Inventing Madness

Acquiring Money in Louisville

"Now where we?" Edison asked. "Oh yes, Louisville. I arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, the day of my seventeenth birthday in 1864. It was a bustling city. I remember the track for the railroad entered Louisville on Jefferson Street and ended at Brook Street. Leven Shreve, a Louisville civic leader, became the first president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad—the L&N—which introduced trade to the area. The railroad led to the development of the western states and linked the area with Mississippi river traffic.

"Louisville was teaming with people because there were so many jobs to be found. The city was known for its factories that made cotton machinery and built steamboats. Louisville became a meat-packing city, the second-largest city in the nation to pack pork. The city also led the nation in hemp manufacturing and cotton bagging. European immigrants flowed into the city from Germany and Ireland to seek out a new living.

"In the early 1860s, had about 80,000 troops throughout the city. studios and military goods shops, such as Fletcher & Bennett on Main Street, catered to the Union officers and soldiers. Also capitalizing on the troops, were quickly opened around the city.

"Although the threat of invasion by Confederates had subsided about this time, Louisville remained a for Union supplies and troops heading south. The steamboats arrived and departed at the wharf in Louisville with their cargoes. Military contractors in Louisville provided the Union army with two hundred head of cattle each day, and the pork packers provided thousands of hogs daily. Trains departed for the south along the L&N railroad.

"The many hours I had spent during my childhood reading about magicians and practicing the fine art of sleight of hand proved to be very useful to me during my stay in Louisville. At times I joined with other talented youth around the always busy train station to entertain the crowds, and especially the soldiers, while they waited for their train. I would often set up a small table and present my card tricks. I would usually not try to get the attention of my 'mark' until I knew the train would be leaving in the next few minutes. I would then catch the attention of a well-dressed spectator and motion for them to approach my table. I would say, 'Come, look closer. No, even closer, because the more you think you understand my trick, the easier it will be to fool you!' and I would smile and get them relaxed. I would have them pick a card from my deck of cards, tell them to concentrate on it and have them place the card back in the deck. After a few shuffles of the deck, I would present them with the card they had originally chosen. They would be delighted and then place a nickel in the jar on my table.

"Unbeknownst to my mark, my partner would be taking their wallet from their back pocket or their watch out of their side pocket while they were concentrating on the card they had pulled from my deck of cards. We had timed the event so well that, by the time the card trick was over, I would say, 'Oh, look, the train is about to leave!' and the mark would turn around to see the train and quickly run to board it without ever noticing that he was missing any of his possessions. My partner and I would then divide up our newly acquired treasures.

"During this period of time, when I frequently interacted with other people to distract my marks and to make a living, I learned some valuable lessons and gradually became much less shy. It was there I gain a lot of confidence and began to realize the great benefit of working with others.

"I learned many tricks in Louisville and became very proficient there. My sleight-of-hand tricks became well-known among the young robbers and thieves around the station. Many admired my skills and wanted to partner with me. After a while, some of the boys would actually pay me to be their partner for that day. We had to be very careful because of the police who hung around the train station. We didn't want them to become too familiar with us. We would steal from the passengers only during crowded times, and we would try to frequently change our patterns of behavior.

"We would often trade days with one another too. For example, I might go and practice my tricks on Monday and Thursday one week and trade for different days the next week. We also often used disguises so it would be more difficult for the police to recognize us. Sometimes the girls would dress as boys, and, believe it or not, sometimes the boys would dress as girls! If they did dress as a girl, they would only be able to steal from their marks until around noon, because stubble would start showing on their face after that! Of course there were a few policemen that we could pay to 'look the other way' while we were performing our acts, but I did see quite a few arrests of my friends.

"Usually we were able to time the robberies very well, and the passengers who lost their items were long gone on the train before they realized anything had been stolen from them, so the police often never knew about the crimes. Frequently by the end of the day, I would have collected quite a bit of money. I would trade things with some of the local merchants around the city, like gold watches and jewelry for cash.

"One trick that never seemed to fail was the 'dropping of the train ticket' trick. We would usually look for a nicely dressed couple for our mark. One member of our group was an elderly looking gentleman. He would dress in a suit and pretend to drop his train ticket on the ground. The gentleman with the woman on his arm, wanting to appear kind and generous in front of her, would usually bend over to pick up the ticket and hand it back to the elderly man. The woman was focused, of course, on the ticket on the ground. At this time I would quickly retrieve whatever the gentleman had in his back pocket. The train's whistle would then blow, and the couple would scurry off toward the train.

"One of the tricksters, Robert, decided that he would try shouting the word 'Thief!' when the platforms were most crowded. We could then see the waiting passengers placing their hands on their most valuable possessions to make certain they were still there. This allowed us to know precisely which pockets to go for! Our group was also very practiced in the art of fake screaming matches, fake fainting spells and fake fights. While the waiting passengers were watching the action, we were picking off their prized possessions.

"During my last year working at the Louisville station, I teamed up with an attractive young woman named Sadie. Our favorite routine would take place when the platform was crowded and people were just boarding the train. I would quickly approach someone who was distracted, reading a newspaper, looking at the train schedule or looking at their watch, and spill a drink on their shirt or jacket. I would apologize profusely. Then Sadie, nicely dressed, would admonish me for my carelessness and start to soak up the liquid with a cloth. She would talk rapidly and ask the mark friendly questions while at the same time taking his wallet and jewelry."

F