The Washington times., 1894-05-21
GUYON'S NONEY-GETTER.
The Poker Sharks Device Which Ha
Ncttcd Him Over 5000 600

The Poker Sharks Device Which Has
Nettcd Him Over 100000.
In the vault at police headquarters is an in
nocent-looking table, which is the cleverest
| contrivance OF its kind ever invented by an
ingenious gambler. 1t was at this table, says
the Chicago Herald, that Charles F. Stokes,
president OF the Stokes Manufacturing Com
pany. No. 293 Wabash avenue. was robbed of
81 800 the other night. II Mr.. Stokes ever
plays poker with strangers again it is safe TO
say he will examine the table on which the
cards are dealt He will not only tap it and
tnrn up the cloth, bat will examine every
chink and crack underneath.
The table at which Stokes sat while his hard
cash disapP cared is one said to have been in
vented hy Bert Guyon, California gambler
OF many aliases, who worked the contriyance
for every cert the bicycle manufacturer of
Wabash avenue had in his pockets. As the
| story goes. four well-known confidence men
and gamblers. whose names appear on the
police records as Bert GUyon. Frederick S.
Fisher Hugh Dunn, and .Dealy" Morris, in
duced Stokes TO join them in little game Of
| poker in q Wabash avenue hotel
"Deafy'' Morris made the acquaintance of
| the victim and then introduced three suave
Individuals, entire strangers to "Deafy," who
| were anxious 10 sit in the game. Stokes lost
$4,000 al several seances. He put the matter
in the hands of Inspector Shea, and Detec-
| tives Meyer and Murnane arrested the four
men Tuesday night. Thetable was captured,
and after long and careful scrutiny In
| spector Shea discovered the trick and the in
nocent-looking piece Of furniture was put
away for safe keeping until the case against
the gamblers comes up for trial.
As Guyon was the most expert hand at the
contrlvanee. he sat opposite the drawer. which
| was piaced in such n position that any PLAYER
would know IL contained only poker chips
| The table was OF the ordinary circular kind
| four feet in diameter. with green cloth cen
ter and four inches of dark colored wood
around the edges. Between the cloth and
the wood jus, aOovothe drawer lay the simple
contrivuncn which won Stokes money. Look
ing fIom above one could no. see any gap be-
tween clota and wood. In fact TIE point Of
a thin iniie blade could hardly find room
there. The drawer did not extend under the
table. and directly behind it Guyons inyen-
ton was placed.
With his finger Guyon drew ont of slit
behind tue drawer a thin steel blade four
inches long. something ike letter opener.
He placed mia knee against the edge of this
blade. The game began. 'Deafy'' lost but
the victim kept even with the game. Then
came the t.iai of The Guyon machine. Before
th2 first hand had been dealt the cards We're
counted aai found TO be nli right. During
the game GGyon managed TO procure four
treys as they were dealt to him by one OF his
partners. and with another card he slowed
them away.
After the next deal he crossed his hands in
front and allowed the five cards to lean
against his fingers. He held the .'cold hand"
there. tco and rs he pressed the steel blade
10 the !elt with his knee small steel clamp
pushed its way up silently between the cloth
and the strip OF wood. The green cloth
bulged up little. but the victim could not
see what was gcing on behind those closely
locked fingers. Il was easily done. A slight
movement and the hand containing the four
treys was caught tightly by the clamp. Tie
knee went back ans: the cards disappeared.
Guyon played and lost and then gave the sig
nal TO his cen edsTates.
Three kings were dealt TO Stokes, and he
called for two cards and drew pair of fves.
With "lCll house he leaned back and
waited. Guyon drew three cards. and the
others apparently had nothing more than
pair. Fisher threw in Il small bet, which the
victim raised a little. Morris raised this, and
Guyon raised again. Fisher dropped out and
Stokes raised Guyon. Morris dropped out at
this point. Guycu coming back at the victim
with roll Of Bills. The two players seesawed
back and forth until Stokes called Guyon.
Guyon had again pressed the blade UNDER
meath the table and the ''cold hand" appeared.
He shifted the hand. the original five cards
dropping out OF sight. Stokes showed king
full. but Guyon had four treys. The victim
was out $500.
He played o: the following night, and sue
cesded i'll dropping $1,000 altogether. 1t was
absolutely Impossible for hin to beat such
game. Il was 4 sure system. He was sus-
pic.oIs. however, and reported the matter to
The police.
The table can be taken apart so as to admit
OF convenient carriage throughout the coun-
t:y. Guyon las Travelled in every state of the
Union with it, and has never failed to secure
victims.
1T is the simplest and mos. ingenious ma
chine ever Invented to fleece the unwary,"
said Detective A!urnane last night. II iirst
heard OF it about six years ago. 4 man re-
ported TO the police that he had lost 50, 500 in
poker t,aine NJ one oi the large hotels and I
was sent out to Investigate the matter. l soon
learned that Bert Gayon was one OF the men
who helped 20 fleece the sucker While
working on the casc I ran across gambler
from the Pacific coast. and he told me OF
Guyon's ingenious table.
search warrants were sworn out for the
table. and every large hotel in Chicago was
searcae;. .rom top to bottom. but the table
was not found. Reports began to come in
from all over the country about Guyon's phe-
nomeDal luck at poker. He has played in all
the iatSs c4l!es Ioti Suil EraHcisco " koit-
land, Me-, and l don't think it would be an
oxaggeration to say he has cleaned up S200, 900
WITH the wonderful table.
'Gayon always has three confederates.
'Deafy Morris, vino was arrested with him
here. was driven Gut of New York by In
spector Byrnes several years ago. His right
name is Morris Holland. He is a very clever
man. Frederick S. Fisher used to run
saloon and hotel at Kansas City. His real
name is Bishop. Hugh Dunn has been
gambler in Chicago for thirty years"
Dress Reform In Grand Rapids.