DEEP-SEA SHARPERS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 16, 26 February 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

DEEP-SEA SHARPERS.

HOW OCEAN TRAVELLERS ABE FLEECED.

Despite the utmost vilignnce 011 the part of the steamship companies, tho number of ] rofessional thievcr>, or •'crooks." as our American friends cad them, who so easily make happy hunting grounds oi som© of the finest passenger vessels afloat, would appear to Ik> on the increase 'rather than otherwise.

Everything possible is clone by the officials and .ships' officers to frustrate the nefarious designs of these gentlemanly rogues who cross and ic-croaa the Atlantic with a frequency which in itself tells of the success attending the fleecing of presumably astute moneyed men, and others less able to afford paying such a heavy price for their experience.

The story of these "decpsea sharpers'' i s one long record of cards, crime, and credulity—for the pet prey of these men is the unsophisticated youth with more 111011: y than brains. Surprising aa it may appear, a New York gambling clique or syndicate actually "runs'' a body of expert sharpers, and not tho least important of the functions played by those at headquarters is the keeping ,of their Trimble witted idonf re res supplies with up-to-date information concerning likely "dupes" who are travelling on the vessels they froquent. It is said, on reliable authority personally we accept 'he 6tory with grain of * salt—that this gang cleared no lcsg than £20.000 on a single trip of ono of our big Atlantic liners. Nevertheless, in view of the big sums which different individuals have lost, the figure mentioned may not, after all, be a whit overstated. During a voyage to England, for instance, a certain U.S. Congressman was fleeced by a gang to the extent of ten thousand dollars on the S.S. CV- —. Not only so. but they diddled his wife as well. It happened in this manner. The Congressman had given the gang 1.0.TJ. .s for four thousand dollars. A cheque for this amount was sent, but in the meantime the victim's wife had occasion to return hurriedly to America, on important business. Two of the gang learnt how she was travelling, hooked passages on tho same vessel, contrived to make her acquaintance on the voyage. and informed her to pay th<» amounL of th e 1.0.U.s which had never ly en- 'returned to the giver when hj" sent the cheque. \ CLEVER ROGUE. One of the most successful Atlantic "crooks" was a man who s erved a numl>cr of terms of imprisonment, and used so many aliases that no ono knows precisely what was his real name. His success was due to his marvellous skill in secret!v marking the cards with his nails, which he did so quickly and cleverlv that once a pack had passed - through his hands h e could almost invariably identify the cards by his acute sense of touch. His occasional failures were resultant of the suspicions aroused by his wonderful luck rather than by any weak points in his methods, and no one ever satisfactorily decided how lie manipulated the cards to such personal advantage, until one day. when intoxicated, h 3 d'scloc-ed some ofliis secrets. During one Atlantic trip he fleeced thre e young men of an aggregate sum of nearly £SOO, and on another occasion, when posing as a British army officer, he succeeded, without arousing any suspicion, in cheating a wealthy American of a considerably larger sum. Not infrequently these men work in couples, and how ,1 notorious pair were unmasked not so long ago makes rather .in amusing story. The vessel was a first-rater, and the showing-up process was greatly relished by those present. One of the* sharpers pesed as a clergyman, who just played "for the sport of the thing," and the other enacted the part of the "green and guileless'' undergrad. fresh from college—which in themselves might have created susp'cion in the minds of those who had experience of such matters. Working on a pre-arranged system, with little or no resource to the mochanica) aids to cheating, such «ih "hold-outs" and "shiners," it was difficult to openly accuse them of fraud. Menco the " scene" when a more than usually keen-sighted person dramatically accused the "clergyman" of dealing out, three aces to his partner ana tlireo kings to Ivmself. This the sharper indignantly denied, but /' l 0 other players insisted on an examination and'the three aors were found in hi s partner's hand, and, what was more, ther e were several spare cards ur> his sleeve! ~ \nother amusing "interlude occurred !>etw;cn two rival sharpers who were operating srngle-handed. A friend of the writer tells the story. Ho was crossing from New York to Southampton and among his fellow passengers were two men he had previously met, and lost money to. in gambling houses in New York. ' 111 his own mind he had no doubt they were professional sharpers and h e cautioned many fellow passengers against them. His first impression was that they wero working as confederates, but one day. much to his surprise, lie found them plaving 'together evidently /unconscious "of each other's profession. Whether their methods of playing were similar no one could tell, but as the play proceeded each of them became more and more restless. Neither won much, but both played with tlie utmost cautron. . At last one man threw down a ki n g, whereupon bis adversary, doubtless fancying for the moment, that the card was the knave, thr:vr down a second kin ll " of the same suit. Each rer-e to his'"feet and indignantly charged the other with cheating. Strange to say, both were right in their accusations, for the real king of the suit was among cards upon the tabl\ which an onlooker snatched r.n and examined the movent the sharpers had thrown their kings. EVADING THE AUTHORITIES. "Private yachting parties'' afford a fin-' pretext, for "pigeon plucking," and in tlie season many yachts are hind for nothing el-e than to be used as floating gambling-dens. Some of the low class agents who let these vessels have had them specially fitted up for roul-tte, ehemin-do-fer," baccarat, and the likii nambliri games, md more liian nr'" dreadful tragedy has arv~n in with these craft. Some n>t of n gambling party has lost all ho pc-scss'ed—this is a typical ease—and then, before the termination of the cruise, lie has been the victrm of "an accidental slip overlvoard," having in reality committed suicide, of coiuve. Naturally, movt of the young people who embark on these floating hells are young fellow*. «crietf men. Stock Exchange men of the "smart" order, and the sons of creat merchants and manufacturers: hut it is an indisputable fvt that these are nearly always older harpies and swi-dlers—often the men who charter the boat an<l make up the partv —connected with the trio. Ono well-known swindler, now enjoying th" bliss of penal solitude, had soen't a portion of the money acquired in barefaced swindling in fitting up a sumptuous yacht that was at the same time - - ' " '--H, and was iust making

up parties for it, when he was arrested. He in only ono of many notorious characters who have realised the possibilities of the suniie game—a game in I which the art of rook'.rig is carried to a ' positive scierce.

Just think of tho possibilities for evil of boats like this, and then all you can surmise will not' surpass tho reality that goes on every summer and autumn. A young fellow who once embarks, either willingly or as a mer 0 pigeon, is lxioked for 'the fait vyttier ar.d f*,ir a certain companionship for at least some days ; and even if ho thinks he is being deliberately cheated he oajinot very well say so, cr oven refufip to play. One young man, tho 6on of a gnat Liverpool merchant, who got with a party of thus sort, made up at a London club of rather shady repute last autumn, lost over £1,200 during (he two days abroad after he had arrived at the deli'>erate conclusion that ho was bo ; ng cheated. He paid tho money; but lie has not altogether held his tongue. Dozens of such cases could be mentioned.

iSevernl of the delightful houseboats to be found on the Thames and tho Norfolk Broads are also ideally convenient for a quiet little gamble; and one or two in particular achieved rather unpleasant notoriety in this respect not so long ago. Those who run these concerns have l»en more careful since, but it is still possible to have a, "high old time of it"—to put it mildly—up tho liver.

"Shallow-water sharpens" is tlie np pellation applied to the pests who frequent these boats, to distinguish then}, from their wily brethren of tlie seaTW Their vocation is, however, identical;" they live by their wits—or the lack of wits in other people; they are as cute f as a box of monkevs, and are in their proper element only when Fate or Chance or skilful decoying has given -iTw-nmulons hands a silly, brainless nincompoop (not necessarily a ) witn bags ot money to fleece.