Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-05-26
DANDY TRICKSTERS.
s1RAFrERS" WHO MAKE THEIR liv-
ING At DICE THROWING.

Fine Clothes, 1.-Two Like Rich Men and
Want to BE Gertlemen-An Ex-Detect-
i've Explains Their Little Game.
Leaning against the bar in one of the
fashionable cafes up town the other
night was a man who until recently
was one OF the brightest detectives in
the police department. He had covered
himself with glory ON more than one &C.
ras;on under the administration Of Su-
perintendent Thomas F. Byrnes, but
when the shake up in the department
came and he was obliged to go he did
so without the least feeling Of regret.
He did not look like a detective as he
stood idly putting at his cigar. He APP
peared like a man of the world who
had just left theater or dinner party.
Not until he was greeted by Press re-
porter did he arouse from q reverie he
seemed to be in.
In every city on the face Of the
earth" said the ex-sleuth, '':l,at has
any pretensions to being cosmopolitan
there is to be found q certain class Of
menwho live by their wits, and in liv-
ing by their wits they do it in a manner
that does not place them within the
reach Of the Law, although their meth
DDS are far from being honorable. They
are nasty, vicious class Of men, beside
whom highway robber or a petty
sneak thief is the embodiment Of all
that Is good and decent. Right here in
New York that peculiar class Of men
iourish rs they do in 10 other city in
The world, and they 60 on unhindered
from one years end to another. Most
of them are imbued with desire to be-
come rich and be gentlemen. That may
strike you as being peculiar, but it is
nevertheless a fact. These men are
known to the police as grafters, and
they give q good deal more trouble to
the authorities than ten times as many
hardened criminals.
"See that well dressed, nice looking
fellow who is sitting over there in an
attitude of studied carelessness, eying
the elderly man standing at the cigar
| lighter? That fellow is u CRATER He
dresses like. looks like and talks and
| acts like q gentleman, and yet it seems
| to me not more than ten years ago that
he was q So clerk in q real estate office
| His people are very poor and never were
able to provide him with any of the
luxuries in which he INDUCES himself
nowadays. Yet he can now go into fash
| ionable restaurant and order q splendid
meal from bill of fare that is printed
in French. He is not well up in litera-
ture and avoids the subject very cleverly
| if it is introduced Still he is hard
student, deyotes himself to few select
ed books for several hours day and in
| other ways tries to improve his mind
and his manners.
| But how does he get his money!
| ''He shakes dice. He is one of the
cleverest dice shakers in this country.
IL fact, dom believe he has an equal.
The plan he is going to follow now is
this, provided he succeeds inomaking
the acquaintance Of the elderly man.
They will enter upon a general CONVEX
sation, in which he holds his own. They
have several drinks. Drinking becomes
monotonous, and they drift out in the
street together. Does he tell the old man
that he is stranger in New York? Not
at all He says he has been here all his
life. He had an engagement to meet
some friends at the hotel, but they dis
appointed him. He comes to another
fashionable cafe and asks the old man to
have drink. He drinks whisky, but
the drinks are usually small, Perhaps if
he gets too many no will lose one on the
floor As they go from one place to an
other the places will deteriorate, and
finally, the old man having had a suf-
ficient number of drinks TO make him
woozy, the last place will be one in
which Mr.. CRATER has q dice box plant
ed"
what do you mean by planted?"
by that / mean that the barkeeper
is friend Of the CRATER and keeps be-
hind the bar special dice and special
dice box to be used Oh special occasions.
This is one of the special occasions. Per-
haps should explain to you that in Or
der to manipulate dice box, or rather
the dice, the inside of the box must be
perfectly smooth. That is because the
CRATER holds one or more of the dice
in his fingers and places it in the box
in such way that it will slide out Of
the box right side mp when the proper
time comes.
Some Of the dice shakers have eel
luloid boxes planted, and this, with
n square set Of dice, makes the sliding
process an easy matter. But celluloid is
likely to excite suspicion, SO the leather
boxes are most commonly in use among
dice shakers who are clever at their
business. A man who is clever at his
business can shake out four aces in polk
er dice rs easily as he can eat his din
ner. Not only that, but he defies detec-
ton in the doing Of it. He would be
caught by one Of his own class, of
course, but the ordinary man would
have no reason for suspecting that ev-
erything was not right.
The dice box having been produced,
they shake for drinks, and finally it, is
proposed that they shake for money.
Perhaps the old man will not want 70
bet If he doesn't and can't be persuad.
ed to. well and good The CRATER has
been affable and courteous all the time
and continues so. Before they part COM
pany, however, it is pretty sure thing