A Confidence Man’s Story. 
t'lie rieeciiig.of a New Jersey Clergy man 
In a Bowery “Dive,” 
I 
;; I don’t mind telling you how I took in a j 
Jersey preacher the other day,” said a | 
Sleeker street crook to a New York reporter. I 
“I saw liis name'on a Broadway hotel reg- ! 
tster. It had‘Rev.’before it. r l’he same j 
sign was to be seen in the cut of his coat j 
and the cast of his countenance. When a! 
man writes that handle to his name in a| 
hotel register he's good plucking every 
time. Wiien he came on the street I was 
dressed like a plain business man. I grasp¬ 
ed him cordially by the hand, and, calling 
him by name, told him how glad I was to 
see him. Of course, he said he didn’t know 
me. I said to’hint: 
U I am not surprised at that. I met you j 
the second Lord’s day in August, after ser-1 
ace, |at your church. Mr. H-—. the j 
banker, introduced me to you. You meet j 
so* many people under such circumstances 
that you cannot be expected to remember t 
a tenth of them.” j 
“Just how did you learn that Mr. H-, 
was a banker in that village?” was asked. 
“Got it from the directory. It costs $100 
a .year to get the list, its revisions, and busi¬ 
ness standing of each man in it. As I was 
saying, the dominie brightened at once and j 
began to apologize for not remembering | 
me. I shut him off by asking if a well- 
known merchant there had tided- over his 
financial difficulties, and whether the new 
grocery firm was prospering. Then I 
clinched him by saying that it required j 
some assurance on my part to address him, ! 
especially when so many sharps and bunco j 
men were around, but I thought he might! 
be in the condition of the man who, on I 
meeting a neighbor in a strange place, said:! 
Tin mighty glad to see you; I'd be mighty j 
glad to see a dog from Juntown.” 
‘ vVe laughed and talked very comfortably j 
after that. I tol l him I was a leather mer¬ 
chant in the Swamp, and was going down 
to my office. i t lie wasn’t busy would 
vhowfliim what a business we did down 
there. Then I suggested that we should 1 
walk down, so as to see the sights along the j 
route, and that we might go over through [ 
the Bowery, where he would be able to set.* 
just how black the ways of Satin were in 
New York. #1 assured him that it was per¬ 
fectly safe, that the Bowery contained 
many respectable business houses, and that 
he could see the dens and (fives without 
danger. 
“Of course, he went along. We passed 
through Houston street and out on the 
Bowery. ‘Here my brother, is the reef 
on which the waves of sin meet and break’. 
I said as we did so. 1 rather think that 
was a beautiful poetic flight; don’t you? 
He replied with a pious remark, that 1 
have forgotten. On the way down I show¬ 
ed him the doors of the various concert 
halls and told him stories suggested by~ the 
gay pictures. When I got to the right cor¬ 
ner on the Bowery I told him I was thirsty 
and that the man inside made excellent 
lemonade I did not like to be seen in 
a Bowery place of any kind, but here was 
one of the most respectable houses there. 
Drinks were sold, but no gamblers nor any 
evil people were allowed in there if the pro¬ 
prietor knew it. The barkeeper made us 
each take a long drink of very good lemon¬ 
ade, putting a stick in each glass. Near 
by us was a pal having a drink, too. 
The pal was apparently tipsy. We all fin¬ 
ished at once. I pulled out a ten dollar bill. 
So did the tipsy man. The bar-keeper pick¬ 
ed them up. 
“ ‘I’m sorry, gentlemen’ he said, but I 
have only change enough to,break one of 
these.' 
“ ‘Take'em all out of mine.’ said the 
tipsy fellow, with a flourish. 
“ *No take them out of mine,’ said I. 
“Then we disputed a bit, and the dominie 
took out his wallet and said, smilingly; ‘I’ll 
settle it by paying,’and he showed that his 
book was well lined. But the tipsy man 
was excited, so the bar-tender said; ‘shake 
for it.’ We all agreed, and the leather box 
and three dice were produced, and the bar¬ 
keeper went to the other end of the room. 
‘Now 1 said, taking the box, ‘we’ll count 
top and bottom of the dice, won’t we?’ 
The tipsy man agreed. Of course 1 count¬ 
ed up twenty one. Then tha tipsy 5 man be¬ 
came excited again. 
“ ‘I’ll bet you $50 you ca n’t, do that again,’ 
lie said. 
