Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-06-05
WAYS OF CARD SHARPERS.
Devices Employed for the Fleeing of
Unwary Players.

Considering that gambling is only a
polite form of thieving, 1t is not very
remarkable that confirmed gamesters
should stoop to fraud as a means OF
enhancing their chances of winnina,
but it is remarkable that other games
tiers should be so blind to the devices
/ invented by more ingenious fellows,
and fortunes have been won by clever
sharpers from men and women who
have been well alive to their own in
terests and not wanting in cunning
suspicion by clever contrivances Of
their own construction.
1t is not often that a gambler is
sufficiently enterprising and mean as
to have card-room specially con-
structed to facilitate his fleeing his
victims and visitors, but to even this
length went man, now deceased,
who, despite his vast private fortune.
Systematically preyed upon the peck
cts of his wealthy acquaintance. The
room was constructed so small that
only sufficient space was allowed for
square table and the chairs OF the
| four players, the object Of this being
to prevent onlookers or anyone stand
ing behind the particular chair which
the host always took.
The room was magnifcently deco
rated and hidden in the deeply carved
black oak paneling were two spy
holes, from which person on the
other side of the wall could see every
card Of the person sitting opposite the
host. When cards were being played
confederate of the host was always
watching, unseen, from these holes,
having his finger upon Gn electric but
ton. This button communicated
with a larger button hidden under the
carpet just in front Of the hosts
chair, and by this means the con
federate was able to communicate to
his master what cards were in the
hand of his tete-a-tete player.
Sitting down in his chair, the arch
scoundrel pitt his toe on the invisible
button under the table and received
the news. One push of the button
signified hearts, two clubs, three dia-
monds and four spades. 1t was the
was the strongest suit in the "hand"
before him. Thus, one push of the
button informed the archthief that his
tete-a-tete's strongest suit was hearts
and so on. When it had been com
municated how the suits stood in
strength it was the confederate's duty
to wire what the cards were, start
ing with the highest in the highest
suit and going to the lowest in the
lowest. So quickly could this scheme
be worked that very often the host
felt twelve rapid taps on the sole of
his shoe, and he knew this meant the
queen of hearts. A short pause and
then ten rapid taps told him the next
highest card was the ten of hearts,
And so on. 1t is said that, thanks
to this ingenious scheme, which was
never discovered during the inventors
life, many wealthy persons were
brought to the verge of ruin, while
their host entertained them in regal
style.
A somewhat similar but less sue
cessful scheme was that in the practice
of which certain continental dress
maker was detected. This woman.
like many others of her calling, made
it custom to entertain her custo-
mers at gambling in the secrecy of her
private apartments, and she probably
found it infinitely more lucrative than
her protested trade, to which it at
tracted customers. Her plan was to
| G nd H. +o;5
so that passage ran between the two
walls on three sides, and through an
unseen opening all around the edge of
the ceiling the man could see the cards
of all the players but his wife, who
sat with her back to the single wall.
Walking in the passage, the man ex-
amined the cards of the unsuspecting
players and, opening a small trap in
the wall, exhibited similar cards
drawn from pack he carried.
Owing to the light which thrown
down upon the table and into the
faces of all players but the dress
maker, the exhibited card could be
from the glare of the lamp were &C
customed to the dim light in which
the cards were exhibited, but to the
other players, glancing from the
glare, such dimness would have been
as impenetrable as the darkness of
night In this way the man was able
to show his wife exactly what cards
were in the hand" Of the player be-
hind whom he stood and when one
hand had been disclosed in this man
ner he moved on to the next. But it
was too clumsy to be entirely success
full; victims became suspicious Of the