The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-10
ROULETTE WHEELS
ARE ALL STRAIGHT
No Reason Why Gamblers
Should Run Crooked Game
THEY HAVE PERCENTAGE
Are Bound to Win in the Long Run
and crookedness Is Not Worth
WhiIe-Father of Roul-
cite Tables.
THEY HAVE PERCENTAGE

District Attorney jerome of New YORK
said recently that while he had seen some
crooked deal boxes, he had never seen
crooked roulette wheel. gambler Oh
much experience backs him up.
.The number of crooked roulette wheels
to any country in the world is so small as
practically to amount to nothing said
the gambler. "A crooked roulette wheel
Is not necessary.
"Eyerybody who knows anything about
roulette knows that every man who plays
it and sticks to it is an idiot There Is
absolutely no way in which the player
can beat the game
I'm the course of the last twenty or
thirty years l suppose that 1900 men nave
come to me with systems for peatihs the
wheel. The last man to come around
was a particularly wise guy who told me
he could cipher out by arithmetic, alse-
bra. trigonometry and comic sections thal
he had an absolutely fnvmcible system.
"Gravely | told him that if he had such
a thing he could be a millionaire before
the winter was out Then | asked MN
what his system was With much ehthu-
siasm he told me that all one had to do
to beat the wheel was always to play TINS
second number from the last,
~ on never Wdnl u al "AN'A ~
these system fends. You just want 10
put their scheme to practical test.
Other idiots tried the same thing at
Monte Carlo and Ostend years ago. anu
went broke, but the young man dluh
know about that. so I told nm that
was much impressed with what ne hau
to say, and If 1t would work l would see
what could be done toward capltallZihs
It.
Tried the System.
"I suggested therefore, that we take
stroll around to a house not far from
where [ live and see how the thing would
work When we went in l had little
talk with the proprietor OF the place, ana
il was arranged that | should try the sys-
tenn with real money, and my own at
that, all | lost to be returned TO me at
the end of the play.
I'VE tried out the system thoroughly
for about three hours, In which time
lost about $4,000. The young man Went
away, saying there was some slight nav
which he would correct and come around
again. ! haven't seen him since
las everybody knows who knows any
thing about wheel playing, the percentage
against the player on a so-caheu lhirlS-
six inch wheel is big.
"Anv sensible gambler knows that with
such a percentage In his favor he Is
bound to get the money In the long run
either from individual players or from the
gross number of individual players.
Therefore 1t Is not worth the bother ana
the chance of getting caught at 1t TO
have a crooked wheel.
IN gambling houses run by pikers
in the west and western pikers In the
east where If a player bets more than 30
cents on a color he is betting fortune.
I have seen wheels that were not on the
level. There are various devices Tor
making a wheel crooked, but the ones
that are used most often, when they are
used at all, are the so-called electric de-
vice and the fyout pin.
IAN electrically crooked wheel Is one
in which the groove around which the
ball spins is strongly magnetized, while
the ball is of steel thinly coated with
white glaze. When the electricity Is
turned on the magnetized groove will
hold the ball until the current is turned
oil. Then 1t will quickly drop into a Ger
tain pocket
but 1t will only work as to the num-
bers If your bet is down on a number
and the corresponding number on the
wheel happens to be near the crouper,
it is possible to drop the ball into that
pocket; but the electrical contrivance IS
not secure enough on the colors to work
once out of a dozen times.
THE flyout pin is an arrangement by
which little steel pin is inserted In the
groove on the outer edge of the wheel.
connected by a wire or a cord with 4
drawer near the croupier. and the at
tempt Is made by pulling the wire or cord
to divert the ball from the pocket into
which 1t would naturally fall
you can readily see that such devices
as these must fall in the long run and
are too absurdy trivial to be seriously
considered Furthermore, the makers of
roulette wheels i'm this country and
abroad are reputable business men, who
often manufacture toys as well Us
wheels, and they would no more turn out
crooked products than they would crack
a safe,
1.-THE daddy of all manufacturers of
roulette wheels was William Dorsey of
Pawtucket. Dawsey had an interesting
history.
Was Innocent.
Years ago he was tried, convicted and
sentenced to the Wethersfield penlten-
tiary at Wethersfeld, Conn, for forgery.
He served his time, and after he came
out it was found that he was absolutely
innocent of the crime.
MY recollection is that he was book
Keeper or accountant before he served his
term, but he never went back to his old
business. For reasons best known to HIM
self he learned the painters trade after
getting out of the penitentary, and con-
NelNtu lie uOllOH Oh painting lne cOlOrS
on roulette and faro cloths.
'IIe was the first one who ever did it,
and no one ever knew the art as he knew
It, except as he taught II to them. Let
me say in passing that the numbers on
roulette wheels are not painted on the
cloths used in Europe at all. The num-
bers are burned in, while, of course, the
red and black colors at the side of the
table are painted. 1t Is only here in
America that each one of the thirty-six
numbers is painted req or black.
Roulette wheels and tables cost any
where from $3.50 to $500. The composition
chips to go with them cost s35 a thousand
and the ivory chips $4O0 a thousand
think Garfield is the only gamoler In the
United States who ever used ivory chips.
1.-The wheels made in Paris are. in my
opinion. better than any American wheel
because the disk and cylinder are both
made OF steel, which Is not affected by
weather conditions, as are our own
wheels
Every wheel turns on diamond
pointed shaft, which rests upon a steel
plate, and shaft and plate are both as
hard as steel can be made. I have seen
wheels that would revolve eighteen min
utes
while various firms or individuals
make the wheels there are only two
places in this country where the cloths
can be painted. These are the shops of
ha bo