The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-07-31
OUTFITS FOR GAMBLERS.
Designed "To Assist the Doctrine of
Chance"

ChanCe."
from the New York Tribune.l
A little known but lucrative business
| in New York is that of manufacturing
swindling appliances for gamblers.
There are several dealers In this city
| whose trade annually amounts to many
thousands of dollars. New York is the
headquarters for gambling supplies, and
orders are filled for all parts of the
country. One of these dealers is In bus
mess not for from Broadway and 14th
street. He addresses himself to the
| sporting fraternity" and euphonious-
lily describes his goods as designed to
assist the doctrine of chance" The
schemes for fleeing the lambs are in
Vulnerable. including crooked faro
boxes, bugs" sinners" fixed" roulet-
| wheels, marked cards, loaded dice and
a host of other innocent contrivances.
| When asked If he did not feel any
oualms of conscience at dealing in such
articles, the dealer replied:
"No; why should I? 1t is no bust
ness Of mine what becomes of my goods
or how they are used after have sold
them. I manufacture them and sell
them, and if l didn't somebody else
would.
| The advantage of marked-back cards
4 Y,,ao
| ployed by gamblers to cheat the un-
| wary. Various methods enable the
sharper to distinguish the different
cards. One of the most common is by
a slight variation in the pattern OF the
back Of the cards. Some of the varia-
/ lions are so slight that it seems al
most impossible for any gambler, how
| ever keen his eyesight, to detect them.
| What is called the bicycle card is ia
/ vorite advantage card. The pattern
represents a bicyclist riding along a
| road, while an owl sits in a branch Of a
| tree on one side of the way. The limbs
| Of the tree are bare, and the little twigs
| which stick out just beyond the OWLS
perch determine the value of the card.
1 They vary in number and positions ac-
\ cording to suit and value. The differ
ence is exceedingly small, and even IL
| you know the cards are crooked 1T Is
| difficult to discover where the crooked
ness lies. Expert gamblers, however,
4 scorn such methods as these and mark
their own cards,
Loaded dice furnish another means for
swindling. When dice are skilfully
LOADED and the advantage is not too ap-
| parent detection is impossible without
cutting them in two. In making them
great skill is required. The dice is
drilled through to the center over one of
the black spots, plug made of the
same material as the dice is inserted,
and the spot reblacked, This plug is
little shorter than the hole drilled, and
thus leaves a hollow space, which in
f1uences the fall of the dice according
to its position and depth Sometimes
this hollow space is filled with heavier
material. Dice are made to throw high
or low or to favor one particular num-
Der. The proper size and position of
the plugs are only learned by long ex-
perience. Most Of the orders come from
the southern Negro "crap4shootefs
They are exceedingly particular about
the dice they use, and require only
slight percentage in their favor If dice
were too pronounced on the side Of the
shooter, suspicion would be at once
aroused.
A book on gambling is also publish
ed by this dealer which explains all the
many false methods of cutting and
dealing used by gamblers. He also un-
dertakes to cut playing cards to order
for banking and short card games, end
Grounds, side rounds. shippers, wedges,
longs and shorts, briefs, rounds,
straights, odds and evens, etc.
Another innocent piece Of machinery
which is strongly advocated, is the
"bug" No home should be without it,
It's object is to enable a poker player to
hold out cards without detection. The
dealer ingeniously declared that it was
superior to the ordinary west hold out, !"
which was likely to be detected with
the usual unpleasant consequences.
A lively trade is done in crooked
wheels, which are popular at horse ra-
ces. The apparatus consists of stand
mounted on a tripod. The circular top
of the stand revolves freely, and paint
ed round it at regular intervals are
different colored horses The player
puts his money on one of the horses
and if the horse stops opposite a certain
fixed point he wins. The horse rarely
does win, however, for the guileless
owner of the wheel has his foot upon a
spring at the base of the stand, and
can make any horse stop just where he
pleases.
1t is not to be supposed that these