ROGUE AND THE TOBACCONIST.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 4

ROGUE AND THE TOBACCONIST.

. .'£ TIME-ENCRUSTED TRICK. A local tobicconist states that this ; s wepk lib was made the object of all at- -; tempt to ''ring the changes.'' It waa. done on hoary, time-encrusted tlmes.v The person was a man .of gather . "flashy" appearance, and'he asked for cigarettes. . Ho _ tendered half a sovereign, and received 9s.- 6d. and the cigarettes. Then,, as. if struck by a. second thought, he pulled out a handful of silver, put down-sixpence, and asked that tho half-sovereign should be restored. Before his demand could be ; complied with,'however,- the customer requested' that' he . should be given a sovereign iii exchange for the halt?., . sovereign and 10s. in silver that lay on tho-counter. The assistant who was serving without , perceiving that he. was 10s.: to the, bad on the transaction. ' If the customer- had been, content to drop the matter at this stage he might have, got clear away, . but,, instead ,of leaving, he bought a; cigar," and again/ tendered .half . sovereign, and, ,'as it seemed, began the . came de novo. But this time the assistant demanded that the sovereign,first.- • handed over should be laid en tho counter beside the rest of the cash that had figured in the' transaction, and called the proprietor of the shop. The .. latter deposited the whole of the money in, the till, and suggested the inter- :: vention of a policeman. The customer left, hurriedly.