FOUR ACES COLD.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 245, 29 September 1922, Page 3

FOUR ACES COLD.

AND DIAMOND ROUTINE.. DUPE AND CARD-SHARPER.

A poker school on a railway train used to make big money between Christchurch and Timaru, until the organiser wanted more money and went too far (says the Christchurch “Sun”).

At least, that was the tale told in the Ashburton Police Court on Monday, before Messrs. 11. McClure, and ,1. B. Christian, J.P.'s, when a young man, Bernard Hayward, was charged with gamblbing in a railway carriage, and with being an idle ami disorderly person, in that he had no lawful means of support. Two young constables told a story of having been asked to investigate the matter by the man who had been “taken down.’” That individual’s story, was that he had been asked to plav euchre, which developed into poker. Hayward had had an associate, who pretended not to know him, and the dupe was induced to bet £7 on four aces. But the man with the gold brisk had a routine in diamonds and took the money. Two constables chdsed the accused to the Ashburton racecourse (the trio had alighted at Ashburton), but Hayward eluded them, and was not caught until he had reached the abattoir. Hayward’s accomplice, meanwhile, had reached the cemetery, ami had dodged the police by joining a party of mourners at a graveside. The police said there had been many complaints recently about sharping on trains.

Hayward, who said he had given an assumed mime “because of the family, was fined £5, in default one month’s imprisonment.