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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-10-11, Page 6Beware Of The Short - Change By Irving Leibernian Editor's Note: Sgt. Audley Walsh, one of the leading police authorities on swindles, esti- mates that professional short- changers gyp the public out of a hundred million dollars a year. And it happens to everybody. To show how these cheap swin- dlers cheat the public, the Police Gazette has asked our typical victims to tell their own stories. Continued exposure of these shortchange swindlers will stop them from preying on unsuspec- ting victims. I'm a truck driver and there's an all-night diner where I stop for a spot of coffee and dough- nuts on my run between Chicago and Indianapolis. That is -where I used to stop, until I got wise to the shortchange gypping the lit- tle redheaded waitress was pul- ling off on all us guys. She's a wisecracking gal, al- ways ready with a joke, and she gives you that big smile and a lot of fast talk when you're get- ting your change. Then one night, just before I got in my trailer, I just sort of „happened to look at the change she had given me and did some quick figurin'. Two cups of cof- fee and two doughnuts added up to thirty cents. I'd given her a buck and got forty cents back, all in dimes and nickels. ` "Hey," I said to myself, "I got thirty cents coming to me." I started to go back, but I >ltgured I'd look cheap and be- sides, I could be wrong. But the next time I stopped at the diner that missing change stuck in my mind. When the waitress pulled the jokes while I was paying my check, I stop - to count the money I got back before I stuffed it in my pocket. This time I was missing two - bits. "Just a minute, Venus," I told her, "you shortchanged me a quarter." She made a big fuss about looking at my check and re- counting my change. "Sorry, Mac," she said, flashing that big smile and handed me the two -bits, 'those big, brown ayes of yours take my mind off ;Ray business." "Stirs, Elite," I says, 'but it's a pretty good business -for you" I passed the word en to the other drivers I knew and they started .checking their change. The redhead was working the same gyp on all of them. So now we stop at another diner down the road where the waitress is honest and doesn't think a guy is dumb just because he drives a truck. • * • I'm a business marn living in a small town a hundred miles TOPPER OF THE TAILS -Inspired by the fur hats of Mongolian warriors is this cap of mink tails. A tassel of strung pearls cascades from the crown over She brow. The hat is typical of the Far Eastern motif in the winter collection of designer Simone Mirman, o f London, England. Artists from San Francisco, About once a month I go into the city to spend a day or two in the home office of my company. One night after a late confer- ence I took a cab to my hotel. It wasn't a long walk, but I was tired: When we got to the hotel, the meter read thirty-five cents, • so I handed the cabbie two quar- ters and got out. "Hey, mister," he hollered. "Ydu owe me some money," "I gave you half a buck," He shook his head. "Here's what you gave me," The cabbie held out his hand, In it was a quarter and a nickel. I was positive I had given him two quarters but I was tired and didn't want to argue. So I handed him another twenty-five cents. The next night I took another cab after having dinner with friends. The fare was sixty cents. Remembering the night before, I counted my change carefully and handed the cabbie three quarters. I had walked about ten feet toward the hotel when he hol- lered: "What's the idea, buddy? You shortchanged me." "I gave you seventy-five cents -sixty cents for the fare and fifteen cents tip," "You made a mistake. Take a look." He had two quarters and a nickel in his hand. This time I got mad. "I made sure I gave you three quarters," I told the cabbie, "And that's what I gave you. Don't pull your racket on me." He scrambled out of the cab and headed for me belligerently. "Don't call me a crook, you - I called a cop nearby and ex- plained what had happened. He nodded as I filled in the details. "It's an old one the hackies puIl on tourists," he said. "I'll take care of this guy and thanks for telling me. This guy won't be driving hack for awhile" The officer ordered the cab- bie to get back in the car. "Come on, bud," he said angrily, "we're going down to the station house." • * • I work on the docks on New York City's East River and there's a bar where longshore- inen hang out after wrestling tons of cargo all day. The bartender's name is Harry. He's not working at thebar now and here's how it happened. On payday we'd throw five, ten or twenty dollar bills at Harry to pay our tab. While we picked up the silver, Harry neat- ly stacked the bills and counted them twice. Then he handed the change across the bar. What we didn't know for a long time was that when Harry tapped the bills on their edges to make the stack neat, he let the back bill drop behind the bar. Harry let the bill stay on the floor until the customer left. If the guy noticed he was short a five or ten, Harry would pick it up off the floor anc"say: "I'm sure gettin' clumsy in my °Id age. Sorry, Mac." We tipped off the racket squad and they used marked bills to catch Harry, When they counted up the bills he had dropped back of the bar and later picked up, Harry had made $200 in three hours working what the cops call "The Drop Racket." Best way to beat the short- change gyp according to police experts is: know the denomina- tion of the bill you hand out for payment; re-count your silver and paper money before you leave the scene; never accept neatly folded bills without re- checking the amount. If you are sure that you have been shortchanged and you are refused the correct amount, say that you are going to call a po- liceman. If you're dealing with a crook, he'll probably fork over your right change in a hurry. From "The Police Gazette." CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Substitute team 6. Pretends 11. Old woman 12. Interweaving 14. Stiff 15. Panaceas 17. State (Pr.) 18. Contained 19. Soft drink 10. Humor 21..Pugle call 22. Son of Jacob 23. Views 25, Mark of omission 26. Tiflis 27. Put on 28. Bed linen 31. Golf obstacles 15. Give for a time 16. Dry 17, Ignited 18. Aged 39. Crush with the teeth 40, Narrow road 41. Apparent 42. Thicket 44, Manifest 45. Goose genas 47, Unw6. anted planta DOWN 1. l+'astener3 2. 1neview 3, 6th Sunday after Easter 4. Single thing 6. Garden plot 6. Drowsy 7. Corridors 24. Blackthorn 8. Sour I. Ax handle 9. Mingle 30. Salad plant 10. Sharpshooter .,, !':,ux,tic 13, Group of trees 72. Pass, as time 16. Roasting 33. Washed stake lightly 18. Difficult 34. Pilots 21. Encamp 36. Flinch 22. Gaunt 39. Crooked 24, Require 90. Solitary 25. Tapering solid 42. Clamor 27, Swindle 93, Cry of a crow e 20 /0 tleeeiVitiee 111111113 1111111111111111 rYrR11111■111 Answer elsewhere on this page SCORCHED SKI - JUMPERS - Skiing was a mighty hot activity far Tom Spencer, above. At the first Western Ski -Jumping Championships at Mt. Baldy, competitors donned shorts and doffed shirts to withstand The 'torrid 102 -degree heat. Coolly clad Spencer soared 64 feet in this particular jump to win the class A title. r:1 ;TABLE TALKS lob clave Andrews "Until I was a grown woman and a grandmother, I never saw a cake that had less than four layers," a great-grand- mother from the South told me recently. "In my father's home several cakes were baker every Saturday, since we had a great deal of week -end company. Every one of them had four layers." This woman went on to des- cibe the large colonial home In which she grew up and the kitchen which smelled so de- liciously of coconut, chocolate, caramel, nuts, and baking cakes on Saturdays. * * * "The kitchen, which had once been across the yard from the house, as the kitchens of many Southern homes were, had been moved close to the house and was connected to it by a porch which ran along the side of the kitchen and pantry. Servants who felt they belonged to the family reigned supreme in the kitchen. One old man who had served the family for countless years, sat by the stove and fed it wood just at the right time to keep the temperature even for cake baking. Once the batter was in the oven, he never allow- ed us children to come near for fear a jolt would make the cakes fall" :N * * As the girls in the family grew into young ladies, they were taught cake baking and frosting along with several other parts of, the culinary art considered nec- essary to their education, "Each week my sisters and I would have what was to us an exciting time deciding who should make what kind of cake," this woman told me. "My special favorite was chocolate cake with icing. One sister liked coconut, especially if we had fresh coco- nuts to shred and use; another sister was especially partial to hickory nut cakes and would start the night before, getting us all to crack and pick out the 'kernels so that she could mix them in a white cake batter. The unbroken kernels were saved for cake decoration," states a writer in The Christian Science Moni- tor. ,, . AN When the four or five cakes were finished and arranged on the pantry shelf reserved for them, this woman and her sisters would stand back and admire their products much as an artist might look at his paintings, she said. Then, when the cakes were cut and served, their parents and friends would pass judgment on the lightness, the thickness of the icing, and the taste - and pride fo accomplishment would rise high! V ,p A nut cake, baked in a fruit cake pan and. made in this woman's home at the time she describes, was one favorite. Here is the recipe: PECAN CAE 1/a pound butter 2 cups sugar 2 cups flour 6 eggs 1/2 cup fruit juice 3/ teaspoon salt 1 quart broken pecan meats 11/ pounds raisins 1 teaspoon nutmeg Roll nuts and raisins in flour. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs slowly one at a time, beat- ing well after each addition. Add sifted flour and all other ingre- dients. Bake in 325°F. oven. Times have changed in many ways since the days described above, but cake baking Is still a time of sweet-smelling kitch- ens and creative opportunity for decorating favorite cases. Here is a chocolate cake iced with peppermint and decorated with peppermint candy. DEEP DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE 2 cups sifted cake flour teaspoon salt 4 squares unsweetened Ehocolate 1/4 cup butter 2 cups sugar 2 egg yolks, unbeaten 1% .cups milk - 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon soda Sift flour once, measure; add salt, and sift again. Melt choco- late and shortening together over hot water. Turn into mixing bowl and cool to room tempera- ture (this is important). Then add sugar and mix well. Add egg yolks and 1 cup of the milk; blend, Add flour and mix just until all flour is dampened. Then 'peat I minute at low speed of electric mixer or about 150 strokes by hand. Acid vanilla and 1/ cup more of the milk; mix until smooth. Dissolve soda in the remaining 3/4 cup milk. Stir into batter quickly and thoroughly. (Batter will be thin.) Pour batter into 2 round 9 - inch pans, 11/2 inches deep, which have been lined on bot- tom with paper. Bake at 350°F. 30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly. Cake also may be. baked in a 13x9x2 pan about 45 minutes. Note: This calve may be mixed completely in a 2 -quart double boiler. Melt chocolate and short- ening in a double boiler and cool to room tetmperature. Proceed with mixing as directed above, using double boiler instead of ,a bowl. Bake as directed above. Cool cake before, frosting. p AN * FLUFFY PEPPERMINT FROSTING 2 egg whites, unbeaten 11/a cups sugar Dash of salt ft cup water 2 teaspoons light corn syrup y teaspoon peppermint extract peppermint candies Combine first 5 ingredients in top of double boiler. Beat about 1 minute or until thoroughly mixed. Then place over boiling water and beat constantly with sturdy egg beater (or at high speed of electric beater) 7 min- utes, or until frosting will stand in stiff peaks. (Stir frosting up from bottom and sides of pan occasionally with rubber spatula or spoon.) Remove from boiling water, pour at once into large bowl, add peppermint extract and beat 1 minute, or until thick enough to spread. Decorate with candy. Making Homework Less Painful Parents can't do a child's studying for him - but they can help. One important contri- bution they can make to the success of the school year is in arranging an ideal place for a boy or girl to do his homework. The bedroom is the best spot since it is away from the dis- traction of family activities. But bedrooms are seldom bright and cheerful enough for study purposes and redecorating is usually called for. Because most homework must be done at . night, the prime consideration when decorating a bedroom study is light re- flection, according to Wilfred Sinclair, C -I -L color consultant. The ceiling should receive careful attention since it is the chief reflecting surface for arti- ficial light. Paint it white, light ivory, cream beige or lemon yellow, the colors, which toss back the most light, Mr, Sin- clair suggests. In choosing colors for walls, take into consideration the size of the room and the direction it faces. If windows are on the north or east, warmth will be added by using paint in yellow or reddish hues. If the room has a southern or western exposure, the cooler blues and greens are more suitable. Incidentally, 'those blues and greens make a small room appear larger. A high gloss on a painted wall tends to reflect a harsh light, so flat paint with a vel- vety surface or easily -washed semi -gloss enamel is best for a study room. The best color scheme 1n the world, however, won't save a child's eyesight if the lighting itself is inadequate. The lamp used for studying should have a large enough bulb and the desk should be enough -or the chair high enough -so that little Johnny's nose isn't skim- ming the page of his book. Well - designed desks are available in unfinished furni- ture departments of Canadian stores and can easily be painted to suit the decor of the bed- room. Even ar, old kitchen table might be used, disguised with a fresh coat of paint. Pleasant study surroundings aren't guaranteed to produce straight A's on a report card. Butthey're worth a try. Modern Beauties Have It Easy Some of us are skeptical when we read the label on a jar of face cream or a tube of toothpaste. In t his age of science we aren't to 'be taken rte by old wives' remedies or cure- all concoctions based on noth- ing more solid than super- stition. But the fact is, beauty care today is on a scientific basis, Once a laboratory develops and tests a promising • formula, liv- hag models try to prove its ,worth. Medical records are kept. Then it goes to the gov- ernment, whose high standards must be met before the product sees a drug -store shelf. In- gredient's are checked to be sure they are harmless and will achieve the reults claimed, It niay take years for that little jar of cream to reach you, but when it does you may be sure it can do what it says it car -- if you use it properly. Helping Mother Nature is a big business today. Chernistry, medicine and industry all have a hand in it. Those women who complain about the time and trouble it takes to apply modern beauty - aids should try this special con- coction which .was popular in the days of Marie Antoinette: Pulverize the wings and claws of a pigeon and mix well with lily petals and fresh eggs, add ground Mother - of - pearl- and camphor distilled with musk. Apply liberally. Today, we have public opinion behind us in our quest for glamor, In 17th century Eng- land, a touch of rouge could have sent us to jail! An in- credible statute was passed by Parliament, reading in part: "All women of whatsoever rank or degree that shall seduce or betray into matrimony any of • his majesty's subjects by s„esns, paints, cosmetic washes, arti- ficial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high= heeled shoes and bolster ed hips, shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like demeanors, and the marriage upon conviction shall stand null and void." Science has made it easy for us to look our best. A chemist with a formula has screened us from the danger of sunburn, Another has released us from the shackles of the overhead permanent -wave machine. Syn- thetic detergents have given us shampoos which leave hair clean and shiny inthe hardest water, Our natural beauty has a valuable partner in the Upsidedown 90 3S • 3 G d b' 3 N S V 1 3 r 1 N N O 3 d A O 3 d to Prevent Peeku:ig 2331193 3 N , A3 3C11A 3 10 d M ON3 S -1 SI:11X11 3 3 3 H 3 1 7 3 0 8 . 12J I"le'2iJ� SWVH e l 21�a S OFFICIAL'S TIME OUT - President Eisenhower downs a soft drink during a time out frcrn shaking hands and greeting -guests. f ..„,,,,...;1, t e�&,YdB .w, u; ,..yien+.. N..�M.... f 'isy'vi THE GODS ARE AU. PLAYED OUT -Two giant -sized Egyptian deities lie ready for dis-assembling on a stage at the famed Caracalla Baths in borne, Italy. The open-air opera season had ,just ended, and the statues are to be returned to the dusty warehouse whence they came. 1 h ancient gods were seen in the opera "Aida", by Verdi.