"DECOY” SHOWMEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 150, 27 June 1931, Page 6

"DECOY” SHOWMEN

; WATCHES AND A POUND NOTE. The operations of “a gang” of sideshowmen yesterday demanded the focus . of a good deal of public attention. It was interesting to watch the actions of f decoys looking for “pigeons” and to , follow the intricate procedure when unsuspecting sightseers were drawn into a net. A pressman was singled out as a victim in one instance. He was approached by a man wearing a very highly coloured collar, boots that reflected what light of day there was in brilliant fashion, trousers that somehow ha<l a Sydney cut. “Got the time on you old man!” the reporter was asked, and while a reply was being given up walked a man who made no bones about his calling. “Take an advertising watch gentlemen,” he said to tho pressman and his new found “friend.” “We arc giving them away. All you’ve got to do i.sign for them.” He with the collar, the boots and the trousers seemed tremendously interested and needed no second invitation to go and sign up for a perfectly good gold watch. With a “Billy Muggins” look oh his face the reporter followed and wound up at the usual table. There was a ball, two pegs and an invitation to knock them both down with one throw It was easy, but the man with the Sydney trousers could not do it, though he tried and tried again. Quite a crowd collected, most of them had highly coloured shirts and all seemed vitally interested in the three central figures, the showman, the man who had asked tho time and the lad of the inky way. In the end an argument, developed between the showman anil the chap with the Sydney trousers about the value of the watch. This ended with the showman declaring, with assumed heat, that it was worth four pounds. “You’re the sort who'd sooner have the money are you? Give us a pound and take a fiver.” he said, finding a roll of notes from an inside pocket. Then, turning to the pressman. “What about you? Got a pound on you?” holding out a fiver. The reporter made to feel in his ( pocket. “I’ll stand to my friend,” said the man who had asked the time and the reporter thought it was advisable to move away. While he had been at tempting to determine definitely whether he really had a pound the white ribbon with tho word “Press’ stamped on it was revealed from under the lapel of his coat. It worked like magic, the showman, the man who had asked the time, and the pink-blue green and purple-shirted audience faded away. The showman, as he went, threw th** pegs and the balj* on the table with a hissing noise of anger coming through his nose. The pressman was left facing an empty stall and the very clear convic tion that he who had asked the time ( was a splendid decoy, that all who had ( gathered in the audience were in the swim and that they constituted “the gang.” With other interested spectn tors the reporter studied “the gang" at work for an hour ot more. The decoy found several willing to “go up and sign for watches,” but when they were asked to put up a pound without an\ dear idea of the reason why thev baulked. Had a Hard Time. In conversation with a “Chronicle” * reporter last night Mr J*’. G. Seddon stated that there were several very line showmen present this year and they very much resented anything in the nature of sharp practices. Times had been very hard at the Palmerston Show ami he had endeavoured to give those who had taken space here as good h run as possible, allowing rncm until today to find the money for rent. He had come to the conclusion, however, that u certain clique was not playing the game. Ho had extricated one man trom their clutches earlier in the day. lie was a resident of Putiki and was a very thankful man when he acknowledged to j the secretary that “they” (the gang) t had given him back his jjioncy. <|