Twenty years a fakir

by S. James Weldon

He had several Beatem pianos, which were listed at a high figure, but which he had obtained at a large discount. So far, he had been unable to sell them, and as he was well known he did not care to manage the fake he thought of suggesting to me. He offered to fix me up in style, and pay my expenses and big wages, if I would go to a city not far away, representing myself as from Beatem and attend to the disposing of a piano through the Woman’s charity organization of the town. I jumped at the chance, and went to Tirbyville, splendidly dressed and in every way well equipped for the scheme.

When the piano had come I called upon the president of the society and made known the fact that I was representing the Beatem Piano Company of New York; that their pianos were of the finest kind, and that the firm had adopted a new way of introducing them. Instead of paying big money to the newspaper men, I had instructions to give the benefit of all the profits to some charitable association; in fact, I was in town for the purpose of giving away some of them now. The instrument was here, on exhibition and trial, and what we wanted to do was to call attention to it. At the same time, of course, we were more than gratified at the chance of doing a little good. I wanted to advertise the pianos, not to sell them; and in order to hurry the affair through as quickly as possible, I was going to offer special inducements to those taking an interest in the matter.

I then stated that the instrument was worth eight hundred dollars, and the best way to determine its destination was to raffle it off at one dollar per chance. I would have eight hundred tickets printed, and the W. C. O. was to have twenty per cent. of the proceeds for managing the affair. As a still greater inducement for the ladies to assist in the scheme for getting the piano before the country, we intended to give a twenty-dollar gold piece to the lady who sold the greatest number of tickets, and ten dollars for the next.

I knew the scheme could not fail. The ladies took hold and worked like beavers, attending to the sale of the tickets, and likewise to the drawing. On my side I saw that an advertisement like this appeared in the regular reading matter of the local papers:

“The finest piano in the world.

“Tirbyville enjoys the reputation of having the finest amateur musical talent of any town in the state, and Beatem Bros. of New York have the reputation of making the best pianos in the United States.

“A representative of this firm is now in our city with one of their samples. In order to introduce their goods he will give away one of their superb instruments.

“It will be raffled off under the auspices of the Woman’s Charity Organization, the tickets selling for the nominal sum of one dollar.

“The piano is a gem, costing eight hundred dollars direct from the factory. It is now on exhibition at Kirby Bros.’ music store, where the musically inclined public is invited to call. Professor S. James Weldon will be there at all hours, ready to explain the merits of the piano, and our citizens will do well to call. The worthy charity organization reaps the benefit of the drawing, and we trust our citizens will liberally subscribe.”

It took about six weeks to work up this scheme, but it paid well. After deducting the twenty per cent. commission, prize money and personal expenses, I went away with about one hundred dollars profit for my employer, who at once sent me to another place to work the racket over again on the same lines.