FLIM-FLAMMERS ARE FLIM-FLAMMED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 24, 1924, The Evening Star reports a scene taking place in the smoking room at Union Station here in the Nation's Capital involving "a man whose every gesture and garment proclaim to the world he was from Hickville, Tennessee."
A well-dressed gentleman took a seat beside this man and struck up a conversation. Soon he offered an invitation to join him in a "look around town."
The two men walk to 4th & G Streets Northeast where they meet another man and proceed to match pennies*. Then, the "Tennessean" produces a policeman's badge which startles the other two men.
The "flim-flammers" are hauled off to jail where they are booked and charged with robbery. The flim-flammers had been flim-flammed!**
JFK+50 NOTE
While there is no such place as "Hickville", there once was a place called Hicksville, located in Jackson, Tennessee. It was named after W.A. Hicks, a town founder. In the 1950s, it was well known in the area and one of the first color TV sets for sale was displayed at the Blake Williams Electric Company of Hicksville.
By the 1960s, store owners wanted to avoid the "hicks" reference and the area became Highland Park. Today, only the old-timers remember the area in north Jackson as Hicksville.
*matching pennies is an "even/odd" game in which two players secretly turn their penny heads up or tails up, they then reveal their pennies. If they match, even wins, If they do not match, odd wins. The winner keeps both pennies.
**flim-flam is a trick or deception, especially a swindle or confidence game involving skillful persuasion or clever manipulation of the victim.
SOURCES
"Welcome to Hicksville," by Ginger Williams, "Our Jackson Home," www.ourjacksonhome.com/ (originally published in "Our Jackson Home: The Magazine," Winter 2016-2017.)
"Yokel Garb Oft Hides Police Star, Penny-Matching Slickers Learn," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 24, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
