Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-08-09
American and Canadian Officers
Visiting London Also FIeeced
by Sharpers.
GIRLS ARE USED As DECOYS
international Cotere Using Private
Houses for Games Operates Un-
disturbed-Tragedyo Of an Avia-
tors Wife-Women Worse
Than Men.


retirement in one of those fine, up
standing old JacObean manor houses
not fifty miles from London; a mode
country squire, popular with his ten
ants, thorOughgOing sportsman, who
r1des to hounds most religiOusly and
entertains on the most lavish scale
lie can afford it. HIS annual income
Is somewhere in the 100000 line. Yet
before the war this particular man
hadn't penny to his name.
The secret of his extraordinary sue
cess lay in quiet, sumptuOusly fur
nlshed back rooms in quiet, common
place houses in those sOmber streets
thot nestle in and around Mayfair.
Chemin de fer, poker, faro, sometimes
roulette wheel, and the gilded idlers
OF Ola British arStOcracy would be
SWarmlng round like moths about
candle. They seem to have an
lntultlVe sense for such DlaceS.
these folk. Where the average
man would pass by without com
ment, they nudge ones elbow and
whisper, That's old so-and-so's place.
If ever YOU feel inclined for a quiet
nutter'-that notorious 'quiet tiutter''
slgnifying anything from a tive-pound
note to $500 or so.
Among this select cOterie are men
and women of doubtful nationality
VINO make best use of their business
Tor extracting information of their
more highly connected clientele. This
was proved in the case of recent
raid, where the woman proprietor was
discovered to be an agent in German
pay. Thus they attain q double OBJ
ject
Women Worse Than the Men.
But there is also another class who
frequent these places. Manufacturers
from provincial munition districts.
flushed with their new and easily won
fortunes, and wishing to be in the so
cial swim, run blindly into these we'll
balted traps. Perhaps their unpleas-
ant experience gives them wisdom.
Ihey never repeat the performance
They belong to that eternal type which
thinks it can beat the thief at his own
game. They are gamblers for the same
reason that drugtakers and dipsOmani
acs are what they are They can't
help 1t.
Inc women are worse even than the
men. AT least 60 per cent more of t1je
other sex favor the green table. They
take their gambling seriously-dead
seriously. TO them. is nothing of the
sporting element of the affair: # is
cutthroat business of pay and receive
once a woman is seized with the
gambling bug" nothing on earth can
hoid her. 1t is the first step of the
many great tragedies of life.
Tragedy of an Aviator's Wife
Perhaps one of the most tragic in
stances of this nature was that of tho
Wlfe or a commander in the British f1v-
Ing corps. Prior to the war he was
member of the stock exchange and
they lived in a quiet village 80 miles
from London. When he Joined tho col
ors tney SOLD their home and the wife
went to live in tOwn-in tiny fiat in
knightsbridge. She was LITTLE moro
tnan child, and a charmingIy unso-
phiStcated one at that, so fell easv
victim TO the gamblers wiIes.
Ihey got hold of her through tho
maitre dhotel Of the restaurant she
Irequented-even the smartest maitros
dhotel and head walters are some- I
umes, though unuittingIy. the instr,-
ments of the confederates who on +o
the restaurants as part Of their d,iIv /
business to get at the lonely men ana
women with money who arc to bo a.,
covered in every London hotel Ono
day charming woman of distinguished
appearance strOlled over to her t.hIn
WIN q polite request to share if with
ner. Consent was readily given. and
they got into conversation.
The welcome stranger svmnatbizod
with her loneliness, and finished nv in
vitlng her to dainty maisonette off
Park lane. After dinner cards were
produced. And the fleeing had begun
by the time her husband was able to
get home on leave and rescue her rho
unhappy woman had been robbed If
the best part Of $4,000.
So'Neo Like Company
mat is only one of the brilliant
methods employed. This interna tiona1
gang-its agents cover every civ and
large town. n the world-even in tbe
enemy countries-is organized like
company, on profit-sharing basis
Ihere are trusted agents at everv mort
1ashion center and high class health
resort. 1t is the business of those
agents to live in prince!v style grad
uaiiy worming their way into the con
noence of the notables of the locality
giving full detailed reports Of Their
movements and business transactions
10 general headquarters.
When 81 -aoneycd man or woman
sets out from one country to another
TIE agent at the port of emborkotior
wires 1uii partic,' airs of his-or bor-
business. available capita. and intend
GU PERIOD of visit to his confedero+o
a the other end. The victim is sbod.
oweu and approached on the train