Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1870 — Gamesters. [ARTICLE]

Gamesters.

An English review culls some curious stories of gamesters from a new book on “The Gaming Table,” just published in London: But apart from these conventional weaknesses, which are inseparable from any compilation—and the history of the gaming table, as we have said, can be little else than a compilation of anecdotes of gamesters—Mr. Steinmetz gives us some amusing reading about the whims and oddities of those who surrender themselves to the influence of this passion. The love of gambling is so wide spread, and sustains itself under such disadvantageous circumstances, that a pleasant chapter is made up describing the shifts to which gamblers are often put to procure the means for their diversion. But just as Porson is said to have tossed off a bottle of embrocation when be could And nothing else to drink in the room, so the gamester, deprived of Ake, of cards, and of the table, rises superior to the difficulties o f his position. We remember how. In the last century, when a man was thrown off his horse in St. James’ street, the odds were laid and taken in hundreds at White’s about his living or dying; and how, when he was brought into the olub in a state of unconsciousness, those who had wagered on his decease strongly objected to a proposal to send for a surgeon, as being an unfair advantage to the other side. Betting on drops of rain running down a window pane, and backing one against another for speed, is a well-known resource for frozen-out gamesters; and the Americans, in true, go-ahead style, have by the iuvcntion.of fly 100 established eccentric wagering on a solid basis. At fly 100 the players sit round a table, each with a lump of sugar before him, and the player upon whose lump a fly first perches carries off the pool, which is sometiinw enormous. Even this, however, is capped by a device for promoting gambling hit upon by some under graduates, and recorded in the Oxford Magazine : “ A few days ago, as some sprigs of nobility were dining together at a tavern, they took the following conceit into their heads after dinner: One of them observing a maggot come from a filbert, which set med to be uncommonly large, attempted to get it from his companion, who, not choosing to let it go, was immediately offered five guineas for it, which was accepted. He then proposed to run it against any other two maggots that could be produced at the table. Matches were accordingly made, and these poor reptiles were the means of £SOO being lost and won in a few minutes.” In the Annual Register for 1812 will be found a curious investigation of a charge of assault on a police officer. He had ob-

served is the distance two men going through the respective parts of hangman and cuiprjt, and he arrived on the spot just in time to see the hangman duly turn off the culprit, and the culprit hanging by his neca from a lamp post. As in duty bound, ha was about to interfere in this process, when the rope broke and down came the mail, whose first act on recovering consciousness was to knock the officer head over heels. On iequiry it turned out that the two men in question had been gambling together, and that one had won all the other’s money. After that they tossed up for their clothes, and the loser lost them also. Then, as it was inconvenient to walk about the streets without clothes, they tossed up which of the two should bang the other, and the loser lost this toss also. After a friendly farewell, the loser was honorably submitting to the process of hanging, w hen it was unfortunately interrupted in the manner we have stated. Even in duels, which were such an every-day sequel to gambling transactions, the element of betting was not wanting: “ I was told of a German, who, being compelled to fight a duel on account of a quarrel at the gaming-table, allowed hie adversary to fire at him. He was missed. Thereupon he said to his opponent, *1 never miss. I bat you a hundred ducats that I break your right or left arm, just as you please/ The bet was taken, and the arm broken in a workmanlike manner." , The eccentricity of gamblers is increased, if anything, when their passions are inflamed by heavy losses. Moore tells a story of a, man who had lost all his money at Crockfords, leaving that establishment brimfiil of had temper, and meeting a perfect stranger on the stain who was stooping down and tying his shoe "Curse you. sir,” said the loser, “you’re«always tying your shoe;" and forthwith kicked him down stairs. The same perverse inability to acknowledge the plainest facts, the same desire to pick a quarrel at all hazards, both so characteristic <4 men smarting utder the blows of ill fortune, are illustrated by Mr. Bteinmetz in a scene that Was witnessed in a noted hell in Dublin. An angry caster, who had lost all his money and all his temper, placed at last his black hat in the

centre of the table, and swore that it waa wfiite, of course hoping that some incautious individual (would contradict- him. But as all seemed willing to admit that the hat was white, he bounced ont of the room, and A particularly good-humored looking player, who had won/resiy, took the box in turn. Harm afterwards this second cast er met with as bad luck as th* first, and was soon left penniless. Glaring round the room, and striking the table with his hand, Ije roared o>t, “ Where is the rascal who said his hat was white?” If.those two men had met again that evening, we may be sure that pistols would have been ordered for the next morning. We need not say that the dodges of gamesters are as numerous as their ec centricities. In gaming, evpry man’s hand Is against his neighbor, and there are plenty of players always ready to take advantage of the slightest opening for fraudulent practice. Wherever gambling flourishes there are a set of men who live by it; and to live by gambling a man must not stick at trifles. The Grecians, as these gentry are called, perpetuate those habits of deceit and chicanery with which the Grecian character was so unhappily tainted. Sharp wits, sharp eyes, unbounded audacity, and absence of all scruples where the getting of money was concerned, these were the weapons with which the men who made gaming a trade fought their adversaries. It would be a distasteful task to discuss the their dirty craft Sleight-of hand was, of course, an important requisite, and false ards, marked cards, loaded dice, and spurious money were brought into use whenever the necessity arose. ... .. A laughable phase of swindling was illustrated by a proficient in the lower walk of life, who had the power of holding one coin in the muscle of the palm of the hand while he brought out a second on the table at pleasure. This practitioner’s game was tossing, and he played it with two coins, one of which had two heads and the other two tails. If “ head” was called, the “ tail" coin appeared, and the other coin, caught up in the palm of his hand, ran down his wrist with precision and rapidity. “ This was the game of “ Heads I win.jtails you lose,” played to perfection. By a similar method thia ingenious person contrived to go through all the turnpikes in the kingdom tollfree : . ; “ In going to a fight or to a race-oourse, when he reached a turnpike he held a shilling between his fingers, and said to the gatekeeper, ‘ Here, catch,’ and made a movement of the hand towards the man, who endeavored to catch what he saw. The shilling, however; by a backward, jerk, ran down the sleeve of the coat, as if it had life in it, and the gatekeeper turned round to look in the dust, when the tall gaffer drove lon, saying, * Keep the change.’ ”