The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-03-07
THREE FAMOUS SWINDLES
Which Much Money Has Been LoThe High Hand
Simplest Odes-The Five Aces Considered Bad Form Now

of diamonds.
The declaration is heart: doubled of
course, and redoubled until the COWS come
home In this there is no betting. the
gain being simply on the increased value
of the rubber. No matter how the leader
plays he loses the odd trick because the
dealer has seven trumps and all the dia-
mOnds If the leader has K Of 6ia-
monds dummy has a O.
Both these hands are 80 years old and
are given in Hoyle as examples OF trump
management and forcing.
Neither of these members of the high
hand family is available to the OF 1inary
gambler and his stock in trade is usually
introduced as a pleasing variation to the
game of seven up 1t is not the money
maker it was some years ago before
auction pitch became the vogue, but 1t
is still killer for those who fancy they
can play old sledge.
This ingenious swindle is just as likely
! TO catch the sharpest card player as the
veriest duffer. much depending on the
way it is worked up. 1t consists in hav-
ing two packs of cards, the backs Of
which are exactly alike, one of which is
I in play and the other in the sharper's
pocket arranged for the killing.
BY knocking something off the table
as If by accident or bv having con
federate attract the victims attention for
a moment the cold deck is substituted for
the one in play. Experts have wasted
, many hours trying to arrange this little
game SO that it could be worked on the
victims own deal but so far they have
on an otherwise perfect trick.
It is usual to wait until game In which
the victim wants four 90 go and the
sharper wants one only. The dealer
turns up the four of a suit. say spades.
and the victim finds in his hand the
\ X 10 > of trumps.
dealer rises from the table and goes
hunting for match. laughingly remark
/ ing that he viii be there in minute and
win that game in a walk
brings Immediate
proposition from the victim to bet that
| the dealer viii never win this game, winch
/ looks like a cinch. as the player has the
| four points. high. low. Jack. game right
| in his fingers. and those four points put
him out right then and there
Somehow or other the cigar will not
| liEht. and during he process of wasting
matches the bet is made and is as large
as the victim cares to make it.
! Upon resuming his seat the dealer re-
| marks carelessly- after looking at his
as ! want only one to go" This is of
course bluff. The cards that the dealer
holds are six tTumps to the queen and
/ as these two hands are laid out II will be
found that no matter how well the leader
ma 1ages his cards he must lose either
| jack or game simply because he has the
| lead and cannot get rid of IL more than
| once, because the dealer can underplay
/ everything but the deuce of trumps.
Another and perhaps more useful
| swinde, which was much more common
fifty years ago than it is now, is called
| the five aces. The great objection to il
! from the swfndler's point of view is that
| the moment the trick is played the victim
knows that he has been swindled, which
is considered bad form IN modern conf
This swindle was Invented by Burt
/ Mackay. a famous gambler and conf
dence man. during one of his visits to the
Cincinnati Jail. The trick is usually shown
| as a windup after some other game.
when the drinks are passing freely.
The sharper picks UP a pack, which is
| apparently the one they have just been
/ playing with. and proposes to show the
| company something curious. First he
| counts the pack face down as If to assure
| himself that there were fifty-two- cards
/ in it, and then be thumbs them over clum-
| silly until he finds the four aces. These
are shown to the company face up.
| Some one IS asked to shuttle the re-
| mainder of the pack and cut IT into two
parts. While this is usually done by
/ confederate it is not essential. 1t is bet
| ter to let the intended victim do IT.
| Two of the aces are handed to the vic
/ tim and he is asked to lay them on the
top of either part of the pack, face down
| At the same time the sharper knocks
| over his glass or makes some excuse to
! turn around and stoops under the table.
! His confederate quick as lightning.
| picks one of the aces off the top of the
| pack and lays ii in the victims lap. where
| he can see 1T plainly. vingiug at him to
| keep still. The sharper RECEIVERS himself
! and asks the victim to place the other
| two aces on the bottom of the other part
| Of the pack which he does
| The operator now offers to bet that
| no matter which part of the pack may be
| placed on the other part after the
| reunited pack has been cut once the four
aces will be found together. This an
nouncement brings a nudge from the
| confederate, who points with his eyes
! to the ace on the victims knee and gets
| out his pocketbook at the same time.
5-ff rot roll h.
| well have some of the money. and the
! bets are put up. the confederate regret
/ ting that he has not more cash with him.
| as the opera tor seems to be willing to bet
/ any amount. The two parts of the pack
are reunited, no matter which is on the
| top, and the sharper cuts the cards so as
| not to disturb the aces, wherever they
| are.
When the victim Is told to deal the
cards off face Up he finds the four aces
are there, al together. as advertised
The ace he has in his lap was the top
ace of the first two cards, and that is
the ace which was duplicated in the cold
deck with which the trick was done.
This trick IS too dangerous for the
modern gambler and is regarded as
! clumsy, although it was always q great
/ money maker. In the early 70s il was
greatly improved by q Texas faro dealer
| who called himself Pet Caffey. This man
| was really 4 fugitive from justice. had
been on the editorial staff of a New York
paper and was possessed of more than
the ordinary intelligence of gamblers
| In its improved form this trick is
known as the black jack and ace and IL
is considered the most ingenious swim
die ever invented with pack of cards
The writer saw it played on some butch
ers in the market place at Shreveport.
Ia in 1873 for a syndicate bet of 81. 500.
/ which they had put up against the game
the gamblers who worked it being the
| famous Johnson brothers of Little Rock
i The operator begins by proposing 10
show a trick that he saw another man
do not long before. This consists in
picking out from the pack the ace and
jack of spades. showing them to the COM
pany. putting them into the pack to-
rather and making them come oft to-