THE STRENGTH OF THE GAME.

Dunstan Times, Issue 498, 3 November 1871, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE STRENGTH OF THE GAME.

That an “ outsider ” has n»vw a* chance to win money in the long mn at any “ banking game, " such as faro, monte, roulette, rouge el noir, etc., is so well known to the public generally as to hardly justify reiteration But all these old dodges to cheat, swindle and defraud are thrown in the shade by a more comprehensive and complete one, a ve.-y simple mechanical contrivance recently shown us.- It is in appearance t imply a pile of silver half-dollars, eight or ten in number, lying on the table before one of the players ; every player who has any money at all, as a rule, keeps it piled up in little stacks at his right, ready for use. No one hut the swindler himself sees in this pile of half-dollars anything but the half dollars themselves, but he sees in them even- card which he deals to the entire party, and when he deals, every one around the board is at his mercy. The eight or ten pieces are fastened firmly together and the top and bo'tom ones are perfect. Hut the middle pieces hj ive a large squ ire section cut out at one' side extending in beyond the center.

In the cavity thus formed a plate of pure silver about thrce-fourtlis of an inch long, something over lialfan inch in wi Ith, and polished in the most, perfct manner, is set -t an angle of forty-five degrees. The capitaHetter Zwi | serve to illustrate the inven-tion,-the hoi zonta I sides representing the two whole half-dollars at the top and bottom of the pile, and the inclined connecting bar the p lished plate. The high toned scoundrel who proposes to rob his companions with the aid of this little joker, puts Ins money out on the table in front of him in pih-s of say four or five dollars eac'>, and among them is that containing the p ate, which is turned to-wa-ds him. Seen from any point of view but bis own, all the piles look a !ke Poker is dealt out one card at a time to each player in succession, when it comes his turn to deal, he apparently looks down at the deck, but really looks at the silver plate concealed in the apparent pile of coin and as he deals off card after earth S‘ es each reflected on its polished surftve. When the cards are all dealt he. knows just what each man holds and can govern his actions accordingly. If he is “ out held ”by anybody, he “stavs out,” if otherwise, he’“chips in,” and betting on a dead certainty, robs his opponents with perfect safety, skill, nerve, judgment, knowledge of human nature ; everything, in short, which is supposed to assist a man io playing the game, goes for naught against this invention, for the meanest sneaking coward that ever nursed the earth with his j resence, can sit behind it, and boat the entire party out of their money without a chance of lodng a penny. These little jokers were, it is said, in-onted some three years since, but it was only recently that the .secret became l-nown so generally among the fraternity. Now "ea"ly evey professional sharp card thief in the city carries one in his pocket ready to be used whenever a luckless greenhorn falls into his company.—Bulletin,