CIRCUS DAYS 9 
have to do this again, I’ll hit you.” The larrikin 
didn’t come back. 
Charley’s work at the ticket-wagon was to keep 
the crowd moving. In front of the ticket-window 
there was always stretched down a big sheet of 
canvas covered with sawdust. When a man put 
down his money for a ticket, the fellow in the wagon 
passed him out a ticket for the cheapest seat and 
charged him the highest price—unless the man 
showed that he knew exactly what seat he wanted; 
in that case, the ticket-seller shoved his change out 
so that one or two coins slid off the counter into the 
sawdust. If the man tried to stop and hunt in the 
sawdust for his money, Charley pushed him along 
to make room for the others who wanted to buy 
tickets. After the crowd had passed imto the tent, 
Charley and his pal would take up the canvas and 
sort out the money from the sawdust. 
I wasn’t in on that “flam” system, but I had 
another way of making money. As head property- 
man, I stood near the entrance to the “big-top” and, 
when people weren’t satisfied with their seats, they 
came to me. I sold them the privilege of taking 
better seats. The sum acquired in this way was 
known as “cross-over money” and it was supposed 
to be turned over to the company. One day one of 
the partners objected to this arrangement. He 
decided that he would take the “cross-over money” 
himself and have me collect tickets at the main 
entrance. The other partner in the show would not 
