The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-10
MONTE CARLO WAS SCARED.
Only Time "system Play" Ever
Gave the Bank Any Uneasiness.


From the London Exchange.
Lord Rosslyn's recent vain attempt
to break the bank at Monte Carlo"
has brought out a number of old stor-
les regarding similar attempts in the
past. Perhaps the best of the lot as
told by an oficial~of Monte Carlo to
London writer This official declares
that never but once did a system
play give the bank any uneasiness.
You remember" said he, what is
generally known as the suicides table
the second on the right on entering
the roulette room? 1t was at that
table few years ago that l saw one
afternoon an old lady who like many
others here, makes her living by OBJ
tanning good places at the table on
the opening of play and selling them
to eager players an hour or two later.
This old lady, whom you must know
as Nine. x, was we'll known to
me, and was surprised to notice that
she had a young Italian with her.
They were playing occasionally with
5-franc pieces and winning. But so
small were the stakes that l took very
little notice save to congratulate mad
am when she rose to go home to din
ner. Then the old woman turned to
me with an air of surprising defiance
and asked: How much will m'sieur
give me for the secret of an infallible
system of roulette?' Nothing / re-
sponded, laughing; we are not buy
ing secrets to-day To this she re-
sponded: All, but m'sieur will be glad
to purchase it some day. Bon soir.'
And she was gone.
For several days 1 did not see her,
and the matter passed completely from
my mind. One afternoon, week later,
however, 1 saw her at the same table
in company with three men. The chef
de partie whispered to me that they
were winning heavily, and I told the
surveillants to watch and report. An
hour later one of the men came to
me and stated that madam and her
party had won 10000 francs, and that
strangest of all, they only played for
the maximum and scarcely ever lost.
THAT evening l myself looked on at
their play several times, and certainly
they seemed to win each time they
staked The curious point, however, was
that in twenty coups or so they would
never play more than twice, first one of
the partners and then the others, but
on each occasion they won the maxi
mum. Indeed, the system certainly
seemed to bear out the prophesy of
madam, tand was actually infallible.
"A week passed and their winnings
amounted to very respectable sum,
all of which had been safely lodged in
the Credit Lyonnais and transmitted
to bank at Milan The matter was
now growing serious, for three times
they had broken the bank at the table
where they played, and at length l
telegraphed to NJ. Blanc in Paris. He
asked for further reports, and these
-fs Of hea PoT
Monte Carlo to see for himself. What
he saw greatly disconnected him. The
gang was winning most assuredly, but
by what system we We're utterly una
BILE to discover. Well, to cut a long
story short, NJ. Blanc had an inter-
view with madame, and after long
haggling, he purchased the secret for
20, 900 francs-and it was cheap at the
price,
1.-The money being paid after play
had ended and the rooms closed,
madame led us to the table and as
founded us by her statement. She told
us that after some years at the table
she knew quite we'll that no system
was infallible until of a. sudden, when
registering the numbers, she noticed
that certain of them always followed
each other. Thus, if the croupier spun
with the number opposite him, 26 was
certain to be the next, and If zero was
in the same position. 80 would surely
follow. For days she watched this,
then played and won. She quickly got
together her little syndicate of Italians,
and upon her observations they profit
ed nearly 1000 francs.
"And why was it that these numbers
turned up in sequence? Well, it was
quite simple when madame told us.
The roulette wheel had become warped
by the heat, and was not quite round.
Hence if turned from a, certain point,
it invariably stuck at a certain other
point, therefore the players never hest
tated to risk a maximum. That is the
only system which has ever been in
fallible,' added the courtly official,
land l need hardly tell you that since
we have been careful to test the
wheels every day."