The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-09-26
one OF THG 'GREHKS."
Ex-Gambler Quinn Ed
fies" a Sunday Au-
dience at the
Tabernacle.
HE IS SMOOTH AND SLEEK.
His Suit of Stripes on Exhibi-
tion-PrOfessional Secrets
of Faro and Rou-
lette.
HE Is SMOOTH AND SLEEK.

John P. Quinn, IN ex-gam5ler, whose
professional experience extended over u
period of a quarter of a century, and who
wore the prison stripes for several years,
rs he says, for r. crime of which he WIS
Innocent, amused an ordipan e of nearly
a Thousand people at the Tabernacle last
evening. Mr.. Quinn was honest enough
TO state that. while he maintains his In
nocence of the crime for which ne suffered,
he ought to have been incarcerated tor
many crimes which he actually COM
mitted, but for which he escaped punish
ment. He did not designate the crime
for which he was imprisoned, but a NEWS
reporter afterward learned that he vas
convicted on circumstantial evidence of
helping to fleece a man of several thou
stnd dollars in Jacksonville, Indiana. in
1887.
Quinn, in the latter part of his lecture,
spread his suit of stripes over the little
table in front of him as al object lesson.
He exhibited several devices, including
the model of a bogus roulette wheel and
tne appliances for running a faro bank,
anu he completely satisfied the uLinitialed
individuals, of the audience that III games
with professional gamblers they wouldn't
TX ALI ~ ob W SpCaA-
SMOOTH n LEEK.
Mr.. Quinn Is It pleasant ialker. He is
a nan of medium stature, slightly in
cIintd to portliness. He has a round,
smooth shaver face. and twinkling grey
ewes. His smoothly conibed hair is now
turning grey His gambling proclivlties
date tack to his boyhoOd days, and he
blames his father for innocently encour-
aging all sorts of games of chance
in MS household. He was born in Roam
oke coduty, Mo. With reference to pro
gressive euchre parties in the home par
lors, he %pronouucsd them photographers
wherein children learn their first lessons
tlat lead up to professional gambling,
and advised his hearers to go home and
throw away everything that looked like a
deck OF regular playing cards out Of their
houses.
He left his home in search OF broader
fields, believing he could cope with pro-
fessionals. He hitched up one OF his
fathers horses. sought the nearest town,
sold the horse and rig. met with a three
card monte man and in a few minute
lost a.lshe was paid for the horse n rig.
1.-The man was a thief" said the lecturer,
"and The country is full OF them"
AS TO FARO.
As to faro, the speaker pronounced 1t a
game that allowed professionals to steal
millions from innocent people. He placed
the cards in a box which he declared WAS
as full of machinery as an eight day
clock. and as dangerous TO q sucker as a
gatliug gun is TO the enemy. Then he
convinced the audience that everytime
"blacks" was called for, he could invari-
ably produce reds" and vice versa. He
refused to explain even to the reporter
how ne manipulated either a faro bank
or a roulette wheel. He said he worked
them by springs, and To give 1T away was
to give one OF the strongest points of his
lecture away
Mr.. Quinn related a humorous incident
of how ne once met "a challenge from a
gambler in. high boots with spurs al
tached and WHO wore a wide brimmed
white hat. Name your distance" he
told the gambler. 1t was agreed each
should start from back 10 back and step
twelve PAGES, turn around and fire.
"While he was measuring his twelve
PAGES" said Quinn, 81 put in about two
hundred and fifty. more or less. and l
haven't seen him from that day to This"
WHERE H POLICE A
He related a story OF a ma vino was
cheated out of $4,000 at the gaming table
on the same night his safe was blown
open and 81 LOCO taken therefrom. The
police made uoDIe efforts TO capture the
safe burglar and cid SO, but 10 efforts
at all were made 10 capture tue
thieves who plundered the victim of
his $40 600. "The trouble isl said
tle speaker. shat our police will watch
for boys playing penuy-ante, or a boot
black playing craps, ahd haul him in aud
make a terrible example of him as a pro-
fessional gambler, while the real profess
sfopall gambler lives in palaces with his
tables loaded with the best fruits of the
land. In other wol DIS a man is Jailed
for picking out a single feather from the
American-eagle's Tail, while the big
thieves may pick the American eagle
naked and be let CO."