The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-01-16
STEAMSHIP FAKERS.
Cheating Card-Players Who Fleece
Passengers En- Route.
Gravel in Pairs and Under the Guise
of Men of Money Travelling for
Pleasure-AP Police OmciaPa
Account.

anu sure tn1ng men who infeSt
ocean steamships and transconti-
mental railroad lines it is impossible
accurately to estimate, but
Scarcely big ocean liner which en-
joys fashionable vogue reaches port
either on this side of the Atlantic or
the other without furnishing tale of
high gambling carried on during the
trip in the smoking room, writes a
New York correspondent of the Tri-
bune.
great many of these tales end also
with statement that there was more
or less suspicion if not actual PROOF
OF crooked" play, and the number of
instances would be much greater if
IT were not for the fact that the VIC
TINS are selected with discretion, and
are in the vast majority of cases men
VINO would rather lose a few hundred
dollars than face the publicity which
would follow their accusation of un-
ta1r play. The police know nearly all
the operators who fleece ocean pas
sengers in the smoking rooms, but are
seldom able to 'put them where they
oeiong." This is owing to two rea-
sons, one of which is the difficulty of
getting complaint made against the
rascals while within the jurisdiction
or the metropolitan police. The other,
and more startling reason, is the ac-
cusatlons from Capt. Titus, the CHIEF
OF detectives, who says that many of
the stewards of the liners stand in
with the sharpers, even carrying a
supply of marked cards, and the
porters do the same on the railway
lines.
The "blackleg" players are divided
into two classes, "deepwater gam
blers" (the steamship operators) and
the "cross road fellows" (the railway
train gangs). In both cases poker is
the principal game, the stronghold,
although other games may be resorted
to, by way of variety, when the sus-
picions of the victims are aroused.
These men are all capital entertain
ers. They are the life and the soul
of travel-dulled company. They dress
well and look well-better than they
do in the police pictures, where they
appear under the stress of disadvan-
tageous circumstances, and in the
easy, good comraderie which prevails
aboard ship, it is easy for them to get
acquainted with the jovial "good fell
low" type of man who makes the
easiest victim to fleece, and the one
least likely to 'squeal" when the oper-
alton has been completed.
John III. Allen, assistant in the bu-
reau or records at the New York police
headquarters, has made study of the
gamblers.
"We are glad to have an opportunity
of airing this matter and of warning
the travelling public" he remarked the
other day. "Of course, the public
won't heed the warning, but we can't
help that. Some fools seem to enjoy
being feeced 1t is only once in a
while that we get 'squeal,' and
where one victim complains hundreds
do not. About year ago the presi-
dents of the steamship lines INDUCED
in some talk about stopping the swim
ding games, but 1 don't think any
thing came of it but talk. One of the
suggestions made then might we'll be
carried out. 1t was that the detective
bureaus of this and of other countries
should furnish to the steamship lines
photographs of the professional card
sharps, simple but effective, for each
steamer should have the 'rouges gall
lery.'
"The first thing these professional
gamblers do when they get aboard
ship, or aboard the train (they feel
more secure aboard ship, is to become
acquainted with the crowd. They gen.
orally pass for high rollers or sports,
or for first-rate business men with a
load of money, who are off on vaca-
tion and willing to pay for little fun.
One of them some time ago repre-
scented to his fellow passengers that
he was the king of the Klondike, and
many of them believed it! The SUBJ
ject of little game was introduced
by them cautiously, by suggestion
more than plain hint.
81 may state that they never work
singly. They work generally in cou-
pies, and only one Of them is a winner.
The other cusses the luck and won
ders at his pals winnings just as hard
as any of the real victims do, and he
draws the crowd off the scent if they
suspect anything wrong. But he is
an expert dealer, and on his flimfiam
deals his partner wins every time. He
throws him the cards, you see, even if
he himself has nothing but bobtailed
flush or an ace high hand of rags and
oddities. The dealer in the working
combination never wins the money.
The rogues will take turns about at
winning-or will work it judiciously,
so as to win without arousing suspi-
cion too suddenly. If the man that
dealt were to win every time, then the
crowd would yell foul right away;
but who is going to suspect the poor,
innocent dealer, who has given him
self the worst hand in the bunch?
Usually they do not try to make but one
coup on a voyage, but that one will net
them from $500 to 5000 to great many
thousands. The man who represented
himself to be king of the Klondike in
1900 swindled a real, bona fide count
who had been finishing his musical
education on the other side. 1t is
astonishing even to us experienced
policemen to realize what amazing
fools some mortals be. The king of
the Klondike made bum out of that
count all right. He was stranded in
New York"