The sun., 1900-12-30
CARDS INvISIBKY NARKED.
That Is, InvisibIy to the other Fellows Who
We're In the Game with Him.

From the Nor orleans Timos-Domocrdt
4 prominent tnriman here, attending the
winter race meet. told n good story the other
evening Of an adventure on n CuOarder
You never heard of invisible ink2" he said
We'll neth her had M to a dozen Years
ago, and my introduction to II was rather
peculiar At that time ! was considerably
grcenor in the ways 81 the wicked world than
] am at present. and coming across on the
Etruria. after IA season in London. | was
fool enough tn sit In II four-handcd poker
game with three fellows ! met in the smoking
room of the ship The vulnerable roint
about any greenhorn who lays yofer is
his proud conviction that he can Irct him.
self against any kind Of work That was
my own opinion. and consequenty ddnt
care Il copper who my three Hcuuain,ances
might be. a. long as | found their society
entertaining Two Of them, | may a. well
say right here. were plain, every day business
men from Boston The other was small
dark. smooth-shnven chap who introduced
himself by the name Of Cummings and
said he was a lace bu! yer for firm Of I'M
porters In New York.
We began play ing on the second day out
of LIVERPOOL. and inside of twenty -four hours
were giving the game pretty nearly orr cN-
elusive attention The table 80 used was IN
the far corner Of the smoSing room and had
four stationary chairs As l. Customary
aboard ship. we selected our seats al the be-
ginning and kept them throughout the play
Cummings sat with his back to the partition
wall | sat opposite and one Of the Boston
fellows was on either side | mention TINS
arrangement. because 1t has a bearing on
what followed
I'VE st arted ont at n very easy gait" con-
tinued the tlrfman. but soon raised the ante
hish enou gh to make II pretty warm; A' iar
more than an ordinary clubroom game. ard
at tho nutset the brlk of the luck driitcd To
the lace buyer and myself. At the end Of th"
first dav we were each about $50 ahead;
Next day made most Of the Winnings myself
and wa1 ,a-t9nished at the succession Of good
hands held As nearly, as ! can remember
j cleared up something ike $500, mainly from
the two Boston mon. and cummings .qGit
about even; several times during the day. !
imagined the Bo-tpniaDs looked at me with
some -lignt suspicion, all Of which Afforded
me consid"rabl" amusement and -ati fled ne
the square. on the third day luck v"crcd
around 70 tn" lace buyer, aud he not only
gathered in my, entire Winnings ] b~t n@arir,
the Bostonnns for $500 and tho other for $3.50.
Altogether he stood about q 200 auoad NJ the
ali pretty we'll tagged ont. and wc agreed TO
qit for couple Of hours and resume IN" play
after dinner, Cummings left thc tahl" Grst
cigar and oh ut with the Boston men.
Il had to get 20 to proc!r" light. and ld
had been occupied by the lace buyer and began
idly stunning the deck Of cards While so
doing happened 10 notice peculiar metallic
speck At the gpprT c9TneT m OF the
kind OF analine ink. The end of the room
where we sat was T ther dark; and there was n
fixed lampin the moulding behind Cummings
chair that was kept burning day and night
The spot caught the CLEAN from this, light
and could only be seen when the card was
held at a certain slant. From any Of the other
prisad, Of course. and in running over the deck
! soon found that all the face cards and aces
were similarly spotted, some with one and
different in each case. -
The discovery upset me completely, and
could see it WAS an eGGal S9moJdne GoJ tS my
and to make a long story short we sent
steward after our lace makingfriend, and after
very brief but spCS preface gaye niig os tTo
J must admit he carried u of pretty well
This looks considerably like welsh he
said. coolly.. and e the deck Is marked know
no more about 1t than YOU do However.
IL you want your money back You ca have
IL A gentleman, said he, "a WAYS " ishes TO
avoid a scene With that he counted out
a year or SO aftervard saw him at Sara
toga and learned positively that he was n
professional short;card player, who made
Back 1' TO hs no the stun
he used In marking the deck was what Is
known as invisible ink and while, it Is sell
dom employed nowadays i can .till he bought
by artificial light and " hen, viewed from a
certain angle How and when Cummings
on the table are matters Of mere conjecture
Letting me win the o,hcr fellows money at
the start-oif and then winding me W at the
finish IL easily understood. It's an old ganlb-
ing trick and Divers sNspiCiCD