama wcroH two nice smooth men, one large trusting gent, oncH innocent poolroom, and a little piece of wire. ItH has been kept very quiet for the "prominent business H man," couldn't say a word for obvious reasons. OncH day the largo trusting gent, went with the niccH smooth men to a little room between the Western H Union and the pool room. There after much con- Hj fiding, and many pledges they showed him the wireB tapping layout. To demonstrate that it was aB cinch thoy caught a race, and all three rushed to the B pool room five minutes before it came in. TheyB played a hundred or two of their own money, and B took tueir profits. B (Hi Which same profits looked good to the large B trusting gent, nnd ho took a chance with beneficial B results. B Then back to the "office" they went. Here the B energetic, pushing young man had a lot of things B made clear to him, the most important of which was B that it would be very indiscreet for him to play B his own money owing to compromising complica- H tions which might arise. After he saw the wisdom H of this a grand coup was planed, ne was to get H $5,000, and they would wait till a long shot came H in. Then one of the nice smooth men would rush H ,down and play it all on the race (for the man H who ran the pool room, was known to make the sky the limit) and it was a cinch. H M They didn't wait long. The money was produced H 'and the same day an eight to one shot walked in. H DoAvn to the pool-room with the roll, cantered one H of the nice smooth men, and a vision of $40,000 hovered around the large trusting gent. The revela- tion came later. Five minutes passed; ten, fifteen, H twenty. H Even then, there was no distrust. The large H 'trusting man said " 1 guess we've closed them anrf H 'there's hell popping." H Another fifteen minutes passed. Then ho wentH 'down to the pool-room. His friend was nowheic H lin sight. Ho rubbered a moment or two, then he jinquired if anything unusual had happened during the afternoon, or if any big bets had been made. jHc wits informed to the contrary. The yellow chalk was marked around his pony on the board. I ' Back to the "office" he went, and, grande finale. The other friend had flown, and the room looked like a strange place. The instrument was gone, and 'everything belonging to the two nice smooth men ihad been taken away, also 5,000 cold bucks of the realm. ! It was a revelation that beat direct testimony 8 to 1, with nothing to do but keep muni. To his 'friends, no, to the police, no. Nowhere to go, but iway-bae.c to some scqusted nook in the sugar pines with Ade's fable on the folly of having money. And 'when there hq said "Never again, I will eschew the world and turn artist and will compose some music 'to be sung to the immortal poem "The Beautiful jSnow." |