Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-03-28
RICHES FROM BIAS WHEEL
How the Famous Jassers Won $500,
900 at Monte Carlo, but Lost $500, 1000

How the Famous Jassers Won $4oo,-
900 at Monte Carlo, but Lost 100000.
In the history of Monte Carlo, Jag
gers has become almost legendary. He
was an Englishman, whose photograph
is a cherished possession in the hands
of the one person now left at Monte
Carlo who seems to have known him.
He was an intelligent mechanic or en-
gineer from the north of England. He
was not a gambler, but he had heard
Of Monte Carlo, and Of the wonderful
roulette wheels 80 ingeniously made
that no one could beat them. Curiosi-
ty took him there when he had put to-
gether a little money and earned O
holiday. He did not intend to play. 1t
was the wheels themselves that he
wished to see.
When he found that he was not sup
posed to keep seat at the table and
watch the game for any length Of time
without playing, in order to study 1t in
peace and in his scientific way he be-
gan to venture a few five-franc pieces
He had a favorite table where he hap
pened to feel more at home than any
other; and while laboriously taking
down numbers in order to make rec
ord, he hit upon an astonishing dis
covery. Some of the numbers appear
ed more often in days play Of about
500 coups than they had a right to do
mathematically, according to the laws
of chance. Jaggers continued his tests
for several days, until he was satisfied
that the particular roulette wheel un-
der observation had some mechanical
defect-that it was not truly balanced,
but had a bias in one direction which
caused the ball to fall more often in
one quarter Of the cylinder than in
others.
Not a word had the silent man of
the north spoken to any one Of his first
suspicious or final discovery. On the
fault, not of roulette in general as a
game, but Of this roulette wheel in
particular, did Jaggers then and there
find his unscientific but amazingly
successful system" He decided to
risk in the venture all the money he
had, knowing that, though he must
fail occasionally, he ought to win far
oftener than he lost.
At first he played quietly, with small
stakes Then he increased them until
soon he was playing with maximums
on the wheels favorite numbers and
winning immense sums Of money.
Feeling sure Of his ground, Jaggers
now engaged staff Of men to play for
him, taking their turns at the table as
the croupiers do, and his wins continu-
ed till the Casino authorities became
seriously alarmed. Never had the Ca
sino, in the whole history Of gambling
short) suffered so severely in its hither-
to impregnable pockets. Seeing that
Jaggers always played at the same
table, the management removed the
cylinder from that table at night and
transferred it to another.
Jaggers, however, was not a hard
headed Yorkshireman for nothing. He
had expected every morning to find
that luck had suddenly deserted him
because his wheel of fortune was lost to
him forever among wilderness Of 9TH
er wheels useless for his system" His
eyes were sharpened by the knowledge
that a pins point of difference was life
or death to his interests, and he had
observed on his cylinder a tiny white
speck by which he could identify 1t
among many others apparently alike.
Each morning, on arriving at the table
he glanced at the wheel and made sure
of the white speck before beginning
work" and on the day after the Sc
cret exchange lowering inspectors saw
the terrible Jaggers reducing his great
stakes to few paltry flve-franc
pieces. Presently he rose to try the
same small game at another table and
so on until his eyes lighted upon the
blessed speck. Then he and his staff
of clerks began to plunge again.
The system began to seem super
natural, and in few months Jaggers
had taken from the Casino the unpre-
cedented sum of 100000. The authori-
ties began to suspect that all the cy-
linders were imperfect. The maker
was sent for and each wheel was sub
jected to a rigid scrutiny. The faulty
one was discovered and taken away
and next morning Jaggers' tide Of
fortune turned. For a few days he
went on playing and lost back to the
Casino some 100000 of his enormous
winnings. Then he was wise enough
to see that he was beaten. He dis
charged his staff, ceased play and re-
tired with the comfortable sum of
100000 intact. Never did he appear
again at Monte Carlo, but his memory
has lived there since as a classic one.
-McClure's Magazine.