CARD-SHARPERS' TRICKS EXPOSED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 210, 9 October 1909, Page 3

CARD-SHARPERS' TRICKS EXPOSED

CI IK ATS WHO USE MECHANICAL AIDS. in the card-sharping fraternity there are men who on no account whatever] would use mechanical aids when fleecing 1 a victim (says a Home paper). Neither would they work with a confederate who employed such. Their motto is "Don't carry any evidences of guilt about you." And that is why they rely, for the most part, on false shuffles, cuts, and bottom deals to enable them to '"stack" the cards—i.e., to place them so that when dealt out the trickster or his partner gets the best hand. This merely entails certain sleight-of-hand cleverness. On the other hand, it is highly inconvenient, as an American crook remarked a short time ago, 'Mo be found with a 'puncher' (a steel point u«sed for marking cards), 'shiners' (tiny mirrors, by means of which the faces of the cards dealt to an opponent aie revealed), or a 'bug' (a V-shaped holder with a sharp point on one side which can be thrust into the lower surface of; the table-ledge and made to serve as a sort of shelf to hold cards). Out West," i he continued, "it is Wall Street to a popcorn that you would be 'leaded' if) any such aids to the gentle are of 'rook- ■ ing' were found on your person." | Nevertheless, mechanical aids to cardsharping arc only largely used, but the V i are actually advertised *for sale on the other.side of the "Herring Pond." The writer was recently shown, as a curiosity, the catalogue of a certain Chicago store, in which was listed a reflector which could be'attached to the lower surface of the card-table by a metal spur. The mirror was convex, -and came to the edge of the table, so that Ihi cards could be read as they were dealt out. The glass could be set at au angle and turned back out of sight in an in- 1 stant. I

Another very efficient form of reflector consists of a small convex mirror cemented to a piece of cork shaped to fit inside the bowl of an ordinary briar pipe. The "shiner"' is carried separately in the pocket until needed, while th.' gambler smokes the pipe. When he stoops to knock out the ashes, he presses the glass into the bowl of the pip", which is then laid upon the table with the bowl facing towards the owner, a little to the left of where he is sitting. In this position the mirror is visible £•> no one but himself. j A REMARKABLE TABLE. I

Sometimes tiny reflectors are inserted in the interior of a large quill toothpick, or may be attached to a ring • 11, tho linger, or glued to the palm. Of course, on account of the minuteness of the mirrors, good eyesight is needed t<" distinguish the cards as they arc refleeted. But card-sharpers are nothing if not keen-sighted. One of the most wonderful mechanical aids to card-sharping was that unearthed in a London gambling den aj short time ago. It consisted of a. specially constructed table containing a secret and invisible drawer in the top, j which could be opened by a spring, worked by slightly pressing the edge of [ the table. Covering the action with hisi hands and cards, the -sharper dropped the cards lie wished to transfer to his con-1 federate into the opening, and a second! spring shot them along a secret passage i to the other side of the table, where I there was another secret opening whence] the confederate contrived to take them. ]t reminds the "writer of a marvellous roulette tabic by which a clever American scoundrel fleeced many wealthy residents of Long Island of thousands of dollars about twelve months ago. The roulette wheel contained a network of electrical wires, so arranged that by the manipulation of switches carefully concealed inside the cash drawer electromagnet* hidden within the very structure of the wheel itself would be so thrown into circuit as to draw the ball, which contained a *<» ft iron core, into any group of pockets the dealer might desire. Eudles*. however, are the tricks oi' the professional card - sharper. They have all sorl* of lodges for marking card-:. (living a card a rough edge by a mere scratching with the finger-nail is t<i them a sure means of identification. Some wear an innocent-looking rin:{. called a trepan, which is really hollow, full of in.k. and has a tiny point on the inner side whereby an almost imperceptible dot can be put on a card. Others prefer to use simply a tiny aluminium or stce) tack which onn l»e aflixed instantaneously to the thu»H\ point outwards, bv means of a small piece of court plaster. The shaft of this tack is so short that it is not suUicicnt to quite pierce the thickness of a plaving card; it merely raises a lump on the back of the card. These minute mounds are caused t:> appear 011 the top right-hand corner and the bottom left-hand crncr (which becomes the top right-hand when turned round) so that they are perceptible to the delicate touch of the dealer. The aces and kings are treated in this manner, so that when the sharper, though his eyes do not rest upon the cards, is dealing ho can tell immediately by the feel when he comes to one of 'these cards. -If, in correct dealing, it should go to an opponent, he avoids giving Jtl by dealing the card underneath instead, a pure sleight-of-hand trick, and one I that it done so neatly and with such! quickness that the closest observer' would firmly believe that the top card' was dealt, 1