The sun., 1908-12-27

I 4 =
sasHs sss do.I.a g Es1A ssa a RaSsS 4s
closed BY the pollcs. was oIefe u
another billiard room which wes and te
| reputable place. The dlsreputabI9 estab:
lishment was called "Blanks Annex,
BLANK being the name Of the reputable
room, keeper. Blank was surpr.fsd
into hfs room and demanding back the
money he had lost In "Blank'e branch"
establishment aoross the street,
Time was in billiards when there were
several sets OF rules. these being drawn
up by different authorities on the game.
This state. Of edairs was source O! profit
tim would bet on it and leave y 30 the
rules. The shark would then. pull Q book
Of rules which gave the opinion the way
he had bet. Having that ruling In mind
the victim might bet on. the same point
again. leave IL 10 the rules and find out
him. The shark who landed him the
second time would have different rule
book 70 appeal 70. Being twice bitten
the victim would awake to the fact that
he had been buncoed; but zone is born
every minute
The billiard shark must Of necessity
Play spretsy S9od e. game, s,aS ana .Ca sSns ,STd q
ago @ one Of The best known and most
skilful billiard players In the West pre-
ferred the methods Of the shark 10 being
on the square. With his skill he could
have gotten along even better by being
honest, but was iust naturally crooked;
snohsr as asa RPs PsHr Known aa nn player cooked
q Job once whereby the latter, who was
not the others equal In ability, won the
game and bettors were double crossed.
The manager Of the contest smelled
rat while tho game was on, had one Of
the contestants followed to a resort In the
the job. From that day on neither man
was allowed to take part in q match or
tournament in a public. hall. But this
was an isolated case OF crooked work
In a public billiard contest. Games
nowadays and for q number OF years
have been absolutely on the level. the
billiardists declare. and there e no reason
a contest between players Of any note
since 1877 or 1873 that wasn't on the level
says Leading professional. "As q player
myself ] know that any Of them would
rather lose an arm than not try to win his
game
the these day. says e George saS soa foT
the players OF skill and what their skill
is What sharks there are these days,
however, are smoother and moro polished
generally than In the times when sharking
was widespread and confined to o rougher
element. Those Of the present are polite
and affable, but billiards frequently
merely leads on to a card game or some
thing else by which more money can be
had from thevictim. 1t Is the room keep
er's business TO protect his patrons and
see that things don't develop that far.
sTho sharks don't give any trouble
when they are detected by the room
keepers They may be told that they
are wanted at the phone or called aside
on some other pretext, and then they are
quietly, tipped OIL to make themselves
A well known player told Of a case
of some years ago illustrative of shark o |
preference for getting a little money |
by his own peculiar methods than by got |
ting more by worthier means. There |
TO a shark and his pal and who liked to |
bet on one or the other Of them when |
playing against each other. One day he |
bot SIS on the game. Tho man on whom !
he bet threw the game to his pal. and /
later the two divided the money Mr. X |
found this out and would have nothing !
more to do with either of them after that |
Had his man been on the square with him, |
said the man who told the story. 1t would |
have been much more to his profit, for |
be would have backed him for bigger !
amounts than that. |