It was supposed that as many as 10,000 circulars a day were despatched. One or two at most would meet with a response. Then the "bunco steerer" went off forthwith to bring the victim in; to hand him over to the rogues waiting to despoil him in some low tavern or opium shop where they consorted together, with the direct permission of the police. The "guy," or the "come-on," as the victim was styled in the swindlers' argot, when he appeared was handled in various ways. The first step was to make a price, and that was generally at the rate of 10,000 dollar bills for 650 dollars paid down. Smaller sums were also negotiated, and the process was not always quite the same. Either the good bills were counted over and deposited in a box, which by some sleight-of-hand was exchanged for another filled with waste paper, or the bills were arranged in packages with a good note on top and bottom, the intervening notes being bogus. This latter dodge was used with any suspicious customer, a "hard" victim, as he was called. There was another plan carried out with a private carriage; it was called the "carriage racket," and the transfer was made by means of a couple of bags or satchels. In one the genuine notes were deposited by a confederate, who entered the carriage with the victim, and sat by his side. The worker of the fraud, after filling the satchel, would kindly offer to accompany the victim back to the station, and _en route_ the exchange was made with another--bogus--bag. In all cases the railway station played a principal part in the fraud; it was essential that the victim should be a stranger who came from a distance, and was returning home after the deal. He was cunningly debarred from examining the box or the satchel, whichever was employed. In the case of the box he was given a key which would not fit the lock; and in the case of the satchel he was told to cut the leather through when he got to his journey's end. The idea in both cases was that he should not detect the fraud before leaving New York; that would, of course, have been inevitable directly he opened the receptacle. As he was doing a shady, fraudulent thing in buying the notes, he would generally fall into the trap, realising the necessity for great caution and secrecy. [Illustration: THE OLD TOMBS PRISON, NEW YORK, NOW REBUILT.]