There are a great many devices, some of which are very old, some
a little more modern, and some new ones are being manufactured
every day, to catch the uninitiated, all of which are more or less
successful--for there are just as many suckers to-day as there were
forty years ago.
I remember seeing a knife that was so constructed that the blade
could not be opened without pressing upon springs. It had one
spring that if pressed would allow the blade to open; and there
was another spring that would lock the first one so that it would
not work, and when the second spring was used, no one could open
the blade with the first spring alone. Like most tricks, this
knife racket took two persons to work it successfully. The one
with the knife would be dressed up like a countryman, and he would
go up to a person who he thought could be played for a sucker, and
enter into conversation with him. Finally he would show the knife,
and explain how to open the blade when locked with but one spring.
About this time the capper (a well dressed man) would come up, and
the country looking fellow that owned the knife would say to the
sucker, "There comes a fellow; say nothing to him about the spring,
and we will win some money."
The capper would take the knife and try to open it, then he would
say, "That is a dummy; it was not made to open."