The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-05-16
DANDY TRICKSTERS.
sGRAFTERS" WHO MAKE THEIR Liv-
ING AT DICE THROWING.
Many Of Them Are Great sweiis, Wear
Fine Clothes. Live Like Rich Men and
Want to BE Gentlemen-An Ex-Detect-
i've Explains Their Little Game.

i've Explains Their Little Game.
Leaning against the bar in one of the
fashionable cafes up town the other
night was q man who until recently
was one Of the brightest detectives in
the police department. He had covered
himself with glcry on more than one oc-
casion under the administration of Su-
perintendent Thomas +. 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 lock like detective as he
stood idly putting at his cigar. He ap-
peared like man of the world who
had just left theator or dinner party
Not until he was greeted by Press re-
porter did he arouse from reverie he
seemed to be in.
In every city on the face Of the
earth." said the ex-slcuth, THAT has
any pretensicns TO being cosmopolitan
there is to be found certain class Of
men who live by their wits, and in liv-
ing by their wits they do it in a manner
tliab hOiH DDt paw Anthi within tht
reach Of the law, although their meth
DDS are far from being honorable. They
are nasty, vicious class of men, beside
whom a highway robber or "a petty
sneak thief il the embodiment of all
that is good and decent. Right here in
New York that peculiar class Of men
flourish as they Go i'll no other city in
the world, and they go on unhindered
from one years end To another. Most
of them are imbued with desire TO be-
como rich and be gentlemen. That may
strike you as being peculiar, but it is
nevertheless fact. These men are
known to the police as grafters, and
they give 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 carolessness, eying
the elderly man standing at the cigar
lighter? That fellow is "a CRATER He
dresses like, looks like and talks and
acts like gentleman, and yet it seems
to me not more than ten years ago that
he was a 80 clerk in a real estate Office.
His people are very poor and never were
able u provide him with any Of the
luxuries in which lie indulges himself
nowadays. Yet he can now go into fash
ionable restaurant and order 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, devotes 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.
| In fact, / don't believe he has an equal
The plan he is going TO follow now is
| this, provided he succeeds in making
| the acquaintance Of the elderly man.
| They will enter upon general conver-
sation, in which lac holds his own. They
have several drinks. Drinking becomes
monotonous, and they drift out i'll 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 he 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 suf-
| ficient number of drinks to make him
woozy, the last place will be one in
which Mr. CRATER has n dice box plant
ed. "
What do you mean by planted?"
"By that 1 mean that the barkeeper
is friend of the CRATER and keeps be-
hind the bar special dice and a special
dice box to be used on special occasions.
| This is one of the special occasions. Per-
| haps l should explain to you that in or
der to manipulate a 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 viii slide out Of
the box right side up when the proper
| time comes.
''Some of the dice shakers have cell
| luloid boxes planted, and this, with
q 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 III use among
dice shakers who are clever at their
| A xx-l,a ia c1ax-ar. af hlQ
business can shake out four aces III pok-
er dice as easily as he can eat his dim
ner. Not only that, but he defies detec-
ton in the doing Of il. 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.
1.-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 to
bet. IL he doesn't and can't be persuad-
ed TO. well and good. The CRATER has
been affablo and courteous all the time
and continues SO. Before they part COM
piny, however. IL is pretty sure thing
that the CRATER has borrowed Of the old
fellow about what he had spent for
drinks, promising of course to pay IL
| back.
"The chances are about even that the
old man will bet something, and IL he
Goes he loses it, of course, in which case
be is jollied enough 90 make him take
the thing good naturedly.
''Thc clever CRATER is not u mean
fellow. II the old follow went broke
and the amount of the loan asked was
reasonable, the shark would give it to