Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1884 — FARO. [ARTICLE]

FARO.

Something About the Early History of the Game-lla Career in New York. s, “Have yob any idea by whom or when the game of faro Was invented ?” asked a reporter for the CommercialAdvertiser, a few days ago, while talking with Charles Gunn, the wellknown gambler. The question was asked in the course of a conversation about gaming in general, and particularly about the prevalence of it in the city. Dunn had previously said that there was more gambling going on at present, within the precincts of the devoted city, than at any other time in its history. “Well, that is a question,” replied Dunn, crossing his legs with a grunt of supreme comfort, and lighting another cigar. “Faro, my boy, dates back to the inventers of almost all the games that require thought. It was invented, I have heard, by the Pharaohs, after they had got tired of playing chess and backgammon, and all the other innocent little games which brought them so rqfich enjoyment. But the new invention was the ruination of the Pharaohs, for they gambled so much that finally the shepherd kings went for them and pulverized them, as we say now-a-days; so faro was temporarily forgotten. The Ptolemys revived it, and then it went over into Italy, where Mosaics in the ruins of Pompeii have been found representing two players deeply absorbed in the primitive game. No, I’m not joking. I never joke about any such serious matter as faro. But, honestly, no one knows when the game was really invented. It was one of these things which partook of the nature of Topsy, and 'simply grow'd.’

“The earliest record we have of the game is in the fourteenth century, when it had assumed considerable popularity in Italy and France. lam inclined to think it is of Italian origin. From the Italian we got the ‘parlee,’ which is used in the game now, and means to let the stake lie and double. The Italian original is paroli. To make paroli, as it was originally called, a player was required to bend one corner of the preferred card over. It was always bis right to withdraw a bet alter tlie time when he had won his first stake, but previously to that he had to let his money remain. At that time there were no lay-outs.’ Every player had his own pack, and made his bets on the cards that he himself turned. When he won he simply showed his card to the dealer, and lie was paid. A century ago no box was used. The dealer dealt out his hands, and so ran a great chance of showing most of the cards. The box is a great protection against the inquisitive, and it is really the only protection the player has against any possible manipulation on the part of the dealer. If faro was dealt out of hand, as it was in former times, there would be a decided number of shootings in this police-ridden city. “It is hard to say when faro was introduced into this country. The probabilities are that it was introduced into England long before any one ever dreamed of colonizing the new world. We know that it was played in Virginia long before the Revolution. The old planters were not chary about betting their slaves on the turn of a card, and had none of the Puritan narrow-mind-edness which kept faro out of England. The game was played at that time without a box, the players chose their cards from their own decks, and had ample opportunity to manipulate it as they pleased. They got no benefit from a split—that is, when two cards of like denomination are turned up and the stakes are equally divided between the player and the bank. They didn’t even have the advantage of a ‘cue-box’ to check off the cards that had been dealt. Of course, there was rash betting in consequence, and manipulation was common on the part of the bank and of the player, and yon may be sure both took advantage of their chances to the best of their ability-” “Have their been any recent changes in the game?” “I should think so. And they have all had a tendency to make the game much fairer than it was originally. Thirty years ago 1 remember that it was the rule tha: if a man put a bet down on the table he was compelled to leave it there until he had lost or won its equivalent. Now he is able to change his bets as many tknes as he chooses. At that time there wasn’t any suoh a thing as a copper; now a man can copper the ace and bet that it will lose and still win on a losing card. Then there is considerable difference in the way faro is played in the West. If a man puts his chips at the corner of the king heading to the duce, in this city, the bet takes in the king and the duce only; bnt out . West such a bet would mean the king, queen, aee, and duce. Checks have only been used during the last fifty years. Previous to the ivory disks which represent so much money, coin was used, and oftentimes the faro table would be strewn with gold and silver as the game went on. The first time faro was publicly played in New York was in 1827. It increased to an alarming extent until 1834, before the great fire, when that calamity left the city almost without money. The distress of the following two or three years almost killed the game, but as business revived and money again became plenty, faro arose from the ashes as it were and resumed its Bway. In about 1840 the Legislature passed a bill declaring faro to be illegal gambling, and thenceforth whenever a man wanted to ‘buck the tiger’ he had to do it on the sly. Virginia took aotion forbidding the game in the last century. In 1750 she passed a law reqniring ‘the subjects of the King to refrain from playing the game of faro.’ The penalties for breaking this old law were very severe, including heavy fines and a long term of imprisonment. —New York CommercialAdvertiser. . *