Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-31
nEsEREr7 EVENING NEWS SATURDAY. July 81 1909


thing betting that it ltsembled the So
lletl3kleptonania5 Of modern times 1t
Is related. fo, instance. that former
Marquis OF Waterford was continually
on the watch for chances to fleece his
acauaintdnces by mems OF Wagers on
which he could not lose.
IS one of his tricks was to cause his
sitting room in the hotel to be so over
heated that one brother Of his Visitors
would be sure to rush to q window to
open it. upon which the MARQUIS would
appear to be greatly alarmed. assert
Fling that he had been warned not to
OPEN any OF the windows on that side
Of the hotel because it would throw a
certain Crockery dealer opposite into
fits in which he would probably smash
everything in his place.
OF course such q statement was re-
ceived with incredulity and bets were
easily made upon the result of the
openig of. the window. The result was
always Z as the marquis had foretold.
the explanation being that he had pri-
yately arranged the matter with the
shopkeeper in advance.
1T appears that Il certain English
Lord H., who knew the weakness of
the marquis. succeeded in beating hin,
at his own game. Lord III. had invited
several guests for a weeks shooting,
among them the marquis BY chance
he observed the marquis one morning
dining room table.
Suspccting some Interior object, Lord
II. also measured tho height Of the
table later in the day and found It to
be 20 SIS inches. He then ordered the
carpenter to reduce the height of the
table to 30 inches exactly.
After the cloth had been removed
that evening and the diners We're pass
ing the port over the mahogany Lord
II, was quite prepared to find the mar
quis leading the conversation around
| To guessing at the dimensions of OBJ
l3jects and finally offering to bet that
he could come nearer to the height of
the table at which they were sitting
! than anyone else.
After some bantering Lord II. took
| him on for $1,000 and promptly guessed
| that it was about 20 inches. The mar
| quis stood MP. viewed the table from
near and far and after much humming
| and having Thoughtful was ut least
| halfGan inch higher. His chagrin when
| he found that he had lost the bet may
| be imagined.
1T is an old axiom with professional
| gamblers that you should never bet
| against II mans own game. The mere
| fact that it is his game is evidence
that he has a cinch on 1t. The late
Prof. Hermann used to give an. ..l.stis-
ing Illustration of the folly Of this bet
ting against mans own trick.
He would take an ordinary pack of
cards and ask you to examine them.
He would then turn them face down
and 'ask you to draw. one. This card
would be the eight of clubs. He then
remarked. Let us see where we can
spread these cards out" and turning
around approached a table, upon which
he laid the pack, face down, asking you
to shuttle 1t.
This done, he asked you to spread
the pack, as you would in cutting for
partners at bridge he never touching
the cards at all. He was then willing
to bet you any amount that he could
make you draw the eight of clubs by
holding your left hand.
When you had lost the bet he
would ask you osturn over the cards
and you would then find that the
whole pack was made up of Fights of
having been substituted for the pack
from which you cut while he was
turning around to approach the table.
About % years ago there was a
Very clever sure thing gambler trav-
cling through the west who made q
time by betting on the spelling Of a
word. or course he worked the thing
up well.
He appeared to be travelling
salesman and he would pick out some
liekly looking victim on a train and
\
conversation in the writing room of
hotel. After some preliminary con-
versation leading up to the matter in
hand he would produce a telegram,
which he had previously sent to him
self OF course and which contained
the following message and always
spelled in this way by the OPERATOR:
r. M. Thompson:
Sorry to inform you pools on Sat
urday's race not collectable.
.How's that for hard luck?' he
would ask, showing the telegram to
his victim, Just 10 words. but two
of them spelled wrong. They always
put a in my name and none of those
operators knows how to spell collect
able
Whats the matter with it9" the |
victim would ask. 1T means able to |
collect. doesn't it? Collect-able,"
A bet naturally followed, with an
agreement to leave it to the diction-
airy. the victim to win if it was even
spelled both ways. as many words are.
The writer was an train between
st. Joe and Kansas City once when a |
bet of this kind was made and $40
handed to the conductor as stake |
holder, the dictionary to be found in |
a shop opposit the station when the |
train arrived in Kansas City, the |
conductor also holding the telegram !
The conductor thought he would take
piece OIL lHdL DeL DulF DSlOTS
doing so he went back into the other
coach and consulted a certain country |
school teacher who he knew was on |
the train.
The school teacher gave his opinion
In favor of the telegram's spelling in
so loud and confident a tone that the
conductor had to explain to other pas
sengers what was up, and he was final
ly commissioned to tell the man that
owned the telegram that he could get
all the money he wanted on that bet, |
and the travelling man promptly put up
every dollar he had with him, some
$500, and he gave the conductor $50 of |
1t afterward for getting the bets for
him. or course they found that the
word was spelled with an "i' when
they got to Webster
There was time when the lower |
class OF sharpers turned a dollar oc-
casionally by sure thing bets on the
play of words. One ofSthese tricks was
to bet man that their watch was
nearer the city hall clock than his.
If on comparison they were nearer |