ents to all who purchased
tickets of admission. Everybody received a prize. Several hundred of the
prizes were of little value. There was one that was valuable: a gold
watch and chain, a diamond pin or other article of jewelry, was
generally the capital prize as it was designated.

People flocked to Barnum's museum to win the capital prize; Barnum
reaped a harvest. Of course the idea of the "Gift Show" was immediately
taken up by ignorant imitators who are always quick to appropriate the
ideas of others. Numerous magicians were soon touring the country with
their alluring advertisements promising presents far exceeding in value
the receipts of the theaters in which they appeared, even though the
prices of admission were doubled.

The circus concert adopted the "Gift Show" scheme, and when a circus
side-show, or concert, adopts an innovation of this character, it is
safe to wager that the yokel will "get his" good and plenty.

The "Gift Show" idea was worked so successfully that the numerous
jewelry concerns that had sprung up in Maiden Lane and on the Bowery
could not fill the orders for the brass ornaments required to supply the
enterprises distributing them.

Everybody got a prize; there were no blanks. Alfred and another boy,
George, did the distributing act. Stationed on either side of the stage,
they received the tickets. Pretending to look at the number, they handed
the prize out. Alfred had four packages of prizes; he was ordered to
alternate. First a lady's breast pin, then a gent's collar button, then
a stud, then a finger ring. The capital prize the boss awarded in
person.

Since the days of Barnum's "Gift Show," no "sucker" has ever seen the
capital prize except when the proprietor of the "Gift Show" was not
looking.

The "Gift Show" man usually placed the capital prize in the show window
of a prominent store. Everyone who bought a ticket hoped to capture the
capital prize. The "Gift Show" always fixed the landlord of the hotel or
some man about town to draw the capital prize, returning it to the "Gift
Show" manager afterwards. It is amazing the many who were willing to
play the part of capper in this game.

After a number of tickets were presented and not less than a peck of the
cheap presents distributed, the capper would pass up his ticket, and the
boss proclaim in a loud tone: "Four hundred and sixty-two wins the
capital prize, a solid silver tea set." The plate was set out on a table
covered wit