Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-06-03
GAMBLERS ARTS.
LOADED DICE AND MARKED CARDS Noi
EMPLOYED.
old-Tims and Modern Tricks-Ths Best Hold Out
Top Shutting and Shifting the Out
How Gamblers End.
NetV York Sun.

Net York Sun.
81 wana to knock two gambling "y'"'
on the .head-loaded dice and mafheu
cards"
The ger tlsman who made this remark 10
ms is known, and pretty well kno"n'
among the fraternity as Billy MsCieiian'
and he has recently been employ ID oy q
club house in Baltimore to ''probeci" tine
poker game. His duty was to sfop any
"workn--that is the generic term Tor aii
underhand practice-and to keep PROBES,
sionsl card players out of the house, ano
he did both so quietly and 30 wen ina,
nobody except the culprits knew Inc real
character of his employment TAP on
the shoulder, an interview in the hall, and
man went down stairs ana never
came up again-that was all there was 70
| it; but to do this, and never make scene
or mistake, required wide and cneck-
cred experience. NJ
II not to be presumed that MIR. Nc
Cellan learned how to spot poker sharp
by frequenting church sociablee; on tine
contrary, he ACC uired his art through q
career that began on the Mississippi river
steamboats, in the racing days. extended
all over the frontie; from Butte City,
Mont, to Tombstous, Arizona, and IN
fcluded Numerous trips across the big pond.
until trans Atlantic gambling was dis
couraged few years ago. In short, ne Is
an expert and as entertaining gosslper as
ever mada The needle of the weighing ma
chine fiy around to 2l0. ran across him
the other iay return ng from his Baltimore
engagement, and we fell into rambling
conversation.
"No, air." he went On to say: loaded
dice and marked cards are supposed to be
the fayorite tools OF Eamblers. It's all o
fairy stciy, ike ladg temperance workers
talk abort The curse Of rum Now no
body drirls rum" -,
ado yoa mean there are no loaded dice?'
"Yes Years and years ago there may
have ben some very large dice made heaV-
Ter at Ola face, bua with the small dice
made NJ waGays it would do no good. A
round object of course rests on its heaviest
side but with a cube like die the pres
sure would be Just the same, no matter IN
what position it lay. II you will think
lust q moment you will see that the loaded
side would be exactly as apt to fall on top
as below, and even it were possible to con-
struct die so it would fall infallibly on,
say six, il would be useless in poker dice,
the popular way Of throwing, where the
recurrence of any Elmber would excite
suspicion at once. J. venture to say that
if you would cut OPEN all the dice in the
United States you would not find twelve
loaded ores"
"But 1t does no. follow" observed,
'that dies throwing Is universally honest "
"Not al all. 1t Il universally crooked.
The way TO cheat ut dice is to be able to
have then fall on any face at will. This Is
done by holding than, two at time, be.
tween the second irger and the edge Of the
box, When the box is turned over they APP
pear to come out right side up. 1t requires
great dexterity, but once acquired 1t battles
detection. The best man at it in the coun-
try is John Mcdonald, of San Francisco,
and, by the way, there is an interesting
story connected wsth him. When Max.
we'll, the St Louis trunk murderer, was
fying toward Australia, after killing Prel-
Ter, he stopped for day or two in San
Francisco, and in the evening dropped into
the Mirrors, a sporting saloon on Kearney
street. Johnny Mcdonald happened to be
there, and regarding the stranger as o
promising sucker, proceeded to confidence
him out of $50 Of his blood money. The
little game that caught Maxwell was a dice
swindle known as top and bottom ,"
Mr.. Mcclellan coaxed the smouldering
end of his Havana into lambert coal and
took up the thread of the talk again:
"Now, as far as marked cards are con-
cerned," he continued, there are plenty of
them, but they are made to sell, not to use.
1t is an astonishing fact that nine men out
of ten, who are otherwise perfectly straight
forward and honest, turn into thieves when
they sit down to play poker with their
friends. They are continually on the look
out for some advantage, and they are the
people who buy marked cards. They see
an advertisement How to Win That is
the bait they Immediately swallow, to-
gsther with the hook, line aud portion of
the pole. do not 90 80 far as to say that
marked cards are never used, but do say
that years ago they were found TO be i'm
practicable by professionals and discarded.
The simple fact is that when the back of a
card is marked plainly enough to read in
the rapid process of deal, ii ia so con-
spicuous that the finest chump who ever
wore hayseed in his bangs can see at q
glance that there is something wrong. II
is absolutely and utterly impossible to dis.
| 4, hs Dot NJ
the ordinary marked card while it is being
dealt of the deck, and no man ever lived
who could use them to advantage. The
frat of the kind produced were the old,
fashioned stamp backs but players soon
found out that no system of marks were
legible while the cards were in motion
and they dropped them. I suppose tina,
thousands Of decks of marked cards are
sold every month, but no gamblers buy
them"
'How does the modern short card player
do his work?" / askeda little reluctant tt
let 90 of the time-honored marked.card
theory.
"Well," said the veteran, "there hal
been great change in card playing in thu
! last five or six years. The old-time pokel
sharp WAS not we'll equipped unless h
had q vest hold.out That was blaci
satin vest with claws inside that came ou
of the bosom, seized the necessary card
and slid in again. It was worked by {
chain that ran down tho trousers leg and
hooked to the heel OF the boot, and wa
such a clumsy and complicated apparatui
that would as soon think of carrying
threehipg machine around with me, Their
there was the sleeve bOld-out, nearly q
bad, and different hold.outs 10 fssten Il
the edge of the table. Shippers were als'
great fsvorites-that is to say, decks il
which the high cards are little wide
than the rest, and cut slightly wedge shape
so that they could be drawn out at will
and great deal of glass work was done.
What on earth Is glass workP"
"The use of q convex mirror about tn
, size of silver dime. 1t is fastened will
shellac to the lower corner of the left palm
opposite the thumb, and reflects the card
as dealt. Gamblers generally made then
by buying those little silvered glass globe
, used for children's Christmas trees, an
breaking out piece Sometimes the mir
rors were set in silver dollars and lai'
carelessly on the table; but that is al
gone by now, and to-day man must b
able to take a square deck of cards and d
J all his work without apparatus. In poke
} the expert short card player will make n