The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-15
GOTHAM NEWS FROM THE WEST,

Being the Story of How Four Conspira-
 tors Beat the Roulette Wheel.
 The advent of the Low administration
 in New York has caused hegira of the
 sporting fraternity to the west. It
 seems that word has gone forth that all
 forms of gambling will be suppressed
 and that the big town will be closed
 tighter than a drum. Hence those who
 enjoyed the favors of the Tammany re-
 gime are now looking for other fields
 where they can operate
 A remarkable story of crooked gam
 bling has been brought west by these
 emigrating sports. It is the tale of a
 swindle worked upon the shrewdest
 gamblers of the country by chevaliers
 of the profession. Banking games in
 the metropolis were cheated out of over one hundred thousand dollars. All eff forts to detect the swindle were futile,
 and exposure came only through quarrel among the operators over the division of the plunder. It was their in tention to make half a million dollars from the New York games before seek ing victims in other cities, This was to be done by working only few hours at time Probably the most remark able feature of the affair is that the swindle was perpetrated upon the rou- lette game which affords the largest percentage to the house, and is under the closest surveillance to prevent crookedness upon the part of players.
 For about two years past roulette has been the favorite gambling game in the east It was suddenly taken up by what is known as the business play' bankers, brokers, merchants and rich men about town who gamble quietly and for high stakes. The explanation is that many of them were frequent visi- tors to Europe and patrons of the gam bling resorts on the continent, where roulette prevails almost entirely. On their return to New York they natural I ly showed a preference for the wheel and the proprietors catered to the de- mand.
 About a year ago it was noticed in the big gambling houses that quite a rush always came right after the close of the theaters in the evening. Men in dress suits and opera hats came in and wagered large sums on the roulette board. Their success was astonishing and soon became puzzling to the propri- I etors, Extra close watch was kept on the play, and the paraphernalia was regularly examined in the expectation of finding some electrical or other de- vice which would account for the re- run of luck against the house. | The wheel however, was always found | intact, and there was no indication whatever that it had been tempered | with. Any large or constant winning at I, roulette always arouses the suspicious l of the proprietors. Only a short time | before they had been victimized by a | device with which needle was used to | throw the whirling ball into the desired | This swindle had been | detected after the house had sustained | oss running into the thousands.
 One day the proprietor of a large house in New York was called | lpon by well-known sport, who told | Jim that he was being robbed through | and offered to explain the sys- em for consideration, The proprietor declined to pay for the information The sport then confessed that he was l eeking revenge, and would tell all he 1new for nothing.
 His story was that himself and three ther professional sports had deliberate y set about to discover means by which hey could beat roulette. They pur- hased a layout and put it up in pri- ate room. One of them acted as crou- tier, and for weeks the other three | 'layed the game, just as if they were aally gambling. They discarded all de- ices that necessitated tampering with he wheel, such as the needle, or elec- -ic battery, and cudgelled their brains 0 invent something that would be ef- active and still would leave no trace of Is use
 Finally one of the quartette hit upon simple device. He had made the thin est possible steel wire, tempered in the ighest degree. The wire was so finely