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»\v may in* \ fii unu ii|i uiniubfrom this time forward.A PLAUSIBLE RASCAL.Hungry Joe Numbered Mnny Famous Men Among IIIn Victims.Francis J. Alvnny liclloves tluit wliat Ih worth doing »t ull is worth doing well. That is why he excels in his vocation, which is the gentle art of extending the glad hand to the stranger within his gates. His proficiency In this pleasing | mfossion has won for him the title of Hungry Joe, the king of bunko men.The Imnko king has for the past eight years been hading a retired life at the Maryland penitentiary, where he was In* cnrcornUxl for swindling a Baltimorean out of $5,000. Having paid the jx-nnlty of the law for tlds Indiscretion, Hungry Joe walked out o' the doors of t in* penitentiary the other day a free man and proclaimed himself a new man. He has turned honest and says he Is going to Ixvmno a bookmaker and follow thu races. lie Is Imv lleved to ha\o ample eapltal for tlds enterprise, as It Is said tluit he has hidden awaynearly *10lt;,uou.Alvnny was lxrn in Baltimore 40 years ago. Ho was from a respectable familyHUNGItY JOE. and received a good common school education Ho was unusually bright, and when on leaving school ho obtained a place In tho store of a wholesale merchant in Haiti-more It was not long Iwforu his omployer predicted a brilliant business future for iiim. Two characteristics In tho loy clung to tho man. He wus scrupulously ncnt In person and in dress, and ho always used tho best language in speaking and writlug. No one over heard on oath escape his lljm.Thcso two characteristics led his employer to give him tho territory of ono of his traveling salesmen. It was In tho wonfcirn country, and Alvnny succeeded so well that tho 1dm came to him tluit if, through his personal magnetism or whatever It might be called, ho could earn so much money for his employer, why couldn't ho earn as much or more for himself? Ho lc* gan to work the bunko gamo in Chicago and was most successful. So easily did ho get money from hls victims that they were unwilling to make complaints against him, fearing to expose their gullelcAsncMs. Alvuny's bank account, in consequence, grew.After a tlmo he went cast, and It seemed as If his victims couldn’t get to him fast enough. Ho was such a royal good fellow, ho was so frank and open, his largo, dark cyos had such a kindly expression, and there was so much of the ring of tho true metal about him thut he mode friends by the scorn Ho was dinod and wlmxl and made much of.Alvnny had many famous vlctlvna,among them Oscar Wilde and the late smueJ J. KandolLA Dead Man on Trial.
Newspaper Details
Little Falls Weekly Transcript
Little Falls, Minnesota, US
Fri, Jul 24, 1896
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Erik R.
USA 10 Aug 2023
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