The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-14
GAMBLING ON THE LINERS.
TRroKs BT WHICH RNGbIyHMEN
ARE STILL CAUGHT
r,-a uo-,daie,s Erpericnce with . Card
en,rper or n Transatlantic Hteannshtp =
Ye,,er suirdiers worEinE the HineTu wow
IN. -ormerIy-sotne Practical Advice.

$500 sr,,diers Working the Hineru Now
mar Formeriy-sone Practical Advice.
WARRINGTON, Nov. 13.-An Engliphman
| who travels n good deal was generaljzinR Mt
one of tho clubs here last night on tho subject
M tho card sharpers who devote themsclv CO
exclusively to the ocean steamers.
"It,s a marvel to me-" he said, that tho
American steamship people, or the police, or
somebody, can't drive these sharpers of tho
American steamers. It's nothing short OF dis
graceful. Must be something wrong somewhere.
Can't be collusion, i doa't suppose, Or"
..ob. como now, stow that, mate.' said an
American who does q bit Of travelling himself.
"Ietbov,re not worse, and more Of them, on the
Enplsb transatlantic steamers, I'll turn Brit
ish subject, tako the Queens shilling, put on q
rod cont- and fight all the naked blacks from
Dahomey to
"Humbug. We don't fight naked blacks.
We only subduc them, that's all. Punitive
expeditions, you know. But about these card
sbarpers on tho American ships. Why, tia
simply barbarous, you know, to permit them to
minrlo with gentlemen as they do. And tho
worst of It is, the cads get themselves UP like
gentlemen, SO how's q man to know"
"Must have been hit yourself last trip over.
old man." put in the American.
The Englishman got red and flustered. as
Englishmen will when compelled to admit
that the universe Ia not entirely an open book
to them.
well, yes, I did, he admitted gamely. Not
would about cover 1t. But It wasn't the
money 30 much. 1t was the way the thing
was donc-positively beastly, I say. Man was
introduced to me on sailing day on the other
side by an American l know we'll. Good fell
low, too. Man had been introduced to him by
somebody esle, and so on, SO that II would take
. Scotland Yard mar to trace how he came to
know and rob most of us coming across. Worst
Of 1t was, I myself presented the chap to any
number of fellows I knew on the ship. and all
of 'em got bit moro or less, and oil Of 'em
looked at me responsibility whom 1t came ont
after We landed that the chap was q sharper,
just as I looked reproachfully at tho mar
who"
sort of endless chain. wasn't it, put In the
American.
well, II you want to put 1t that way" said
the Englishman. "And worse still, the mar
got my guineas at my own game. II It had
been poker. now, I wouldn't have minded SO
much, for I never could master that queer
and I don't believe there's anything in 1t,
anyhow. But napi Chap beat me clean at
nap, that I've been playing ever since I was at
Harrow. Odd, too, that l beat him easily at
first and had all the luck. and wasSsprobably
fifty guineas ahead of him. Then suddenly the
luck changed, you SEQ"
The American smiled.
what the deuce are you grinning ati The
luck changed, as 1 say, and, by Jove, the fellow
positively couldn't lose. II my daughter hadn't
become i'll on the fourth day out, I dare say I
have lost quito a bit OF money, and"
"Unquestionably you would have" put in tho
Il. sG~ AhaN= Ia Nra 1nn rArr
daughters illness-which 1 trust was not
serious-was really a blessing to you. It's
queer to me that no Englishman l have ever
met in ocean voyaging is able to percei:e that
when he is playing at cards with a stranger
who permits him to win easily and heavily at
first, it is time for him to make his devoirs,
m praeee Or to less take fes 3 eanst1it sT ohS s on 7 tSe mann aaa
deck, henceforth abjuring cards. with said
stranger. Now. an American is able to see into
friend. and tic friend is a winner from the 60.
off. as we say over here. all well and good.
his hhe fr AmdF : initi EIy winnin Mn9 down o. np to ea the "n ehaPP Sss
with a stranger, and the STRANGER simply shoyes
table.weiI, do You know what the American Of
to-day does under those circumstances, He
gins to change. and then he has an imperative
appointment with his wife. in the cabin. He
thus picks up quite a bit Of cigar, money from
Fancy now said the Enslishman. III
came across the Englishman who did. Why,
80 well aware Of this little shrewd habit Of
20 a game that Of late years they have altogether
abandoned that old. old trick Of permitting
They only work that trick nowadays on Eng
lishmen. Fact is, / think there ought to be q
Enle on all transatlantic stenmships; Eng
British subjects from playing cards at all
"Tommyprtot,' said the E~nglishman.
the American. "of course. I don't mean that
n 1T, e %y,g and y yet t l go don't tn know Pq b.v What M. after
the wake of a steamer on the trip across the
Atlantic ffty-two times-that is, I have made
on these voyages l have seen as many as a
thousand men plucked at cards. I will venture
men. So You viii perceive there Is some JUS.
tiication for what ] said about your country
men playing cards aboard ship.
badly done by the ocean-Roing card sharpers.
too. Al the time your Lord Lonsdale came to
you know-he was a pretty clever young man.
even II he did at that period Of his life stand in
urgent need of a guardian with q heavy club.
Well, amid the newspaper uproar over his land
ing in this country with the Cameron. the fact
did not come out that Lonsdale was plucked Of
the most notable Of the older clique OF teamshi
sharpers. But it's a fact all the same. / was
not only aboard the steamer at the time, but I
was one of a number Of men who endeavored to
pou I'D ome sense into young Lonsdalc's head
while the %plucking was going on. But he was
and even when he was quito convinced that
Turner was q sharper. at the end of the voyage
he stood for his big loss like a little man. and
became genuinely, angry al some Of his English
friends aboard who recommended him to stop
payment on the checks he had given Turner 70
II Think Turner had 1t In mind to do Ions.
dale when he got aboard at Liverpool. Turner
had been working the ships for fifteen yenrg.
in spite of tho efforts Of tho steamship com.
panics TO keep him of their vessels, and at
mis- I, ne he was a man Of 40 or thereabouts.
at this time, and it was at the buffet that Tur,
ner, who, was a fine-looking, insinuating and
accomplished man, found young LonsdnIe On
sailing day; The two men struck up a friend
4 was Lonsdsle himself who irst suffested. as
manly tellow-the poker game. Lonsdale had
only recently learned the hands in poker
which IL about all any man ever learns about IL,
II the truth were told-and he had the poker
initiates enthusiasm for the game to an exag.
gersted extent Before going any further. /
afterward that In his play with Lonsdale he