The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-05-07
KING PHARAOH.
Frauds OF the Faro Fraternity. by
student OF the "Cuc Papers.n

t Some time last year n gambler styling
himself "John Morris, published, from
{ New York minus the imprint OF any
, publishing-house), n book Of some 50C
, pages, under the taking title Of Wan
behring's OF a Vagabond," %purporting tc
be an autobiography with n complete
exposure Of all that he knew profes
sionally and by observation Of the
thousand and..onc ingenious devices fol
cheating Mt games of chance. A good
portion of his so-callcd Autobiography
is devoted to m exposure Of the frauds
practiccd by dealers OF the game OF
faro, perhaps the most generally played
of all gambling games in this country.
and which has wrought more wreck and
+ i'm, Of morals and fortune, than any
other ever discovered. The game is
played with a full pack of 50 cards, to
be dealt ont of a metal box prepared
for the purpose, tho betters placing
their stakes on any Of a suit OF l3
cards spread ont on n table in front of
the dealer, and called n "lay.out."
The players hayingplaced their stakes
upon the layout" and all other pre-
liminaries being settled, the dealer
shunIes the cards, cuts them, and places
them face mp in n small metal box, us
ually silver, which is n little larger
than the pack to be admitted this boz
is open al the top so that the top card
may always be in view. 1t also has a
small opening at the side, sufficiently
large to permit n single card to pass
through it conveniently. As the cards
are pushed out, or dealt from tho top
through this opening, the remainder Of
the deck is forced upward by springs
placed in the bottom Of the box, and
thus the cards are kept in their proper
place until the pack is exhausted.
We will suppose, by the way Of illus
tration, that the ace is the top card, as
it appears in the box. This card is
showed through an opening, when the
ten apprars-this the bankers card, and
he wins all the money which may have
been placed upon it. The ten, like the
ace, is removed, disclosing Il king,
which is the players card, the bank
losing ali stakes found upon it. The
drawing Of those two cards is called ga
turn" which, being made, the dealer
takes and pays'all the money won and
lost, and then proceeds NJ before,
drawing ont two moro cards the first
for tho bnnk and the second for the
player, and 80 on till the whole arc
dealt out.
The enumeration of the various de
vices and inventions for %swindIing nj
this game, by this vagabond autobio-
praphcr, ought to be sufficient to CON
vince the dull st and most infatuated
Of the victims of the "tigcr" how ut
terly hopeless must be the dclusion
that there is the remotest possibility Of
winning at such odds. We quote II few
Of them with the hope that they may
serve as u lesson to the mwary
II CAFE.
In 1925 u matchmaker in Cincinnati
invcntc,! n method Of cheating called
"GnT." This trick was played in the
following manner The plate covering
the mouth of the box was very thin and
flexible, 50 as TO give upwards, if dceir-
able, to force two cards with concealed
pointed metal gaif from the box Mt once.
The next thing required was IL pack of
cards that could be stocked to suit the
wants of the manipulation. This was
accomplished by trimming the cards Of
different denominations in convex and
cOncaVC shapes. TUI cAumplC Inc
kings, queens, aces and dcuces were
separated from the others these were
trimmed by II convex plate made for the
purpose, while the reminder Of the
pack were trimmed with II concayc plate.
The pack being now ready for use, the
manipulation shullles it thoroughly, in
the usual manner, then strips it in the
following fashion He holds one end Of
the pack between the fingers and thumb
of his left hand, while the OF cr end is
resting on the table he places the fin
gers aud thumb of his right hand ON
which makes them rest on the convex
cards. He then draws the pick apart
with n quick jerk, which leaves the CON
cave cards in his left hand and the con
veX in his right these he throws upon
the top of the pack, which leaves it
ready for stocking. This was formerly
done in tho following mnnnc While
holding the pack above the table firmly
in the fingers and thumb of the left
hand, he "milks it down with the
thumb and fingers of his right hand
that is, he draws n card from the bottom
of the pack and one from the top Mt the
same time, and continues TO do so until
he has "milked" off ilfty-two cards,
making a concavc card and n convex one
fall alternately together, which com
plctes the stock. He then cuts the pack
and puts it in the dealing box. If n
king, queen, ace or deuce (the convex
cards) are seen on the top in the deal
ing-box, or Mt any time during the deal
after a turn is made, the manipulation
will know that all these cards will win,
and by showing two cards mt Il time, he
can instantly change the stock.
"RouNDs."
In 1895 II new invention was set
%Nfloat, called rounds" but it is not
certain who was the inventor. The
credit is generally awarded to II 60
MUS living in Nashville, Tennessee, by
the name Of John Powers. A pack of
rounds were manufactured as follows
The kings, queens, aces, druccs, trois, |
undrcd scycns were taken from the pack,
and the tens, mines, Fights, skies, lives,
Tours, pnd black Rcycns were trimmed
in this way On one of their sides,
near the corners, Il slice about the width
OF the thickness of two cards was trim
med off, while the middle was left IN
touched this gave them II slightly
oval shape each Of these cards was
5anded on their faccs, and those Of the {
other portion ON their backs. When !
The trimmed and untrimmed cards were i
placed together, the pack on one side
lad a serrated appearance, especially t
its corners, while on the other =
Idle the natural shape was preserved. t,
reader can now easily understand p