The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-25
TRICKS OF GAMBLERS.
New York GFApA,c,

New York GFAphlc,
 "Fair gambling? There is no such thing" remarked a commercial trav- eler whose territory lies In the west, but who makes frequent trips home to Philadelphia 10 see his wife and little ones. al never touch the cards any more," continued he, "but used to be an inveterate gambler, and have lost many dollars at keno, faro, poker and other games. l played every kind of tsystem,' thinking would strike one that would insure success. But l found that while I sometimes won, more often l lost, and began an in- vestiaation that ended in decision that would never gamble again, and I have kept my resolution 60 far. But did I never find an honest gamblerf l can't say that ever did that is, q pro- fessional. Some of them are good hearted fellows, and arc always ready to extend helping hand and purse to the needy. But when they get into game they would cheat their own rel atives, it has become % much of sec- ond nature to them. Many of them look upon their gambling as trade and consider the cheating necessary part of 1t.
 "But about my investigation into the gamblers tricks. Yes, I was com- ing to that only give me time. l concluded that the only way was to get on the 'inside,' as 1t were, and l began to cultivate the acquaintance of a man who had run game at one time, but was then taking a rest. He knew that had gambled considerably, for l had lost many dollars at his place, and when intimated to him that I wanted to purchase an outfit and start house on my own account, he said he was just the man to put me through in good shape. He said he was interested in place where all kinds of gambling paraphernalia, and especially those for sure things,' or trick games, were manufactured. made an engagement with him and met him 6 week later. After caution ing me to be very careful. he took me to the top floor of large building, where we found an extensive manu- featuring establishment, and intro- dnced me to the man in charge. In this room were countless numbers of chips, cards, deal boxes, faro and rou- lette layouts, red and black, hazard, sweat, keno and all conceivable kinds of gambling devices. The room was large, and everywhere the eye wan dered it rested upon gambling instru- ments of some kind.
 The man handed me a price list of articles and then showed me his trick faro deal boxes, made of German sil- yer. He also showed me an article by which the cards were cut for the box, and then putting the cards in the box, showed me how, as the cards were cut in a certain way, the dealer could always tell the next card to the one on top. He then showed me what they call the double deal box-that is, a box ont of which two cards instead of one can be taken at once, and the players cannot discover the trick. These are what are called sanded cards, and stick together, requiring a certain amount of pressure to force them apart. He also showed me a circular containing fac stmile of the backs of eight different sets of marked cards, which he said were new designs. These were about No. 70 on the list i, showing that they manufactured that number of differently marked packs of cards; for these new designs he asked $1.50 c pack. He then gave me an estimate of what a faro layout would cost, and figured 1t up to about ninety one dollars.
 "Talki. g in general way, he said the business was worth e25 ,00O year, as they dealt with parties all over this country and in Europe, but they did not want 1t known that they manu- factured implements for cheating or trick games. They did their business entirely through the mail, and no one, as rule, was permitted in the room. My friend, the ex x-dealer, said that the proprietor travelled, selling the gam bling devices in the west and south west, and disposed of great many. "He then explained the trick cards to me and showed how . man could always win with them. In a game, when 1t was his 'deal' or 'edge,' he could tell the next card that was going to be dealt, and could have thus virtu- ally six cards to the other players five. One of the packs, upon which he particularly prided himself as beyond detection, was . card marked with a very fine brush. bought this pack and showed the cards to . number of persons, who declared the marks to be beyond detection by anyone not &C., quainted with them. The ink used for marking was such that it could not spoil the glaze on the cards, and the marks consisted of . few more veins in one leaf than another, and in