Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-03-08
FIXING THE ROULETTE WHEEL
How Red Lcary's Gang Won $4,000 ut
One sitting.


To beat gambling house by under
handed schemes IL an almost impossible
thing. All the important gambling es-
Establishments In this part OF the country
employ men 10 look out for such attempts.
and the number Of times when faro cards
have been fixed" cogced hazard dice
substituted. roulette wheels "corked" or
any similar games played successfully by
gamblers against 1.-THE house" can DO
counted on the fingers OF one hand. The
gambler of today must depend on his luck
10 come out ahead OF the cards, the dice
or the wheel.
One OF the few schemes and perhaps the
most successful ever perpetrated on gam
Hing house I'm this part of the country
was worked in Phil Days place Mt Long
Branch. known as Monte Carlo, Jr., by
Rapg of crooks headed by Red Leary, since
killed on Sixth avenue by brick which n
conpanion of bis tossed In the air, and
by big Frank Mccoy, the bank robber.
The game was roulette, and although the
affair occurred nearly 10 years ago no ac-
count Of IL ever was made public, and
oven the chief loser, the late Charles Fred
erick Woerrishoffer, a well known banker
NJ tbis CITY. never knew Of the crooked
WORK that lost him $1,000 within three
hours
When Leary, Mccoy and three others,
one of whom is n well known buDko man,
arrived at Long Branch one day that sum-
,,er N renort got abroad that they " ere go
ING 10 make an organized attempt at rob
hing the big safe in Monte Carlo, Jr. Ev-
ery night five guards slept in the gambling
house with loaded shotguns at their heads,
but they might have spared themselves
the trouble. The five crooks would come
over in the afternoon, lounge about the
house until evening, when they would
play. but not heavily, and generally lose.
They always played roulette. There came
q nipht. however, when they stopped los
inc and won enough 10 make up all their
losses fen times over. On the afternoon pre-
vious Phil DAILY had noticed Mccoy and
one of the others taking great interest
I'm the roulette wheel and said to Major
Crump. whose duty it was to look the Ia
bles over and see that everything was
right before play began:
'Those fellows are up 20 something. l
think they're going % try to plug up
some Of the numbers in the roulette wheel
md then play the adjoining mum bers.
Look out that the wheel isn't Corked.
GRIMM examined the wheel with partic
Mar care that evening, but found nothing
wrong. Mccoy and Leary didn't come
around. but two OF their pals did, and they
BEGAN playing heavily. About the same
time Mr.. Wocrrishoirer, who was con
slant customer, came In and sat down on
the other side Of the wheel opposite the
two crooks.
81 think I'm going 10 win tonight, he
said to Frank Snyder, who was croupier
on his side. "Giye me $1,000 worth Of
chips. III play and 10. ~
lie began by putting $50 on each of the
numbers and watched his coin disappear
without n winning His 81 ,OsO had gone
in little more than no time, and neither
nor - had turned mp.
They'll turn up pretty soon,' he said
os he bought his second thousand dollars
count in chips. "Thirty-lve to one, when
/ hit IL. will soon square me.
But his second thousand went the way
of the first without either number turning
M. still he persisted, insisting that the
luck would soon come his way hard.
Meanwhile the crooks on the other side OF
the wheel were playing heavily on Nos.
and II. on the first 12, which pays TO /,
and on the middle column. which pays
the same. md they were winning on all
with remarkable persistency a. steadily az
Woerrishoffer, at the other end, was los
ing. After his fifth thousand had gone
aud his numbers had not shown up once,
Banker Wocrrishoher said to Snyder;
"Well. Frank, there's no luck for me
tonight I've lost g., 900 on 6 and 10, and
that's enough for one evening. This isn't
their night on. I'll try 'em again tomor-
row"
1.-THE luck "a at the other end, y replied
Snyder. Those fellows on the other END
are hitting us hard"
The two crooks played on, and still they
won. Each played the limit every time on
the middle column aud the first II, and
$40 at every turn OF the wheel on Nos. 5
and II. and so remarkable was their luck
TINT other smaller caliber players began
10 follow them with i'll results 10 the
bank. When finally Major Crump, who
WAS spinning the wheel, called the last
turn, the two men were about SlO,OOO
apiece ahead They and the rest of the
Mccoy Leary gang left Long Branch on
the following day. When the wheel stop
ped. Snyder leaned over to Crump and
whispered:
Neither nor II has turned up once
tonight There's something wrong with
the wheel
Cant ber' returned Crump. "llooked
ILL l. sl,.. Iaf
I'll swear there isn't a cork in the wheel. "
"Well, let's look it over" suggested
Snyder, and the two began to examine the
wheel Their investigation failed to dis
cover any No. G or Is on the wheel. They
tried again and found two No SIS and two
11's. Over No. 6 a square of very fine It's
sue. tho exact counterpart OF No. :, had
been set in, and in like manner ii had
been substituted for 10. Besides doubling
the two numbers, this put one extra chance
In the first H. and two chances in the MD
die column. Crump turned to Snyder:
"Now | get onto why those fellows
PLAYED the same numbers right through,
he said. "They must have fixed the wheel
this afternoon. It's as pretty piece OF
work as I've ever seen, but 1t ii never 90
again mere
Daily himself was summoned TO examine
the wheel. He declared that not even the
best trained eye could have detected the
counterfeit and told his two employees 10
say nothing about it lest it should hurt the
reputation Of the bank. So well did they
keep the secret that when Woerrishoiier
died some time later he was still in igno-
rance Of the reason that the wheel ran so
persistently against him on the night that
he had the remarkable i'll luck OF choosing
for play the only two numbers not on the
wheel.-New York Sun.
Chinese Poetry In English 'ers.
For many centuries the Chinese nation
has closely cultivated the poetic art and
still turns ont annually more poetry than
all the rest Of the world put together. All