Deceptions used in the Game of Faro.

way robbery. Friends and acquaintances flock to their houses to enjoy themselves, and partake of their ill-acquired luxuries, without thinking of the manner in which they were gotten.

This class of men live in great splendor at all times, even in their faro rooms. They will have their rich suppers at eleven and twelve o'clock at night, with plenty of the richest wines, as champagne, &c., and the faro dealers will laugh in their sleeves at the pleasing prospect of making the company pay dearly for the entertainment. These rooms are quite numerous in New York and other places, and the proprietor will have secret partners,* who are following various kinds of lawful business, and whose duty it is to delude and lead to these haunts as many victims as possible. And the success with which they accomplish their infamous task, let the ruined happiness and fortunes of thousands testify. Frequently a young man will be asked to walk out with a business man, with whom he becomes acquainted, and he will be asked into a nice place to sup or take refreshments with him. And while at supper he will say to this young man, "A few nights ago, I was in that room, and won two hundred dollars, and after supper I will win a thousand, or give them back what I won." This is all false, and his design is only to induce you to play, that you may lose your money.

I have here detailed the principal cheats that are practised in this game; and though I have not spoken of every box in use, yet I hope I have given enough to

* Those secret partners, by gamblers, are termed ropers, or stoolpigeons: their business is to delude the inexperienced into their dens of iniquity.

Deceptions used in Various Games. - Roulette and Rolling Faro.

apprize all that there is an immense system of trickery and cheating going on in all these games. It is not to be expected that persons ignorant of the game will fully understand every thing here said; but it is, nevertheless, true that I have not written to assist the game of faro, or any other game; but to apprize persons who bet on games, that they can be cheated and swindled at almost every touch of a card, and should avoid them as they would a venomous serpent. I have studiously endeavored to avoid writing so as to give any further knowledge of the game than is possessed by the generality of playIt is not my object to teach the games, but to expose their evils, and thus induce all to quit them.

ers.

As

to what I have here said, thousands upon thousands can testify to the truth of it. And I think there are very few persons that can play cards at all, but will, immediately on reading these expositions, see the truth of them, and the improbability of avoiding the having such acts practised upon us so long as we shall continue to play. All know and have seen something of the evils of gambling, which are annually working the irretrievable ruin of thousands; and I trust that what I here say may contribute, in some degree, to arrest the progress of this overwhelming, this desolating tide.

ROULETTE AND ROLLING FARO.

These are two very fascinating games, and are played mostly on race-fields, and other places where there are large gatherings. Mr. Hoyle, in his Treatise on Games,

Deceptions used in Various Games. - Roulette and Rolling Faro.

has said nothing of these. I am not able to tell whether he was ignorant of them or not; but if he was acquainted with them, the reputation of introducing such base games into his book, may have deterred him from doing So. For he could not be conversant with these games, and not know, at the same time, that the chances of winning were nearly all on the side of the keeper of the wheel, or that he who bets against the wheel can win only when the keeper chooses to let him.

As Hoyle has left them out, I feel it to be my duty, in pursuance of my original plan, to say something of these vile swindling machines; than which, baser ones do not exist. The name of having introduced these games, would, if the inventor were known, be sufficient to consign his memory to everlasting infamy and disgrace. Rolling faro seems to be a branch of faro: the machine is placed upon a wheel like the roulette, and has cards painted on its face, and other cards painted on a cloth, which is spread on the table for the players to bet on. This game is calculated to do great injury, as it appears so very fair, that persons will often be led to bet on the game on account of its apparent fairness. The wheel is placed on an upright axle, and this axle is placed in a frame to run, and the frame is supported by three legs, and the whole rests upon a table. This wheel is turned, and the ball rolled round, and a man may bet upon it when he pleases, and can never win, if no one but himself be playing; and if there should be others, the keeper of the wheel will always win the large bets. And very often, when large bets are made, it is by some secret partner of the wheel, who is betting, and is only suffered to win to entice others to bet, who always come off losers; for every chance is against their winning.

Deceptions used in Various Games. Roulette and Rolling Faro.

The wheel, which seems solid, has a great many pieces of machinery in it; the whole of the inside is full of machinery, which it is impossible here to explain so as to be fully comprehended; but it is so constructed, that the principal lever, that acts upon every part of the wheel, runs down the leg next to the keeper; and when a man takes a column that has any particular number in it, say ace, and the ball is about to run there, in the twinkling of an eye it is, by means of this secret machinery, thrown out of its course, into another, and all with so much dexterity that it is impossible for the eye to detect it, even though the better should watch with the utmost vigilance in spite of his most diligent inspection, the ball will be thrown into another column, by means of the secret springs just alluded to, the keeper rattling his money all the while, that the click of the spring may not be heard by the man who is betting against the wheel. With these odds against him, a man may bet all his lifetime on it, and he will never win a single bet, unless the keeper should choose to let him, in order to entice him still further on.

There is another wheel played quite similar to the above described. In it there is a piece of iron running from the leg to the one that turns the wheel, and when he perceives that a large bet is about to be won by his antagonist, he can with his leg push the iron to the right, and it raises a small piece of tin at the entrance to the column on which the large bet is made, and the ball, being not able to run into that column, passes on to another, and the tin immediately sinks down out of sight again. To keep it from rolling into the black column, the iron is pushed to the right, and to keep it out of the red, the iron is pushed to the left. By these means, the

Deceptions used in Various Games. Roulette and Rolling Faro.

ball is always prevented from going where the keeper wishes it not to go. Many persons will sometimes bet on this game, on condition of being allowed to double as often as they may choose to do so; yet they can never come off winners.

There is another wheel of the roulette kind, where the keepers bend the brass or tin bars where the ball runs in; and when it is wanted to run into red, the ball is thrown to the right, and when on the black, it is thrown to the left. Very often the ball is thrown, and if the man who bets is about to win, it is caught and thrown over again in such cases, he always loses; but if he is about to lose, it is suffered to run on. These wheels, even without patent advantages, and played as fairly as they could be, would make the odds against the man who bets as much as five to one, which would of course cause him to lose five times out of six upon an average. But this the gamblers are never satisfied with, and have invented numerous patent means, by which they are able to win every time, if they choose to do so, and particularly when large bets are made. These wheels are as fatal as faro, but not quite so fascinating. They are all played by about the same class of men. Ask these men what advantage there is in their favor, answer, about five per cent. that if the ball runs into the single O, you lose; these they will say are all the advantages possessed by them; but this is all false; for, besides having color for color against you, they have the eagle and the single and double O, and in addition to all this, the secret springs, which they always have it in their power to use with these odds, it is plain that a man can never win when the keeper chooses that he shall lose.

and they will They will explain to you eagle, or the double O, or