TRICKERY IN HOTEL BAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18019, 18 February 1922, Page 10

TRICKERY IN HOTEL BAR.

MAN DEFRAUDED OF £13. Alleged trickery in the game of "selling a horse," formed the subject of a chargt against Arthur Collin Larkin (Mr. Us burne Lilly) of having conspired witl Percy Broadhurst and another person t< defraud Joseph Ravlich of £13. Broad hurst was also to have been tried on ; I similar charge but it was announced thai Jhe had disappeared. Mr. Meredith ap plied to have Broadhurst's bail estreated and the application will be heard on Monday. Mr. Meredith said the game of " selling a horse" was usually played to decide who was to pay for drinks, or else whe was to take the money in a pool. The method was for one person to write dowr a number and then another person startec off by calling a lower number, the others following in succession, ths winner being tho man who called the number that was written down. Larkin, counsel alleged, was j one of a party of three who ret out k | cheat Ravlich, ono of his companions being Broadhurst and the other a short. I dark man. The Austrian was acquainted j with Broadhurst, who suggested they should have a drink in the Imperial Hotel. This they did, and Larkin and the third man then joined them, Broadhurst again saying he would nay. Ravlich and the others objected, however, all offering to "shout," and it was decided they should have "a Kentucky sweep," which the men explained to the Austrian was the same as "celling a horse," except that tho game hud to go on until a man had won three pools, the money to be left in each pool. Ravlich put in half-a-orown, the small man wrote down a number, and Larkin started to count. The other men put in £5 and £1 notes, saying they bad no small change. The Austrian won the first round, also the second. The stakes were then raised to £1 £2. £3, and £4, when Ravlich, suspecting there was something wrong, waited to "pull out." It was pointed out to him that he had "two legs in" for the pool, and he went on playing. Larkin won three rounds and took the pool, Ravlich losing £13. The amount of I money handed to Larkin by Broadhurst, the banker, appeared to be only Ravlicb's money, plus the banknotes put in at the bezinning, instead of £40 or £60 as it should have been. Being satisfied it was a swindle the Austrian informed the police. • Ravlich gave evidence on the lines of counsel's statement. Constable J. R. .Allan deposed to taking part in a similar game with Larkin, a short dark man, and a fourth man in the Albert Hotel. Larkin insisted on starting the count for each round and the short man put down the numbers. Witness won tho first two rounds but after the stakes had been raised he refused to continue. John William Lynch stated that he was invited to have a drink by Broadhurst. Everyone wanted to "shout" the second time'and the game of "Kentucky sweep" was proposed, but witness declined to take part, saying he had seen the game before. Mr. Osburne Lilly, for the defence, said the game was a perfectly fair one in which the complainant had gone to the' police merely because he lost his money. It would have been impossible for men of this stamp to conduct and carry in their heads rach an elaborate system necessary to carry out the fraud successfully. ' . „ A brief retirement resulted in the return of a verdict of guilty. Sentence was deferred. \