[Illustration: PRICE, 50 CENTS. “_Know ye not who would be free themselves must strike the blow._”—_BYRON._ TWENTY YEARS A FAKIR GATE CITY BOOK AND NOVELTY COMPANY, _OMAHA, NEB._ PRICE, 50 CENTS. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TWENTY YEARS A FAKIR BY S. J. W. ------- [Illustration] ------- Gate City Book and Novelty Company, Omaha, Neb. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyrighted 1899, by =THE GATE CITY BOOK AND NOVELTY CO.=, Omaha, Neb. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Starting Out—Becoming Ambitious—Leaving Home—Hotel Porter—Card Business—Lightning Rod Agent—Traveling Men—The Accident. CHAPTER II. Busted—Soap Signs—Walking—The Two Actors—Free Theatres—Jumping Bills—The Other Fakir—Pen Schemes—Street Talk—The Friendly Haystack. CHAPTER III. Meeting Prof. Carter—The Music Scheme—Flowers and Novelties—The Ladies—The Soap Racket—Street Gags and Jokes—The Sinking Vessel. CHAPTER IV. The Contemptible Piano Tuner—The Biographical Write-up Fake—The Flattered Black-smith. CHAPTER V. Fakir Maxims—A Happy Meeting—Auction Business—Talk and Auction Gags—The Boy Auctioneer—Parting with Prof. Carter. CHAPTER VI. Getting onto Scheme Goods—Frightening the Ladies—Trick at Church Fair—Street Work—The Catchy Little Look-backs, and Giving Them Away—The Horse and the Loaf of Bread Trick—Handling Microscopes. CHAPTER VII. The Museum Scheme and the Six Widows—Traveling Without Paying Railroad Fare—Living on Free Lunches—At a Low Ebb—The Animated Chocolate Drop—Old Auntie from Smoky Row—The Corn Doctor—The Excited Mob—Not Only Broke, but Dead-broke—The Letter from Home—Getting Out of Town. CHAPTER VIII. The New Doctor and Professional Grafter—Medicine Fake—The Electric Battery and Money—Fun with Crowd in the Street—Selling Pipes and Giving Watches Away—Fooling the Farmers—The Circus, Turnips and the Elephant—Working the Hotel Landlords. CHAPTER IX.