The Big Con by David Maurer Read Free Book Online

victim.
    Some con men think that the $375,000 scores taken off by the Hashhouse Kid and Gondorff are the largest; certainly they are the largest which are generally recognized. Rumors of larger ones float about, but they cannot be verified, even though there may well be some basis for them in fact. Typical of these is the gigantic score rumored to have been taken off by the Big Alabama Kid shortly after the close of the War. Estimates of its size run from $1,000,000 to $2,800,000. The roper is supposed to have been a novice who was never paid in full for his share of the score. Whether or not this tale is true, it is certain that many large scores must lie buried in the memories of three men only—the roper, the insideman and the victim. And con men are not always either modest or truthful in estimating the size of the scores they have taken off.
    The tendency among con men to exaggerate the size or number of their touches is the source of much good-humored ribbing. A tale is told about Jack Jewett from Texas and the Umbrella Kid from New York, partners for many years. Jack liked to draw the long bow when he told about the touches he and the Kid took off. If they took off $10,000, Jack made it $50,000 when he told the tale. One night, so it is said, the two were invited to a party given by some big-con friends. So the Kid lectured Jack in advance. “Jack,” he said, “when you tell about scores tonight, be careful. And if you make them too strong, I’ll give you the office by coughing.Then you’ll know you’re getting them too high and can cut them down.”
    “O.K.” said Jack. “I’ll try to be reasonable.” The party was going along fine and talk shifted to big touches that had come off recently. The boys knew Jack’s failing and played on it by solemnly telling of tremendous scores. Finally Jack could restrain himself no longer.
    “The other day,” he said, “I was walking down the street and cut into a mark. He was a soft one, so right there I played the pay-off against the wall for him and beat him out of $80,000.” The Kid coughed pointedly. “Excuse me,” said Jewett, “it wasn’t $80,000. It was $75,000.” The Kid coughed again. “Maybe, now that I think of it, it was only $70,000,” said Jack. The Kid coughed desperately. Jack turned to him in annoyance and blurted out, “Kid, I’ll not take another grand off that touch if you cough till doomsday!”
    It is just as difficult to secure reliable information on the number of touches any mob takes off as it is to get the facts on the size of any score. However, it is the consensus of opinion among con men that any roper who gets from two to four touches a year is doing quite well. If he should get as many as eight, he is very lucky. And many ropers are fortunate if they get one, while a few others go through an entire lifetime with only one touch—their first one—to entitle them to a place in the big-con rackets. Often a tendency to fictionalize regarding the number or size of touches is the roper’s natural method of trying to bolster up his self-confidence and maintain his status in his profession. On the other hand, a really successful roper has no occasion to lie about his exploits. It is an established fact that one week in February, 1922, Jackie French brought into the Florida store the following marks and beat them: *
P. R. Nicholson from Dillonville, Ohio
$110,000
George Pohling, a Philadelphia brewer
$200,000
John G. Scott, a Britisher
$25,000
Albert Seurin, from Cleveland, Ohio
$13,000
    (This mark was tied up, but did not complete the play.)
    As the war-boom died away, the big scores became less frequent. During the depression years a touch of $25,000 was considered a very respectable one and now we occasionally hear of one for $75,000 or $100,000; another war-boom may supply another crop of “war babies.” But one suspects that the day of the big scores taken off in quantity is temporarily over in the United States. With the