- Solitary.

Various deceptive Tricks with Cards.

doing, he will smooth that corner, and turn up a corner of one of the red cards. He will then offer to bet a large amount that none present can tell the black card. Most persons unused to the intrigues of gamblers would be willing to bet on this, when they would not be enticed into a game. The stranger, who looks on, still sees a corner turned up, and has not the least doubt but that it is the same that the gambler turned up, until he pays dearly for his knowledge to the contrary. No person is safe from the devices of gamblers so long as he will suffer himself to be in their company, and venture to bet on their games or tricks. There are none, no, not one,

that is not deceptive.

SOLITARY.-This is a game that is played by but one person. By some it is played, when they are alone, for amusement or diversion only; by others, for purposes of gain. It is played as follows: A person takes a pack of cards and shuffles them; he then lays off cards from the top, turning their faces up as he lays them off. He is not allowed to make more than four heaps until he comes to an ace, and every ace begins an additional heap. He is then to put the cards upon the aces in the order of their pips; a deuce on an ace, and a three on a deuce, &c., until each heap that began with an ace is completed regularly from ace to king. It is of no consequence about following suit; any card that has the regular number of pips to make the order complete, is proper. The four heaps that began without aces, are only to aid in completing those that began with aces; so that in the end there must be but four heaps. The player cannot go below the top card of any of his heaps to get a card, but must make complete his ace heaps by taking cards only from the top; and when there are no

cards on the top of his heaps, which began without aces, that will suit to go on the ace heaps, he draws from the top of the pack until he gets one to suit. Those that will not suit he lays upon his heap that began without aces, and as long as there is any on those heaps that will suit his ace heaps, he does not draw from the pack. This game is difficult to play successfully; a common player might not put them up completely more than once in a dozen times; but I would advise all not to bet on this game; for if a man should offer to bet that he can do it once in every three times trying, he will do it; for gamblers never bet on tricks they cannot perform. This game is said by players to have been introduced by Bonaparte when confined at St. Helena; but it was more probably invented by some gambler in solitary confinement for some of his misdeeds.

To show still further the industry of this class of persons in inventing means to deceive and win money, I will relate a trick played upon a merchant in Shrevesport. A gambler, who was there, had a very fine dog, which he shut up two days without feeding him. The gambler told his secret partner to go and get into conversation with the merchant, and he would soon come by with his dog, which the partner would call into the store, and tell the merchant to weigh him; and he (the owner) would pass on and make no stop. The partner was also to suggest to the merchant the great probability of winning some champagne on the weight of the dog, as he, after weighing him, would know his weight better than the owner. The plan pleased the merchant, as he knew the owner to be a man always ready to bet. He weighed the dog, and turned him loose. The dog went home to his owner, who gave him some two or three

Deceptions used in Various Games. - The Broker.

pounds of meat to eat, and then walked back by the store with his dog, and made a stop to converse a while with some of his acquaintances. The merchant proposed to make a trifling bet that he could tell the dog's weight as near as the owner; and finally a very large bet was made. The merchant guessed first, and the owner guessed about two pounds more, and won; for the meat he had just given his dog made about that difference. The merchant could not, for a long time, account for his being deceived, as but a few minutes had elapsed since he had first weighed the dog. But he had, unwisely, suffered himself to be drawn into a bet with a man who made betting his whole business, and who never calculated to be beaten.

THE BROKER.

66

This cheat, or mode of swindling, is sometimes successfully practised in New Orleans and some other places. A man will loiter around banks and exchange offices, watching for a man who may have money that he wishes to exchange for that of some other state; and if he sees a man who wishes to effect an exchange, he will step up to him, and say, I think I learned you had some funds you wished to exchange." If he says, "Yes," the other will then say, "I got a sum exchanged this morning, and I think the broker has more which he will exchange on favorable terms, and I will willingly walk with you to his office to see him." After reaching the office, every thing appears like a regular broker's estab

Tricks in Horse-racing.

lishment. The one in the office will inquire the amount of your funds, and then draw you a check on some good bank in the state where you wish it, and take your funds. When you present this check, the bank knows nothing of any such man, and tells you it is a forgery. When you return to the broker's, the place is shut up, and no one knows of any such person, and you find you have been most wickedly swindled. Persons visiting New Orleans, and having money to exchange, should be very careful about taking checks, as this cheat is often practised when there is a chance of getting a pretty good amount, and then these sharpers change the scene of their operations to some other place. In all such cases the two persons are partners.

TRICKS IN HORSE-RACING.

The race-ground may be justly styled an immense gambling-house. There is generally not a building on a race-course, that is not, in part at least, occupied by the gamblers; from the one who bets his thousands on his horse, to the petty blackleg who plays "thimbles" for a picayune. All those games and cheats used by gamblers are put in practice here, on all parts of the ground. In the Southern States, the females visit and share in the excitements of the race to quite as great an extent as the genteel portion of the males. They go there, and select their favorite horse, and often bet largely on the races. All these things, taken together, render the race-course

Tricks in Horse-racing.

more extensively injurious in its influence than any other resort of gamblers.

Having spoken elsewhere of the various cheats in gaming, I will here relate one used in horse-racing. There was a man in Kentucky noted for making match races; and a club of men went to the expense of procuring a fast horse in order to beat a horse which he boasted much of. The jockey closed the agreement for a race with a bet of about two thousand dollars; and the club was very certain of beating the jockey. When the day arrived for the race, and the horses started, the club horse went ahead of the jockey's immediately, and took the inside track, nearest the fence. At the first turn, he fell to his knees, and while recovering himself, the slow horse got ahead of him, and after running some distance, the fast horse fell again, and the jockey's slow horse won the race. The fast horse having become lame from his fall, his owners were much chagrined at their misfortune; and on the next morning went to the jockey's lodgings, to endeavor to close another race with him. The landlord informed them that he had left the evening before, soon after the race was over. This sudden departure, after a successful race, excited their suspicions of foul play. They then examined the track, and found that the jockey had dug a number of small holes on the inside of the track, and put gourds in them, spreading a little loose dirt over them; and when the fast horse ran close to the fence, he would tread on these gourds, and would sink and stumble; thus giving the slow horse an opportunity of running ahead of him. When this discovery was made, they decided on having a race at all events, and so chased the gentleman nearly a hundred miles, but did not succeed in overtaking him. This race