The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-20
one SQUEALER WHO WON OUT
DENVER LAD BLUFFED OUT THE
STEAMSHIP SHARPER.

But for the Nest Part, Says the Wan VINE
Knows. the squeaIer, Even II He Has
Been Cheated, Finds Small sympathy
-One Laughed Out u Parliament.
Il was surprised at the recently printed
statement Of an old time faro bank dealer
to the effect that 81 many Of the tiger
buckers do the baby act and whimper
for the return of their lost money" said
a man who gets about the world q good
bit. Il never could understand tho
fellows who set up the moan when they
have lost their money at any kind Of q
game into which they willingly and even
eagerly enter. My experienoe-but IL
does not comprehend faro banks-is
that the squealer in ninety-nine cases
out Of a hupdred-g gets the laugh aud moth
ing e.sc. Even when a nan has been
done by sharpers l think it q fair state
ment that nobody has the slightest SYM
pathy for him when he squeals. Very
few Of the squealers have the nerve to
demand tho arrest of card sharks and
fewer still appear against the sharks
when they are arrested.
"A few years & q New York young
fellow permitted himself to DO done out
of tho inconsequential sum Of $40 by a
couple Of cutters Of the rough edge cards
on one of the English steamers while
he was returning from a European o
The walls that he made about his shred
ding to his fellow passengers-I was one
of them-were distressing. When the
ship reached New York he foolishly had
the pair Of sharpers p~inohed. but he
didn't have the nerve to appear against
them and Of course they were turned
looee-which is the way 1t invariably
breaks.
"The Britishers haven't any more use
for squealers than we have on this side.
III give that to them. A few years ago
a member of the British Parliament
took a cruise to Australia for tho sea air.
When he left the steamer at Melbourne
he complained to the police that a couple
Of female fellow voyagers had done him
out Of $500 at a card game. He had the
two women arrested. The women were
crooks right enough, but nothing could
be proved against them, and the Mel
bourne magistrate acquitted then. All
Australia united in giving the member
Of the British Parliament the long laugh,
He sulkei and took the next steamer for
home. When he stood for reelection
to Parliament he was showed under.
His constituency was a sporting one,
1t was bad enough, in their view. that
their representative in Parliament should
have ~squealed over a gambling loss. but
that he should have squealed over being
done by women was intolerable.
IL - L. -.tA. ItH-.a. a. a. faaa
banks, but the fellows who squeal after
being done by steamer sharks are few
and far between. The public hears OF
about one case in five hundred in which
ocean voyagers are shredded by sharks.
The other 400 victims take their medicine
and say nothing, like sensible people.
They know that it's their own fault in
~disregarding the Beware the gamblers
placards and even, In many cases, tho
express ~warnings OF the ships officers.
There are some fellows who would play
cards at sea with strangers II the letters
of the warning placards were nine feet
high. so what's the use?
AAl the same, most Of the seagoing
swindlers will fall for an ingeniously
framed up scare scientifically throw
into them. I've seen them hastily dig
up their winnings on several occasions
under the impulse Of fright. Mere threats
Of handing them over to the poles. upon
the arrival Of the steamer In port do not
bother them they only laugh at such
threats. but there are other methods.
About eight years ago a young Denver
of dollars was on his way to the other side
to blow in the money. Despite all sorts
Of warnings he sat into q two handed card
game with O notorious worker OF the
steamers. The young fellow was q Of
those would-be foxy lads, and he was SO
enamored Of his imaginary skill with the
the shark who could shred him when he
had his eyes eide open, that's all-and let
me add, by the way, that III ] possessed
one-twentieth Of the money I've seen lost
to steamer swindlers by these perky chaps
who are dead in love with their own card
c~raftiness ! wouldn't have to worry about
my cigar bills for the remainder Of my life.
1As a matter Of purse the shark got
the Denver boy for his bundle-a matter
of three or four thousand dollars. But
the way the thing fell out proved that the
Denver chap had plenty Of cunning at
that. wen II he didn't have enough sense
Tho steamer was only half a day out
from Liverpool when the young chap
lost out in the final hand and found his
legacy nearly all in. The excitement
Of tsns the Last a sn lo SsrHin had S.i Elyen H bis oS S .
totLtliSC al WoihAh6 Phiioi AAopushpl
his chair back from The table and stared
straight ahead Of him out Of bullying
eyes in q crazy sort Of a way.
'"Weil. it's all over with me- be gurgled
hoarsely. I've no kick coming . Of
course. having lost out in q fair and square
game. But the money didn't belong to
me. 1t was my boes's money. He
runs a novelty store in Denver and he
sent me on this trip to buy stock In Paris
with the money. don't dare to 20 back
to Denver, Of course. It's all Oh with
me. The only thing for me to do is to
pipe out. that's ALL
|Whereupon he yanked out a gun and
started to point it at his head. The shark
quickly leaped over the table and grabbed
the hand that held the gun. The Denver
chap didn't know 1t. but this swindler
had done nine years In an English prison
for crooked work. He knew therefore
not only the severity OF English prisons
but Of English law. The steamer was
close to Liverpool and he knew that II
his victim shot himself he (the swindler)
had a swell chance to be held responsible
for 1t under the English law. He had
put in his min year stretch at breakwater
building in water up to his waist. He
didn't want any more English prison
life for his.
"Stow all that the shark growled.
wrenChinR the gun out of the hand OF the